WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. We've got just 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.200 a massive amount of source material here, articles, 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.879 interviews, deep research. Yep, a huge stack. 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:09.320 We're going to boil it all down for you, give 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:11.699 you the absolute must -know insight. Get you 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:13.919 right up to speed. Today, we are looking at a 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.960 career that is, well, it's a perfect, really 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:21.420 fascinating case study in artistic pivot and 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:25.820 escalating commitment. Right. We are diving into 00:00:25.820 --> 00:00:28.809 the world of Adam McKay. You know, the writer, 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:31.870 director, producer, the guy who somehow connects 00:00:31.870 --> 00:00:34.909 the dots between pure chaos like Anchorman and 00:00:34.909 --> 00:00:37.130 Step Brothers. Total absurdity. And then these 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:39.969 urgent systemic critiques like the big short 00:00:39.969 --> 00:00:42.070 and don't look up. It's quite a jump. It really 00:00:42.070 --> 00:00:43.950 is. But I'd say it's more than just a pivot. 00:00:43.990 --> 00:00:46.409 You know, it feels more like a strategic use, 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.170 almost weaponizing comedy, maybe. Weaponizing 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:51.250 comedy. Interesting way to put it. Well, using 00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:53.729 storytelling to confront these really complex, 00:00:53.810 --> 00:00:57.159 really urgent societal failures. Yeah. Our sources, 00:00:57.219 --> 00:01:00.299 they cover everything. His scrappy improv beginnings 00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:02.859 in Chicago. The early days. His time running 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:05.280 Saturday Night Live, that whole decade defining 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.579 mainstream comedy. And then this recent, almost, 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:13.060 I don't know, desperate dive into climate activism. 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:16.280 It's all in there. So our mission for you, the 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:18.799 listener, is to really pull out the core insights. 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:22.430 How did the guy who gave us... You know, I'm 00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:24.430 in a glass case of emotion. The classic line. 00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:26.409 How did that guy become one of the most decorated? 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:30.340 political critics in modern Hollywood. We're 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:32.200 going to structure this deep dive logically, 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:34.620 sort of phase by phase through his career. Makes 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:37.159 sense. Moving from those purely chaotic, you 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.000 know, foundational years up to the strategically 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.299 critical films that really define his present 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:45.680 urgency. Okay, let's unpack this journey. You 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.640 know, what's truly fascinating here, and I think 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:49.459 it's what connects these parts of his career 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:51.760 that seems so different, is the consistency of 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.620 his core voice. He's always been kind of anti 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:55.319 -establishment, hasn't he? Always interested 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:57.810 in, like, tearing down institutions. That's a 00:01:57.810 --> 00:01:59.689 good point. The targets just changed. Exactly. 00:02:00.069 --> 00:02:02.209 The difference is he swapped out the ridiculous 00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:05.250 kind of easy targets like, you know, overly privileged 00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:08.030 stepbrothers. Right. For the really dangerous 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:10.949 ones, Wall Street greed, political corruption, 00:02:11.169 --> 00:02:13.870 climate denial, much bigger fish to fry. OK, 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:15.770 so to really get the later work, we've got to 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:19.050 start at the beginning, the foundation, which 00:02:19.050 --> 00:02:22.159 for any great. satirist, it seems, is always 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:26.300 rooted in that crucible of live comedy and their 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.500 deep personal history. Absolutely. McKay, born 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:33.060 in Denver, Colorado, April 68. But his formative 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:35.419 years, they were pretty mobile. He spent time 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:37.360 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and later Malvern, 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:40.400 Pennsylvania. In that early life, it paints a 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.219 picture. Constant observation, maybe driven by 00:02:43.219 --> 00:02:46.099 a bit of instability. How so? Well, we know his 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:48.939 mother was a waitress, father a musician, parents 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:51.680 divorced when he was only seven. Ah, okay. That 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.719 kind of early fracturing, you know. It often 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.439 forces a kid to become this really quick, maybe... 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.240 cynical observer of social dynamics. Like who's 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.620 got the power, who's struggling. Exactly, and 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:04.139 who's just putting on a performance. You learn 00:03:04.139 --> 00:03:06.979 to read people fast. And his education, that 00:03:06.979 --> 00:03:09.479 seems to reflect that restless energy too, maybe 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:11.960 a bit rebellious. Seems like it. He did Penn 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.759 State for just one year. Only a year. Yeah, then 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:17.479 transferred to Temple University in Philly. Intention 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:19.659 was to major in English, but then you get one 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:24.039 of those classic writer dropout stories. He left 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:26.219 the place just a semester and a half short of 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:28.379 getting his bachelor's degree. So close. Why 00:03:28.379 --> 00:03:31.000 leave them? Well, he didn't really mince words 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.180 about it later. He described it as settling with 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:38.180 an imaginary degree. Wow. That act itself, refusing 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:41.039 that final step of institutional validation. 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:44.439 It's so telling, I think. How so? It suggests 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:47.240 maybe a belief that the real world education 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:49.379 he was getting, especially in that booming Chicago 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:51.939 comedy scene. Right. The improv stuff. Was infinitely 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:54.460 more valuable than, you know, a piece of paper. