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Now You Know: 14 Facts About Adam McKay

We're all familiar with the big name celebrities that star in our favorite tv shows and films. Sometimes though, it's the people behind the scenes who we never hear about, who have massive impact.

If you've never heard of him, Adam McKay is one great example. Adam McKay is a man who wears many, many hats. A renaissance man. A mover and a shaker. A kingmaker in the world of comedy.

He was involved in Succession as well as Anchorman, SNL and Step Brothers.  He was also a long time partner with Ferrell. We dug up some fascinating and surprising facts about the man.

For example, McKay reveals he was at one of the lowest points in his life during the release of his film Talladega Nights, which was the number one movie in America.

Want to learn more fascinating tidbits about this behind the scenes comedy legend? Here are 14 facts about comedy superhero Adam McKay. 

14

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM McKay and Will Ferrell broke up in 2019. McKay and Ferrell partnered on SNL, Funny or Die, Anchorman, and Talledega Nights. After years of tension, a brief phone call ended it. Ferrell was basically was like, 'Have a good life,' says McKay. And I'm like, 'F***, Ferrell's never going to talk to me again.'

Vanity Fair

13

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Ferrell was furious when McKay cast Reilly Will Ferrell was slated to play Lakers owner Jerry Buss in McKay's new HBO series Winning Time. But McKay realized he'd made a casting mistake and hired Ferrell's buddy John C. Reilly to take his place. Ferrell was blindsided, further damaging the friendship.

Decider

12

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Who was Gary Sanchez? GARY SANCHEZ PRODUCTIONS McKay and Will Ferrell named their production company after a fake name that Ferrell had stored in his Blackberry. The imaginary Sanchez was a Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier.

Cheatsheet

11

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM McKay helped shape Succession. SUCCESSION McKay is Succession's executive producer. Не also directed the pilot, which meant he was involved in the casting of it, creating the style, the look, the music. I really, really enjoy doing that.

LA Times

10

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Не was depressed while making Talladega Nights. WO The Ferrell NASCAR comedy was McKay's biggest opening and the #1 movie in America. It was everything you would want out of that experience, says McKay. And in the classic Hollywood fashion, I'm at the lowest point I've been at for a while.

Vanity Fair

9

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM At SNL, McKay loved writing interview sketches Job interview sketches were a McKay favorite because he felt like everyone could relate to the basic experience e - even when a centaur was the one applying for the position.

The Atlantic

8

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM McKay was SNL's official coordinator of falconry. After four years writing for SNL, McKay had had enough. I told Lorne Michaels that I wanted to quit, he says. But Michaels agreed to let me put on whatever scenes I wanted and let me name my title. And the rest is falconry history.

 Yale Daily News

7

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM His first SNL sketch punked Neil Diamond. McKay wrote the VH1 Storytellers parody with Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond, sharing the insane stories behind his top hits. For example, Forever in Blue Jeans was about the time Diamond killed a drifter so he could achieve physical arousal.

Vanity Fair

6

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Five Academy Award noms ...and ... counting. McKay won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short. Не has four other nominations and Don't Look Up will likely add to the total. Adam's latest is up for four Golden Globes.

IMDB

5

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Не was a founder of Upright Citizen's Brigade. We were all kind of disappointed with Second City, says Horatio Sanz. The Upright Citizen's Brigade at first was called Cerebral Strip Mine. It was so we could make it really as crazy as we wanted to. (McKay also performed at Second City and ImprovOlympic.)

Uproxx

4

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM His viral hit The Landlord starred his daughter Pearl. It only took 45 minutes to create one of the first viral comedy videos. McKay's infant daughter stars as Ferrell's landlord and she wants the rent. Now. I'm tired of this crap. I put you on the streets. I need to get my drink on. You pay now, bitch!

Gawker

3

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM McKay auditioned for SNL and didn't get the job As a performer, anyway. Instead, he was hired to pen scripts and eventually became head writer. That didn't entirely stop McKay the performer-he showed up from time to time as obnoxious audience member Keith.

FarOut

2

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Fear of climate change led to Don't Look Up I was like, I have to do something about the climate, says McKay. When former Bernie Sanders speechwriter David Sirota remarked, the comet's gonna hit and no one cares, it hit the director hard. That idea just kept coming back and bugging me.

The Atlantic

1

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Cousin Greg and Tom sold McKay on Succession. McKay signed on to produce Succession after reading Jesse Armstrong's pilot script. His favorite bit was when Tom was hazing Cousin Greg. Kiss me. No, I'm just kidding. No, no seriously kiss me.

Awards Daily

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