Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American writer, director, producer, and actor best known for directing several successful comedy films starring Will Ferrell, along with whom he also wrote them: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its sequel, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers and The Other Guys. McKay and Ferrell also co-founded Funny or Die.
He's since ventured into more dramatic and politically-charged territory with The Big Short (for which he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay with Charles Randolph, and was nominated for Best Director), Vice (for which he was again nominated for Best Director, along with Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay), and Don't Look Up (for which he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay along with David Sirota, as well as Best Picture).
He is married to director/writer Shira Piven and they have two children. He is the brother-in-law of Jeremy Piven.
- Saturday Night Live (7 episodes)note
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
- Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (2004)
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
- Step Brothers (2008)
- The Other Guys (2010)
- Ant-Man (2015)note
- The Big Short (2015)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)note
- Vice (2018)
- Don't Look Up (2021)
- Eastbound & Down (2009–2013)
- Land of the Lost (2009)
- The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2015)
- Casa de mi Padre (2011)
- Bachelorette (2012)
- Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012)
- The Campaign (2012) (also co-wrote story)
- The Dictator (2012)
- Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
- Drunk History (2013–2019)
- The Spoils of Babylon (2014)
- The Spoils Before Dying (2015)
- Tammy (2014)
- Get Hard (2015) (also co-wrote story)
- The Chris Gethard Show (2015–2016)
- Daddy's Home (2015)
- Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
- Grimsby (2016)
- The Boss (2016)
- The House (2017)
- Ibiza (2018)
- Succession (2018–present)
- Holmes & Watson (2018)
- Dead to Me (2019–present)
- Booksmart (2019)
- Hustlers (2019)
- Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
- Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
- The Menu (2022)
- Saturday Night Live (1995–2001), mostly as background characters, but he did have a recurring character: an annoying audience member named Keith, who likes to heckle the host during his or her monologue.
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Custodian
- Wake Up Ron Burgundy as Custodian
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as Terry Cheveaux
- Girl Missing as Det. 'Sally' LaSalle
- Human Giant as Alan Harkett (1 episode)
- Good Cop Baby Cop as Policeman
- Step Brothers as Man without Glasses
- Green Team as Erin Gossamer
- The Other Guys as Dirty Mike