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.360 And that's where the real training happened, 00:03:56.460 --> 00:03:59.740 wasn't it? Chicago. Like so many comedic giants 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:03.840 from the late 90s, the 2000s, he studied and 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.120 performed at those legendary spots. The Second 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:09.099 City and ImprovOlympic. Yeah. That scene is where 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:11.699 you build those fast, sharp, satirical muscles. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:14.500 You learn to pivot instantly based on what the 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:16.420 audience gives you. And it's probably important 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:18.819 for you listening to distinguish between those 00:04:18.819 --> 00:04:20.699 two big influences there, right? Definitely. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:23.699 ImprovOlympic, which was co -founded by the legendary 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.139 Del Close, focused heavily on long -form narrative 00:04:27.139 --> 00:04:31.379 structure. The Herald, specifically. It emphasized 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:35.339 deep, grounded character work, narrative coherence. 00:04:35.420 --> 00:04:38.060 And that training, you can see it later, it helped 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:41.120 McKay ground even his most absurd films, like 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.220 Step Brothers, in believable, even if totally 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:46.860 ridiculous, emotional relationships. Okay, so 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:49.639 ImprovOlympic is character and structure. What 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:52.019 about Second City? Second City, where he moved 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.600 on to the main stage eventually, that was more 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.540 geared toward topical sketch comedy. Ah, like 00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:00.230 SNL prep. Kind of, yeah. That's where he learned 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:02.610 to dissect current events, turn them into immediate 00:05:02.610 --> 00:05:05.430 pointed satire. So you have this tension, right, 00:05:05.529 --> 00:05:08.189 between the character -driven reality from ImprovOlympic 00:05:08.189 --> 00:05:10.709 and the topical critique from Second City. That 00:05:10.709 --> 00:05:13.129 tension becomes the engine, really, for his later 00:05:13.129 --> 00:05:15.149 films. And he wasn't just in that scene. He was 00:05:15.149 --> 00:05:18.110 central, a founding member of the Upright Citizens 00:05:18.110 --> 00:05:21.610 Brigade, UCB. Legendary group. Alongside Matt 00:05:21.610 --> 00:05:24.550 Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts. I mean, that's 00:05:24.550 --> 00:05:26.910 an incredible legacy right there. And specifically 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:29.529 at Second City, he was performing on the main 00:05:29.529 --> 00:05:32.329 stage in the 80th review. It was called Pinata 00:05:32.329 --> 00:05:35.569 Full of Bees. Great title. Isn't it? And he was 00:05:35.569 --> 00:05:37.790 alongside people like Rachel Dratch and John 00:05:37.790 --> 00:05:40.990 Glazer. So he was immersed, truly immersed in 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.490 this high level ensemble driven storytelling 00:05:43.490 --> 00:05:47.029 world that valued quick thinking and crucially 00:05:47.029 --> 00:05:50.720 sharp political observation. Which, naturally, 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.100 led him straight to Saturday Night Live. The 00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:56.959 next logical step. His SNL tenure ran 95 to 2001. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:59.600 But the path wasn't totally straightforward, 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:02.360 apparently. We found he actually auditioned first 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.899 to be an on -screen performer. Oh, really? A 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:07.019 cast member? Yeah, and didn't get it. It was 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:08.839 unsuccessful. You know, that happens a lot with 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:11.620 the best structural minds in comedy, I think. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.560 How do you mean? They might not have that pure, 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:16.100 like... performative flair needed for a live 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:18.439 show every week. Right. But they had the sharpest 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:20.500 minds for comedic architecture, building the 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:23.660 sketch, finding the game. So his submitted scripts 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:26.240 built on those analytical skills he honed in 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.860 Chicago. Those got him the job. Exactly. Hired 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:32.019 as a writer in 95 and he moved up fast, became 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:34.740 head writer by age 28. Wow. Only three years 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:38.500 in. Yeah. Held that position until 99. Pretty 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:41.920 rapid rise. And he was already mentoring. Building 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.600 that next generation, he encouraged his friend 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:47.579 from Second City, Tina Fey. Another legend. To 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:50.720 submit her own scripts. And she eventually succeeded 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:53.379 him as head writer. That lineage, McKay handing 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:56.100 the torch to Fey, that's just critical to the 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:58.800 history of modern TV satire. You can draw a straight 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.500 line. Definitely. But even though he was primarily 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:03.899 a writer, he wasn't totally invisible on camera. 00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:06.980 No, no. He made recurring appearances, often 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:09.399 playing the smaller roles needed in a sketch, 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.300 you know, the straight man or whatever. But the 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:15.500 bit of trivia, the piece that most perfectly 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:19.060 foreshadows his whole future career, it's his 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:22.449 recurring character. Keith. Keith the heckler. 00:07:22.470 --> 00:07:25.529 I remember that. Yes. The notoriously obnoxious 00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:27.170 audience member. You would sit in the audience, 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:29.490 interrupt the celebrity host during the monologue. 00:07:29.610 --> 00:07:32.470 Injecting uncomfortable meta commentary or just 00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:35.910 aggressively silly stuff. Total disruption. Exactly. 00:07:35.949 --> 00:07:38.810 He was literally the anti -establishment voice 00:07:38.810 --> 00:07:41.629 yelling disruptive, often true, uncomfortable 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:45.600 things from like the cheap seats. That's a great 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:47.600 way to put it. That character is the perfect 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:50.740 comedic precursor to his later film voice, which 00:07:50.740 --> 00:07:53.379 literally heckles the audience by breaking the 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:55.939 fourth wall demanding you pay attention to complex 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:58.300 truths. It's the same energy. Yeah. And then 00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:01.279 the ultimate commitment to the bit. His final 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.360 two years, he requested and got this unique, 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:06.899 totally made up credit. Oh, yeah. What was it? 