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Exit Interview: Adam McKay
By Richard Rys
- Dreamworks
When Malvern’s Adam McKay left Temple University and moved to Chicago, he ran through the American Comedy All-Star Circuit — from Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade to writing for Saturday Night Live, where he met future collaborator Will Ferrell. McKay penned and directed Ferrell in Anchorman, and teamed with his pal again for this month’s Bewitched, with Nicole Kidman. Considering McKay’s soft spot for lowbrow humor, Exit Interview tried working blue, but efforts to discuss whether the 37-year-old will ever, professionally speaking, dislodge his head from Ferrell’s [buttocks], among other topics, have been censored.
Exit Interview: Where are you right now? In a pool flanked by Playmates, sipping a margarita and BlackBerrying your agent?
Adam McKay: [laughs] Those are all things I should be doing. I’m actually over at Will Ferrell’s office. He’s out of town, and I’m moving into a new office and using his in the transition.
EI: So when did you first think of comedy as a career?
AM: I started doing stand-up about six months after graduating from Great Valley High School. It was atrocious. I was doing airplane humor, breaking up with your girlfriend — I hadn’t even had a steady girlfriend.
EI: Did you and Tina Fey bond over your Philly roots at SNL?
AM: I actually hired Tina. Beyond that, I have nothing to do with her success. Tina used to sing “You Light Up My Life” in a Philly accent: “Yoo loyt up moy loyf … ” We always enjoy the Philly accent.
EI: Cheri Oteri’s also from here. What’s happened to her? I think I saw her selling roses on the Boulevard last week.
AM: Don't downplay that. They’ve got a strong union, those people. I haven’t seen Cheri in years. I have no idea.
EI: What were your favorite SNL sketches with Will?
AM: We loved this crazy ob-gyn who would say awful stuff like “I’m pretty sure your baby’s a witch,” or say he has horrible news and then take a call from a guy who wants him to switch phone services. Those were our favorites — absurd, screw-around sketches.
EI: I’d like to label this Exit Interview “unrated,” so were there any particular obscene gags you cut from Anchorman?
AM: Oh, oh, here’s one. In the part where they mess with the teleprompter and he says “Go ‘F’ yourself, San Diego,” Will did a version where he said “Go put a huge, purplish, veiny [rooster] up your [buttocks].” He read it completely straight, and it’s the funniest damn thing.
EI: When you signed on for Bewitched, were you afraid it would end up being another bad TV-show adaptation?
Exit Interview: Where are you right now? In a pool flanked by Playmates, sipping a margarita and BlackBerrying your agent?
Adam McKay: [laughs] Those are all things I should be doing. I’m actually over at Will Ferrell’s office. He’s out of town, and I’m moving into a new office and using his in the transition.
EI: So when did you first think of comedy as a career?
AM: I started doing stand-up about six months after graduating from Great Valley High School. It was atrocious. I was doing airplane humor, breaking up with your girlfriend — I hadn’t even had a steady girlfriend.
EI: Did you and Tina Fey bond over your Philly roots at SNL?
AM: I actually hired Tina. Beyond that, I have nothing to do with her success. Tina used to sing “You Light Up My Life” in a Philly accent: “Yoo loyt up moy loyf … ” We always enjoy the Philly accent.
EI: Cheri Oteri’s also from here. What’s happened to her? I think I saw her selling roses on the Boulevard last week.
AM: Don't downplay that. They’ve got a strong union, those people. I haven’t seen Cheri in years. I have no idea.
EI: What were your favorite SNL sketches with Will?
AM: We loved this crazy ob-gyn who would say awful stuff like “I’m pretty sure your baby’s a witch,” or say he has horrible news and then take a call from a guy who wants him to switch phone services. Those were our favorites — absurd, screw-around sketches.
EI: I’d like to label this Exit Interview “unrated,” so were there any particular obscene gags you cut from Anchorman?
AM: Oh, oh, here’s one. In the part where they mess with the teleprompter and he says “Go ‘F’ yourself, San Diego,” Will did a version where he said “Go put a huge, purplish, veiny [rooster] up your [buttocks].” He read it completely straight, and it’s the funniest damn thing.
EI: When you signed on for Bewitched, were you afraid it would end up being another bad TV-show adaptation?
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