Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. He is most famous for his partnership with comedian Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. McKay and Ferrell also founded the comedy website Funny or Die through their production company Gary Sanchez Productions.

Early life

McKay was born in Long Island, New York, graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, in 1986, and attended Penn State and Temple universities. He is one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy group and a former performer at Chicago’s Improv Olympic, where he was a member of the improv group, The Family, whose members included Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Neil Flynn, Miles Stroth, and Ali Farahnakian, and Child’s Play Touring Theatre. While a member of the mainstage cast at Second City, he wrote and performed in that company’s landmark revue, Pinata Full of Bees. In several politically charged sketches, McKay played characters like Noam Chomsky as a substitute kindergarten teacher, and a hapless personnel manager trying to inform a corporate vice president (Scott Adsit) of some disastrous IQ test results without losing his own job. The latter performance was excerpted in Second City’s 40th anniversary compilation.

Career

McKay originally auditioned for Saturday Night Live to be an onscreen performer, but did not make the cut. However, the scripts he submitted to the long-running sketch show earned him a job as writer from 1995 to 2001, including three seasons as head writer. He also directed a number of short films for the show, including the original SNL Digital Shorts. McKay encouraged his Second City idol Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, and she later succeeded him as head writer on the show. Though McKay was never an actual SNL cast member, he did make several on-camera appearances over the years and had a recurring role as an obnoxious audience member named “Keith” who would often shout insults at the celebrity hosts during their opening monologue.

Adam was confirmed to have been the main reason Jim Breuer was cut from SNL. In an interview on the Howard Stern Show June 7, 2010, Breuer told the story of a very funny Godzilla sketch with Tracy Morgan that resulted in Adam getting jealous his Godzilla sketch wasn’t as funny. When Adam used his influence to try repeatedly to kill the Breuer/Morgan Godzilla sketch for the live show, Breuer snapped. Adam later used his influence as head writer to attempt getting Breuer out the door, but Breuer quit in disgust.

After leaving SNL, McKay teamed up with comedian Will Ferrell to write the comedy films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. In April 2007, Ferrell and McKay launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord features both him and his young daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a second video titled “Good Cop, Baby Cop”. Ferrell and McKay co-produce the HBO series Eastbound & Down. He directed and co-wrote with Ferrell the George W. Bush Broadway show, You’re Welcome America. He is scheduled to co-star in the horror-comedy film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. —Wikipedia