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:09.720 Coordinator of falconry. Coordinator of falconry. 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:12.740 Yep. Completely honorific. That is perfect. It 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:15.519 perfectly encapsulates that early absurdist phase, 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:17.939 right? Totally chaotic, entirely meaningless, 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:20.560 but performed with total deadpan commitment. 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:23.720 Exactly. And that commitment to the gag, even 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:26.019 when the gag is acknowledging the absurdity of 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:28.079 the system itself. Yeah. That's what he carries 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.170 forward into the next big phase. Right. That 00:08:30.170 --> 00:08:32.289 blend, that perfect mix of grounded character 00:08:32.289 --> 00:08:34.549 work and just committed chaos, it immediately 00:08:34.549 --> 00:08:37.950 translated into this empire, really, that defined 00:08:37.950 --> 00:08:40.830 the sounds of 2000s comedy. Oh, absolutely. Shortly 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:43.970 after leaving SNL in 2001, he teams up with his 00:08:43.970 --> 00:08:46.730 longtime collaborator friend, Will Ferrell. The 00:08:46.730 --> 00:08:49.210 dream team. And they form Gary Sanchez Productions. 00:08:49.330 --> 00:08:51.509 This was the launch pad for that iconic face. 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:54.490 And this partnership, it created a very specific 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.470 brand of comedy, didn't it? The high -satis idiot. 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:01.200 Wes. Yeah, that's it. The guy who's supremely 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:04.080 confident, but just completely lacks self -awareness. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:07.340 McKay co -wrote and directed the films that basically 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:09.740 codified this. You know the list. Anchorman, 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:12.919 The Legend of Ron Burgundy in 04. Stay classy. 00:09:13.179 --> 00:09:15.899 Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in 00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:18.539 06. If you ain't first, you're last. Step Brothers 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.679 in 08. So much room for activities. And the other 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.779 guys in 2010. That run was huge. These weren't 00:09:24.779 --> 00:09:26.779 just hit movies. They were cultural touchdowns. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.159 Anchorman, for example. Yeah. It's built on this 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:32.179 foundation of historical absurdity, the hyper 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:35.370 -masculine, clueless. 70s news anchor. Right. 00:09:35.470 --> 00:09:37.210 The premise is funny. But it's real success. 00:09:37.389 --> 00:09:40.450 It hinged on McCade's ability to create this 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:43.269 improvisational environment on set. Right. That's 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:46.230 the crucial link back to his UCB and Improv -Ombic 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:49.190 training. Absolutely. His shooting method. It 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:52.110 involved letting the actors who are all trained 00:09:52.110 --> 00:09:54.169 improvisers. That's key. Right. They knew the 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.330 drill. Letting them generate multiple alternate 00:09:56.330 --> 00:09:59.429 lines, different scene endings. They'd often 00:09:59.429 --> 00:10:02.590 end up with like 80 hours of footage for a 90 00:10:02.590 --> 00:10:05.750 minute film. 80 hours. Yeah. Yeah. This organic 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:08.129 kind of nonlinear approach to finding the jokes. 00:10:08.190 --> 00:10:11.649 It created that really dense, quotable absurdity, 00:10:11.669 --> 00:10:14.610 but always pair with hyper specific comedic details. 00:10:14.789 --> 00:10:16.909 It wasn't just random. And think about Talladega 00:10:16.909 --> 00:10:20.370 Nights. Ricky Bobby. That character embodies 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:25.549 this specific strain of like American anti -intellectual 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:27.230 entitlement. If you're not first, you're last. 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:29.389 Total chaos. Yeah. But it's also a critique, 00:10:29.470 --> 00:10:31.769 isn't it, of celebrity culture, unchecked American 00:10:31.769 --> 00:10:33.330 ambition. There's something under the surface. 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:35.450 For sure. And that chaotic spirit, it wasn't 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:37.529 just in the features. The Gary Sanchez umbrella, 00:10:37.769 --> 00:10:40.570 they co -produced hit series, too, like Eastbound 00:10:40.570 --> 00:10:43.169 and Down on HBO. Oh, yeah. Kenny Powers, the 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:45.070 quintessential McKay Farrell character. Right. 00:10:45.110 --> 00:10:48.809 Another oblivious entitled Genius Idiot. Exactly. 00:10:48.929 --> 00:10:51.250 And McKay even directed an episode, so he kept 00:10:51.250 --> 00:10:53.870 his hand in that serialized format. Right. Their 00:10:53.870 --> 00:10:55.970 reach went beyond just traditional film studios. 00:10:56.009 --> 00:10:57.950 They jumped headfirst into the whole new media 00:10:57.950 --> 00:11:01.070 landscape pretty early on. Funny or Die, 2007. 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:03.970 Right, co -founded with Farrell. And Funny or 00:11:03.970 --> 00:11:06.490 Die, you have to remember, it became the definitive 00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:09.490 user -submitted comedy video site during that 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:12.549 early internet boom. It was immediately disruptive. 00:11:13.129 --> 00:11:15.970 How so? Well, it bypassed the traditional gatekeepers, 00:11:16.090 --> 00:11:19.009 right? Allowed for immediate, often politically 00:11:19.009 --> 00:11:22.129 sharp, highly absurd comedy to just go viral 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:25.269 within hours and often featuring huge A -list 00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:27.870 stars doing stuff they never do in a studio film. 00:11:27.990 --> 00:11:30.070 Yeah, the barrier to entry was suddenly gone. 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:32.639 And it was incredibly personal, too. He used 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:34.919 his own family. That's right. He featured his 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.620 young daughter, Pearl, in two really early viral 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:40.240 videos that became like cornerstones of the site. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.759 The landlord. Oh, my God. The landlord with Farrell 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.399 as the angry baby landlord demanding rent. Yeah. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.419 And good cop, baby cop. That decision alone, 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:53.440 using his own kid in a viral comedy video, playing 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.190 against a massive star like Farrell. Yeah. It 00:11:56.190 --> 00:11:58.070 shows total commitment to the medium, doesn't 00:11:58.070 --> 00:12:00.750 it? Absolutely. He was pioneering the use of 00:12:00.750 --> 00:12:04.129 personalized, highly accessible content to just 00:12:04.129 --> 00:12:07.309 deliver a joke. And that technique, you can argue, 00:12:07.509 --> 00:12:10.309 he later adapts when he uses celebrities to deliver 00:12:10.309 --> 00:12:12.629 complex financial explanations in the big short. 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:15.110 It's the same principle, different context. That's 00:12:15.110 --> 00:12:17.250 a really interesting connection. Now, what often 00:12:17.250 --> 00:12:20.730 gets overlooked in this Gary Sanchez era is that. 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:23.840 while he was known for directing these huge comedies. 00:12:23.860 --> 00:12:25.460 Right, that was the headline. His production 00:12:25.460 --> 00:12:27.580 portfolio was actually pretty vast, and he was 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:30.159 getting his hands dirty in other genres, other 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:32.379 writing rooms. Absolutely. The Marvel connection 00:12:32.379 --> 00:12:35.480 is significant, more than people realize. He 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:37.740 rewrote the script for Marvel Studios' Ant -Man 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.360 back in 2015. Right, after Edgar Wright left. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.720 Yeah, and he helped flesh out the story for Ant 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.860 -Man and the Wasp, too. He was actually in talks 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.080 to direct Ant -Man himself. Really? I didn't 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:48.980 know that. Yeah, but he ultimately stepped aside. 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:51.480 He cited respect for Edgar Wright's original 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.559 vision as the reason, which I think is an important 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:57.480 data point. It shows a certain professional integrity, 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:00.240 maybe, self -awareness about when to lead and 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:02.539 when to support someone else's thing. Okay, so 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:05.639 this era was about building massive creative 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.580 muscle, financial muscle too, through a whole 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:11.720 range of produced films. Not just the feral ones, 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.539 Land of the Lost, The Campaign. Which he co -wrote 00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:17.799 the story for, The Campaign. Right, and Daddy's 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:20.110 Home. He was basically acquiring the capital, 00:13:20.230 --> 00:13:22.490 the clout, everything he needed for his next, 00:13:22.570 --> 00:13:25.669 much more ambitious phase. But, you know, even 00:13:25.669 --> 00:13:27.750 the best partnerships, they eventually reach 00:13:27.750 --> 00:13:30.490 a breaking point. And the Gary Sanchez era, it 00:13:30.490 --> 00:13:32.190 ended pretty dramatically. Yeah, that was big 00:13:32.190 --> 00:13:35.230 news. April 2019, McKay and Farrell announced 00:13:35.230 --> 00:13:37.350 they're separating as producing partners. Though 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:39.990 they kept working on existing projects, the partnership 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:42.330 itself was done. The reason that eventually came 00:13:42.330 --> 00:13:45.370 out, it's... Famously illustrative, isn't it? 00:13:45.389 --> 00:13:48.289 That tension between like artistic ambition and 00:13:48.289 --> 00:13:50.669 personal friendship. Oh, yeah. The breakup happened 00:13:50.669 --> 00:13:53.149 over casting for the HBO series Winning Time, 00:13:53.330 --> 00:13:56.210 the rise of the Lakers dynasty. Lakers show, 00:13:56.289 --> 00:13:59.529 right. McKay cast John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, 00:13:59.669 --> 00:14:02.570 the Lakers owner. Now, the sources confirm this 00:14:02.570 --> 00:14:05.250 was a role Farrell had explicitly wanted. Ouch. 00:14:05.309 --> 00:14:07.870 And critically, McKay did this without telling 00:14:07.870 --> 00:14:10.909 Farrell beforehand. Wow. That's a huge breach 00:14:10.909 --> 00:14:13.460 creatively and professionally. Yeah. Choosing 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:16.000 your own vision for this massive prestige project 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.519 over a decades -long partnership. And then not 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:20.580 even communicating the decision to your closest 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:23.379 collaborator. That's rough. It is. And McKay 00:14:23.379 --> 00:14:25.759 went on to direct the pilot episode of that show, 00:14:25.899 --> 00:14:29.899 The Swan. So this whole incident, it really solidified 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:32.419 his transition, didn't it? His focus was now 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:35.480 completely on prestige, high stakes storytelling, 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:38.220 usually centered on institutional power. The 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:39.860 Farrell partnership didn't fit that anymore. 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:42.100 So the end of that partnership, it really felt 00:14:42.100 --> 00:14:44.399 like the clean break he needed. And the shift 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.779 is immediate. It's laser focused. Yeah. No looking 00:14:47.779 --> 00:14:50.019 back. Following the split, McCabe founds his 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.639 new company in 2019. Hyper Object Industries. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.559 Hyper Object Industries. The name itself tells 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:57.220 you something, right? Totally. It references 00:14:57.220 --> 00:14:59.620 Timothy Morton's philosophical concept of things 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:02.720 so massively distributed in time and space. Think 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:05.019 global warming, financial market. Things you 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:07.100 can't really grasp easily. Exactly. Things that 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:10.320 defy simple human comprehension. That name tells 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.779 you exactly what his new focus is going to be. 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.679 The big, messy, systemic stuff. And Hyper Object... 00:15:16.860 --> 00:15:19.399 immediately lands these high -level deals, signaling 00:15:19.399 --> 00:15:21.700 his new place in the Hollywood hierarchy. Oh, 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:24.720 yeah. A first -look overall TV deal with HBO 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.259 that covered The Lakers show. Right. And later, 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:30.620 moving to a really lucrative multi -year first 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:34.120 -look movie deal with Apple, he basically leveraged 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:36.860 all that comedy clout he built into pure prestige 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.100 access. He played the game well. But the real 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:41.299 breakthrough moment, the proof that this whole 00:15:41.299 --> 00:15:43.419 pivot wasn't just talk, that it was successful, 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:46.759 that was the big short back in 2015. Right. That 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:48.279 felt like it came out of nowhere for a lot of 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:50.539 people. It did. And this wasn't just him making 00:15:50.539 --> 00:15:53.200 a serious film. It felt like a reengineering 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.940 of his entire comedic toolbox, but now for analytical 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:59.000 purposes. He adapted the Michael Lewis nonfiction 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.860 book about the incredibly complex financial collapse 00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:04.320 of 2008. And the industry, they were kind of 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:06.100 forced to recognize their shift, weren't they? 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.460 Totally. He didn't just get nominated. He won 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:13.460 the Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Critics' Choice 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.090 Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Shared it 00:16:16.090 --> 00:16:18.789 with Charles Randolph. Plus a Best Director nomination. 00:16:19.110 --> 00:16:21.570 Yeah. It was complete institutional validation 00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:25.129 of this new phase. Like, OK, we see you. This 00:16:25.129 --> 00:16:27.759 is legit. But the genius of the big short, it 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.460 wasn't just the subject matter, right? It was 00:16:29.460 --> 00:16:32.179 the style. That's the key takeaway for you, the 00:16:32.179 --> 00:16:35.500 listener. Exactly. He needed a mechanism to process 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:37.659 this overwhelming information for the audience. 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:40.200 So what did he do? He imported the techniques 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:42.919 he perfected in his comedies. Like what? That 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.899 rapid fire, almost anxiety inducing pacing. Yeah. 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:48.679 The non sequitur cutaways, the improvisational 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:51.779 energy. He applied all of that to complex economic 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:54.139 theory. Let's dig into that technique a bit more. 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:56.519 He really established his. Signature style there. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:58.980 That informational fourth wall breaking political 00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:02.019 satire. The film constantly stops itself. Yeah, 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:04.180 breaks the flow. Acknowledges you, the audience, 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.039 and then uses these celebrity cameos to deliver 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.440 straight up explanations. Yeah. Think about those 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.480 choices. Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explaining 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.319 credit default swaps. Or Selena Gomez at a blackjack 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:20.430 table defining synthetic CDOs. Why do that? Because, 00:17:20.490 --> 00:17:22.869 as he explained in interviews afterwards, the 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:25.049 audience needed to be assured that the complexity 00:17:25.049 --> 00:17:27.769 wasn't their fault. It was intentional complexity 00:17:27.769 --> 00:17:29.970 built into the system. And they needed breaks. 00:17:30.210 --> 00:17:32.470 And they needed immediate, enjoyable breaks. 00:17:32.549 --> 00:17:35.490 It was humor as a Trojan horse, basically. Distract 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:37.829 the audience just long enough with a celebrity 00:17:37.829 --> 00:17:41.329 and a joke. To sneak in this devastating lesson 00:17:41.329 --> 00:17:44.950 about predatory lending and total systemic failure. 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:47.210 It's brilliant, really. It really is the highest 00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:48.960 evolution of Keith. heckler, isn't it? Yeah. 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:51.259 But instead of heckling the host, he's heckling 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:53.059 the financial system, constantly interrupting 00:17:53.059 --> 00:17:56.119 the narrative to say, wait, look how absurd and 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.799 rigged this actually is. Pay attention. So effective. 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:01.700 And he immediately followed that success in 2018 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:04.660 with Vice. Right. A biographical black comedy 00:18:04.660 --> 00:18:07.240 about former U .S. Vice President Dick Cheney. 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.839 Yeah. His rise to power. Christian Bale starring. 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:11.960 So if the B short was about systemic failure 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:14.920 in finance. Vice was about systemic corruption 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:18.150 in government. It established his brand, the 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:20.970 director tackling the hyper -object of American 00:18:20.970 --> 00:18:24.190 power itself. And Vice also got massive awards 00:18:24.190 --> 00:18:27.390 attention. Eight nominations at the Oscars. Including 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:29.809 McKay's second nomination for Best Director and 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:32.569 Best Picture. Pretty huge. And again, we saw 00:18:32.569 --> 00:18:34.670 his ability to direct these truly transformative, 00:18:34.890 --> 00:18:38.880 dramatic performances. Christian Bale. Sam Rockwell, 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:41.339 Amy Adams all got nominations for that film. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:43.339 Yeah, he clearly knows how to work with actors 00:18:43.339 --> 00:18:45.940 on that level now. But the film was also pretty 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:47.740 politically contentious. That's important to 00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:50.160 note for a balanced view. Right. It wasn't universally 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.500 loved. No. While many praised the direction, 00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:56.519 the performances. Critics from both the left 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:58.460 and the right questioned the film's narrative 00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:01.660 framing, specifically its focus on Chaney as 00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:04.359 this kind of singular supervillain. Rather than 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.200 maybe a symptom of a deeper political issue. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.480 Exactly, a deeper political malaise. And crucially, 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:12.259 McKay himself later acknowledged a failing there. 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:15.079 Oh, he did. Yeah, he admitted significant regret 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:17.440 about the film's political focus. He actually 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:20.059 said he effed up by not assigning more blame 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:22.339 to the Democrats who supported the Iraq war. 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:24.619 Wow, that's quite an admission. He said he read 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:27.140 the reviews and admitted they were fair, which 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:29.480 that moment, I think it's key to understanding 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.019 his trajectory. How so? He didn't just dismiss 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:34.720 the critique, he absorbed it. He seemed to realize 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:37.039 that if his goal was truly systemic critique, 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:40.180 he couldn't pull punches or simplify the blame 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:43.019 onto one party or one person. So that self -correction, 00:19:43.099 --> 00:19:45.799 that informed what came next. Directly informs 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:49.140 the heightened, urgent, and kind of all -encompassing 00:19:49.140 --> 00:19:51.400 critique you find in his next major project. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:54.920 Which brings us to 2021 in Don't Look Up. Right. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:58.220 Arguably his most direct statement yet. Moving 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:01.039 from analyzing historical corruption to tackling 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:04.319 an ongoing existential crisis. It was a satirical 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.359 black comedy. Two low level scientists trying 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:10.160 to warn this media distracted, politically cynical 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.299 world about a catastrophic comet heading for 00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:16.039 Earth. A thinly veiled allegory. Let's be honest. 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.400 Very thinly veiled. High stakes allegory for 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.019 the climate crisis. And the casting was clearly 00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:24.119 a strategic move. A mobilization mass of star 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:27.319 power to guarantee maximum audience reach. Leonardo 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:29.700 DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:31.720 Blanchett. I mean, the list goes on. The sheer 00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:34.660 celebrity density was part of the mechanism to. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:36.980 deliver that urgent message. Absolutely. It got 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:39.380 four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:42.859 again, won the WGA Award for Best Original Screenplay 00:20:42.859 --> 00:20:45.920 with David Sirota. So critically, it landed. 00:20:46.099 --> 00:20:48.950 But this film... maybe more than The Big Short 00:20:48.950 --> 00:20:52.289 or Vice. It drew criticism for being too broad, 00:20:52.329 --> 00:20:55.009 maybe, too obvious, too didactic, some said. 00:20:55.170 --> 00:20:57.029 Yeah, that was definitely a common critique. 00:20:57.269 --> 00:20:59.549 Like, was he sacrificing the sharp nuance of 00:20:59.549 --> 00:21:02.470 The Big Short for the, I don't know, blunt force 00:21:02.470 --> 00:21:04.650 trauma of his urgent message? And that's the 00:21:04.650 --> 00:21:06.730 tension he seems to be wrestling with right now, 00:21:06.789 --> 00:21:08.910 isn't it? The balance between art and activism, 00:21:09.309 --> 00:21:12.349 the comedic style is still there, the fast editing, 00:21:12.490 --> 00:21:14.890 the cutting away to media absurdity. Right, the 00:21:14.890 --> 00:21:17.539 toolkit is the same. But the target is so huge 00:21:17.539 --> 00:21:20.279 the literal fate of the planet that many felt 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:23.140 the satire didn't need to work as hard. The message 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:25.640 was the main thing. He seemed to be prioritizing 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:28.779 urgency and clarity over maybe a more subtle, 00:21:28.900 --> 00:21:31.660 multi -layered critique. And we can see that 00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:34.059 urgency really defining his most recent choices, 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.579 especially regarding projects that didn't happen. 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:39.140 Right. He was all set to direct Jennifer Lawrence 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:42.079 again in Bad Blood, the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:44.400 story. Which sounds like a perfect McKay project. 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.759 Another huge institutional collapse. Fits right 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:49.960 in his wheelhouse. Totally. But the project stalled. 00:21:50.339 --> 00:21:52.460 Lawrence left, apparently citing she didn't want 00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:54.619 to copy Amanda Seyfried's performance in The 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:57.140 Dropout, which was highly praised. Understandable, 00:21:57.140 --> 00:21:58.880 maybe. So the status of Bad Blood is kind of 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:02.539 unknown. But the next decision illuminates everything. 00:22:02.779 --> 00:22:05.980 What was that? Early 2023, his next big project 00:22:05.980 --> 00:22:08.839 gets announced. Average height, average build. 00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:12.539 A political satire about a serial killer who 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:14.579 uses political lobbying to make it easier for 00:22:14.579 --> 00:22:17.140 him to commit his crimes. Wow, that sounds dark 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:20.160 and topical. Yeah. Netflix acquired it. Massive 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:23.180 cast lined up. Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert 00:22:23.180 --> 00:22:25.279 Downey Jr. I mean, this looked like a surefire 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:29.319 hit. Dark comedy, star power, political commentary. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:32.460 Checks all the boxes. But then, December 2023, 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:36.279 news breaks. McKay had abruptly walked away from 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:38.599 the project. He walked away from that. Yep. And 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:40.880 Netflix subsequently scrapped it. The reason, 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:43.619 according to all our sources, he chose to pursue 00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:46.440 a film focused exclusively on the climate crisis. 00:22:46.819 --> 00:22:49.440 Exclusively climate. Feeling the need to address 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.579 that subject with more immediacy, more documentation 00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:55.779 than even a fictional satire like Average Height 00:22:55.779 --> 00:22:58.410 could allow. That decision. Wow. That really 00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:00.529 is the ultimate encapsulation of his trajectory, 00:23:00.630 --> 00:23:02.829 isn't it? Absolutely. He abandoned a guaranteed 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:05.670 commercial star studded multimillion dollar project 00:23:05.670 --> 00:23:07.849 to dedicate himself fully to the most immediate 00:23:07.849 --> 00:23:10.279 political crisis. It's like the heckler decided 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:12.559 the stakes are just too high now for jokes about 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.440 anything else. So when you look at the evolution 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:17.339 of his film choices, it's just impossible not 00:23:17.339 --> 00:23:20.119 to see it mirroring this deepening, increasingly 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:23.140 public political identity he's formed. They seem 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:25.579 completely intertwined now. Yeah, the sheer scale 00:23:25.579 --> 00:23:27.440 and complexity of the topics in The Big Short 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.859 and Vice, they weren't just career moves. They 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:33.960 felt like catalysts for his own profound political 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:36.869 shift. Our sources paint a pretty clear picture 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:40.269 of his, you know, standard liberal stances initially. 00:23:41.029 --> 00:23:43.509 Supports gun control, abortion rights, that kind 00:23:43.509 --> 00:23:46.730 of thing. His baseline stuff. But his critiques, 00:23:46.730 --> 00:23:49.549 like we saw with Vice, they became deeply anti 00:23:49.549 --> 00:23:51.450 -establishment and not really partisan in the 00:23:51.450 --> 00:23:54.029 traditional sense. Right. He's been notably critical, 00:23:54.150 --> 00:23:55.910 for example, of former President Bill Clinton, 00:23:56.089 --> 00:23:58.170 called him one of the worst presidents in the 00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:01.470 modern age. Really? Why specifically? criticizing 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:03.930 him specifically for deregulating banks back 00:24:03.930 --> 00:24:06.490 in the 90s, which, you know, laid the groundwork 00:24:06.490 --> 00:24:09.109 for the structural rot. The big short documented 00:24:09.109 --> 00:24:11.809 later connecting the dots and also criticizing 00:24:11.809 --> 00:24:14.130 Clinton's personal life in light of the MeToo 00:24:14.130 --> 00:24:16.950 movement. So it shows this interest in systemic 00:24:16.950 --> 00:24:19.769 accountability that goes beyond simple party 00:24:19.769 --> 00:24:22.430 loyalty and this intense desire for systemic 00:24:22.430 --> 00:24:25.230 change. It led to a pretty clear self -identification 00:24:25.230 --> 00:24:27.910 later on. Yeah. He identifies as a democratic 00:24:27.910 --> 00:24:30.910 socialist. Joined the Democratic Socialists of 00:24:30.910 --> 00:24:34.549 America, the DSA, back in 2019. And for you listening, 00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:36.569 it's probably vital to understand what that means 00:24:36.569 --> 00:24:39.349 in this context. Definitely. The DSA advocates 00:24:39.349 --> 00:24:42.930 for really radical changes to the economic and 00:24:42.930 --> 00:24:46.049 political structure, way beyond mainstream Democratic 00:24:46.049 --> 00:24:49.690 Party politics. So him joining the DSA, it's 00:24:49.690 --> 00:24:52.690 like a formal declaration that he views the fundamental 00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:55.309 American system capitalism, the two -party structure. 00:24:55.470 --> 00:24:58.750 as the hyper -object that needs dismantling. 00:24:58.789 --> 00:25:01.250 Pretty much. And he was a very dedicated supporter 00:25:01.250 --> 00:25:03.690 of Bernie Sanders for president in both 2016 00:25:03.690 --> 00:25:06.730 and 2020. And that desire to work outside the 00:25:06.730 --> 00:25:09.380 mainstream? That seems to be evolving even now. 00:25:09.539 --> 00:25:11.359 He recently announced he'd be leaving the Democratic 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.099 Party entirely after the 2024 election. Yeah, 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.640 stating he would register Green Party or maybe 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:19.480 Working Families Party. Which just further confirms 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:21.259 his belief that the kind of reforms he thinks 00:25:21.259 --> 00:25:23.819 are necessary require a third party approach, 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:26.420 something outside the current structure. And 00:25:26.420 --> 00:25:28.380 this aligns perfectly with his whiter activism, 00:25:28.539 --> 00:25:31.019 too. He serves on the Creative Council of Representatives. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.200 It's a nonpartisan anti -corruption organization. 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:37.259 They advocate for specific structural... changes, 00:25:37.380 --> 00:25:40.559 things like ranked choice voting, anti -gerrymandering 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:43.420 law stuff aimed at increasing political competition 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:46.059 and reducing the influence of big money in politics. 00:25:46.299 --> 00:25:48.759 It's all about changing the system's rules. Makes 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.019 sense. And beyond just domestic politics, he's 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:53.819 gotten involved in some pretty intense international 00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:56.700 activism, too, using his platform for some controversial 00:25:56.700 --> 00:25:58.940 stances. Yeah, definitely wading into difficult 00:25:58.940 --> 00:26:03.140 waters. In October 2023, he signed that Artists 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:05.700 for Ceasefire open letter regarding the Israeli 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:08.119 bomb. bombardment of Gaza. It got a lot of attention. 00:26:08.339 --> 00:26:11.279 It did. And then in what feels like a more long 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:13.779 term structural commitment in September 2025, 00:26:14.299 --> 00:26:17.200 he signed an open pledge with film workers for 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.730 Palestine. What did that pledge entail? vowing 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:22.069 not to work with Israeli film institutions that 00:26:22.069 --> 00:26:24.809 are implicated, in their words, in genocide and 00:26:24.809 --> 00:26:27.369 apartheid against the Palestinian people. These 00:26:27.369 --> 00:26:29.509 actions, they reflect an increasing willingness 00:26:29.509 --> 00:26:32.109 to engage in really high stakes political debate, 00:26:32.289 --> 00:26:34.450 potentially risking professional relationships 00:26:34.450 --> 00:26:37.609 for these activist causes. But what's truly defining 00:26:37.609 --> 00:26:41.569 this current phase and probably why he scrapped 00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:44.710 that Netflix film, it's climate urgency. Climate 00:26:44.710 --> 00:26:47.190 is number one now, clearly. And his activism 00:26:47.190 --> 00:26:50.150 there isn't just, you know, writing scripts or 00:26:50.150 --> 00:26:52.630 signing letters, he put serious money behind 00:26:52.630 --> 00:26:56.529 it. In 2022, he donated $4 million to the Climate 00:26:56.529 --> 00:26:59.269 Emergency Fund. Four million? That's significant. 00:26:59.690 --> 00:27:01.750 And joined their board of directors. He's also 00:27:01.750 --> 00:27:04.150 donated to Just Stop Oil. And these aren't subtle 00:27:04.150 --> 00:27:06.250 endorsements, right? The Climate Emergency Fund 00:27:06.250 --> 00:27:09.089 specifically finances disruptive climate activism, 00:27:09.369 --> 00:27:13.029 civil disobedience, direct action stuff. So McKay 00:27:13.029 --> 00:27:15.289 isn't just funding political campaigns anymore. 00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:18.450 He's funding direct confrontational action against 00:27:18.450 --> 00:27:20.769 the very structures he critiques in his films. 00:27:20.930 --> 00:27:22.970 He's putting his money where his mouth is, basically. 00:27:23.170 --> 00:27:25.970 And to channel that urgency creatively, he founded 00:27:25.970 --> 00:27:29.589 Yellow Dock Studios in 2023, a nonprofit company. 00:27:29.930 --> 00:27:31.910 This feels like a crucial development. Della 00:27:31.910 --> 00:27:34.089 Dot Studios is designed specifically to produce 00:27:34.089 --> 00:27:37.049 videos, campaigns focused on raising awareness 00:27:37.049 --> 00:27:39.309 and mobilizing action on the climate emergency. 00:27:39.569 --> 00:27:41.410 And specifically tackling misinformation from 00:27:41.410 --> 00:27:44.269 the oil industry. Exactly. Fighting the counter 00:27:44.269 --> 00:27:47.009 -narrative. And the output from Yellow Dot, it's 00:27:47.009 --> 00:27:49.349 very different from his feature films. How so? 00:27:49.829 --> 00:27:53.130 It's often shorter form, more documentary focused, 00:27:53.569 --> 00:27:56.750 designed for social media, quick dissemination. 00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:00.470 It's almost a return, in a way, to the viral 00:28:00.470 --> 00:28:02.789 efficiency of Funny or Die. But with a life or 00:28:02.789 --> 00:28:05.579 death message this time. Precisely. It shows 00:28:05.579 --> 00:28:08.240 him actively blending that comedic marketing 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:11.220 expertise he has with his activist financing, 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:14.539 a new synthesis. He's also been really open about 00:28:14.539 --> 00:28:17.519 the personal cost of this intense focus, hasn't 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.579 he? Talking about his own struggles with climate 00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:21.759 anxiety. Yeah, the psychological toll. And the 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.059 crucial role that comedy and humor still play. 00:28:24.490 --> 00:28:27.690 for him in managing that fear. He sees humor 00:28:27.690 --> 00:28:29.849 as necessary not to distract, but to provide 00:28:29.849 --> 00:28:32.329 maybe the distance needed to process something 00:28:32.329 --> 00:28:34.670 truly terrifying without just shutting down completely. 00:28:34.950 --> 00:28:37.089 Which is remarkable, especially considering that 00:28:37.089 --> 00:28:39.289 someone known for such physically chaotic comedy 00:28:39.289 --> 00:28:41.569 has also dealt with chronic physical issues himself 00:28:41.569 --> 00:28:43.509 for a long time. Right, the essential tremor. 00:28:43.569 --> 00:28:45.490 Yeah, diagnosed around the year 2000, it's a 00:28:45.490 --> 00:28:48.130 neurological condition, causes his body and voice 00:28:48.130 --> 00:28:51.309 to quiver sometimes. He first noticed the shaking 00:28:51.309 --> 00:28:53.309 way back when he was performing with Second City, 00:28:53.410 --> 00:28:57.509 only 26 years old. Wow. And that diagnosis, it 00:28:57.509 --> 00:28:59.670 really speaks volumes about his professional 00:28:59.670 --> 00:29:02.400 resilience, doesn't it? Absolutely. He's had 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.599 to adapt his working environment to manage it. 00:29:04.700 --> 00:29:07.279 Reports say he does print interviews lying down, 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.839 televised ones in a special high -backed chair 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:13.119 sometimes. Yet despite that, his creative output 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:15.980 has only accelerated and moved into increasingly 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:19.000 demanding, complex subjects. It's pretty incredible. 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.680 And speaking of health and resilience, that heart 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.480 attack anecdote from 2018 while he was filming 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:27.319 Vice. That's just an unbelievable piece of meta 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.180 -satire you couldn't even write into a movie. 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:32.299 The irony is just immense. Filming a movie about 00:29:32.299 --> 00:29:35.500 Dick Cheney, a guy famous for his multiple heart 00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:38.140 issues, bypass surgeries. And McKay has a heart 00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:40.240 attack during production. Unbelievable. And he 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:42.920 credited the intense research he did into Cheney's 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:45.200 health for the film. With helping him recognize 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:48.769 his own symptoms instantly. Yeah. Getting him 00:29:48.769 --> 00:29:51.349 to the hospital before any permanent damage occurred, 00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:54.750 the information he sought out to make art literally 00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:57.359 saved his life. And he delivered the perfect 00:29:57.359 --> 00:29:59.799 punchline for it later, didn't he? Being quoted 00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:02.519 saying, either Christian Bale or Dick Cheney 00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:05.799 just saved my life. Lips. It's the highest form 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.400 of comedic self -reference. The director absorbing 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:11.299 the material so deeply, it actually alters his 00:30:11.299 --> 00:30:14.480 own reality. Just incredible. Beyond his huge 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:17.799 film career, his presence in audio, in podcasting, 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:19.940 has also been pretty consistent. Shows his interest 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:22.680 in non -visual storytelling, too. Right. He hosted 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:25.140 that science comedy podcast, surprisingly... 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:27.359 awesome for a bit. Yeah, and produced several 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:29.759 really deeply researched documentary podcast 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:32.480 series. Things like Broken, Jeffrey Epstein, 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.680 Broken, Seeking Justice, and Death at the Wing 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:37.819 that one investigated those mysterious deaths 00:30:37.819 --> 00:30:39.940 among young basketball players in the 80s and 00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:42.819 90s. Really compelling stuff. And later he hosted 00:30:42.819 --> 00:30:45.160 Death on the Lot, focusing on celebrity deaths 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:48.880 in 1950s Hollywood. So his commitment to investigative, 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.200 long -form journalism, even in audio, just further 00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:55.369 proves this dedication he has to revealing hidden 00:30:55.369 --> 00:30:58.789 truths and, again, systemic failures. It's all 00:30:58.789 --> 00:31:00.730 part of the same project. Hashtag tag outro. 00:31:01.329 --> 00:31:06.609 So, OK, what does this entire wildly productive, 00:31:06.890 --> 00:31:10.430 increasingly politically focused career, what 00:31:10.430 --> 00:31:13.180 does it all mean for you, the listener? We've 00:31:13.180 --> 00:31:14.859 traced, I think, a pretty coherent line. Yeah, 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:17.019 there's a definite thread. From Keith, the obnoxious 00:31:17.019 --> 00:31:19.900 audience member, heckling hosts on SNL, all the 00:31:19.900 --> 00:31:21.940 way to the director who uses cinematic satire 00:31:21.940 --> 00:31:24.420 and now direct funding to challenge the most 00:31:24.420 --> 00:31:26.920 entrenched power structures we have in finance, 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.059 government, and climate policy. The central thread, 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:31.559 I think, is that unwavering anti -establishment 00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:34.839 critique. But the genius of McKay's unique storytelling 00:31:34.839 --> 00:31:37.440 model, it's the way he uses these hyper -accessible 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:39.900 formats. Like what? Viral videos, broad ensemble 00:31:39.900 --> 00:31:42.299 comedies, big Netflix features loaded with A 00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:45.099 -list movie stars. He uses those to smuggle in 00:31:45.099 --> 00:31:47.259 these really complex critiques. Right. He gets 00:31:47.259 --> 00:31:49.440 the mass audience in the door with the promise 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:51.910 of laughter and famous faces. And then, bam, 00:31:52.130 --> 00:31:55.549 he delivers a devastating research lesson about 00:31:55.549 --> 00:31:57.750 how things are broken. He really is a bridge, 00:31:57.849 --> 00:32:00.130 isn't he? Yeah. Between pop culture and political 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:03.369 urgency, he taught a whole generation about collateralized 00:32:03.369 --> 00:32:06.509 debt obligations using Selena Gomez in a bathtub. 00:32:06.829 --> 00:32:09.230 Incredible. And now he's trying to mobilize action 00:32:09.230 --> 00:32:11.789 on the climate crisis using the urgency of a 00:32:11.789 --> 00:32:14.970 giant comet strike. But the tension now is clear, 00:32:15.170 --> 00:32:17.630 I think. That decision to abandon the serial 00:32:17.630 --> 00:32:20.089 killer comedy, average height, average build, 00:32:20.210 --> 00:32:23.769 to focus purely on a climate film, it reflects 00:32:23.769 --> 00:32:27.240 this growing... internal debate maybe about the 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:29.640 limits of satire itself. Like is humor still 00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:31.619 potent enough when the house is truly actually 00:32:31.619 --> 00:32:35.099 on fire? Exactly. Is satire the right tool for 00:32:35.099 --> 00:32:37.420 this moment? It's shift. It really demonstrates 00:32:37.420 --> 00:32:39.740 the real world application of the knowledge we've 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:41.980 gained about his priorities today. So the provocative 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:44.019 thought we want to leave you with is this. Adam 00:32:44.019 --> 00:32:45.940 McKay is one of the most commercially successful 00:32:45.940 --> 00:32:49.740 directors of his generation, period. If he is 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:53.490 willing to abandon guaranteed hits. Prioritize 00:32:53.490 --> 00:32:55.990 urgent activism by focusing solely on climate 00:32:55.990 --> 00:32:59.190 collapse. How might that decision start to reshape 00:32:59.190 --> 00:33:01.410 the future of commercial filmmaking aimed at 00:33:01.410 --> 00:33:04.690 mass audiences? That's a huge question. It raises 00:33:04.690 --> 00:33:06.490 the fundamental question for the whole industry. 00:33:06.829 --> 00:33:09.390 Yeah. When you're confronting crises of this 00:33:09.390 --> 00:33:13.059 magnitude, is satire still the best weapon? Or 00:33:13.059 --> 00:33:14.700 does the modern moment demand documentation, 00:33:15.059 --> 00:33:17.500 mobilization, above all else? That's the journey 00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:19.420 we're all going to be watching McKay embark upon 00:33:19.420 --> 00:33:22.460 next. A phenomenal deep dive into just a dynamic 00:33:22.460 --> 00:33:25.000 and incredibly urgent career. Thank you for joining 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:26.579 us. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next time 00:33:26.579 --> 00:33:27.319 on The Deep Dive.