Adam McKay Quotes

Benito Mussolini created the word 'fascism.' He defined it as 'the merging of the state and the corporation.' He also said a more accurate word would be 'corporatism.' This was the definition in Webster's up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster's and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations.

Can anything good come of a backward way of thinking like judging someone based on skin color? No way.

Creative freedom is a huge carrot.

'Blazing Saddles' is one of the funniest movies ever made.

Dave Herman as Michael Bolton is one of my favorite performances ever.

We're always looking for the backbone, the central idea, and once you have that you know everything can circle around it.

The easiest time to be funny is during a fairly serious situation. That way you can break the ice.

Nothing is funnier than confidently doing the wrong thing.

You have to be able to fail with the improv. You have to not care.

Normally when it hits two and a half, three hours, the audience gets exhausted and start yawning.

Hollywood has to appeal to the broadest audience, and when it comes to most social and economic issues, America is progressive. Because of that, the messages that are in Hollywood movies tend to be, for instance, pro-environment.

I think that the job of art and culture is to jump on that time and realize that it's there and to push it just a little bit faster.

In general foreign invested companies who come to America to start a company, to open a manufacturing business or whatnot, they actually provide much higher wages than American companies.

I have certain beliefs about how people should treat employees and how companies should be run, but I was really surprised though this process to learn that those beliefs are actually good business.

I would never call myself cultural elite, but you might be cultural elite.

I'm not against banking. Banking allowed our modern society to happen, it is essential. It connects the work through finance, so banking is good.

I could see how people get addicted to animation, and I understand why it's so great for comedy. You can do whatever you want and it just happens.

The only way that Hollywood ever skews toward liberal is because part of what we make out of Hollywood involves writers, actors, directors, musicians, set designers, and photographers. In general, people like that are going to be more progressive, more open minded, a little more altruistic.

I don't think there's ever been a moment in history where that, as an artistic message, has played very well, because people in their hearts know that's terrible and a lie.

It's just funny that Americans have to contend with 2000 channels, and 60 different specific news sources, and the confusion that it creates, and the junk that we get to see is hilarious.

The crush of lobbyists on Washington and purchase of the media by corporations has created a big business-run government and a worthless press leaving Americans screwed and ill-informed.

Any time Chris Nolan wants to call me for advice, he can.

I don't want to speak for my movies; you could say my movies are just completely silly and dumb, but in the case of 'Idiocracy' and 'Borat,' without a doubt there is a really subversive and sophisticated assault on American culture. It's one thing to mess stuff up and break stuff, but [Borat] is really pointing out the ideology of America. It's one thing to break stuff and damage people's possessions, but when you start aiming at the ideology of America, that's dangerous comedy.

White-collar crime has been marketed - billions of dollars have been put in to have us be bored by it.

Anyone in the comedy world knows that Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell are two of the funniest guys around.

The way you really stop Al-Qaeda is by stopping their funding. It's not by carpet-bombing or land invasions or anything.

Every time a congressman or pundit says its 'class warfare' to increase taxes on the wealthy, it's a massive lie.

For my money, I don't think there's been a better comedy than 'Kung Fu Hustle' in a lot of years. That movie just knocked me over.

Celebrities and 'famous' people are just regular folks. I know, it's a shocking and potentially dangerous statement.

I gotta say - if I clicked on a movie interview, and the first part was all about Walt Whitman, I'd love that article.

If all else fails, you can always be a pro.

We get so much information during the day that doesn't really tell us anything.

As far as how much you listen to the audience, you listen to them when they really hate something.

“Firewall” seems both scary and protective at the same time. And how often does that happen within one word besides “military” and “government?”

Hollywood is for-profit, is what Hollywood is. All the studios are owned by big, megacorporations that are the furthest thing from liberal you can possibly imagine.

Obamacare is a private mandate that will drive billions to the insurance industry, much like the auto insurance mandate. Hardly socialism. In fact, it was a Republican plan to begin with.

The easiest time to be funny is during a fairly serious situation. That way, you can break the ice. It's crazy, but even at funerals, people will get huge laughs.

I've gotten like five laughs in movies, just off guy hugs.

I'm just a giant film fan, so I love action movies out of all kinds of movies. As a film geek, it's amazing to be able to shoot this stuff.

There's a lot of things you can't control. But you can always be a pro.

You could feel America starting to ease up a little bit on racism, against blacks in certain pockets, and then suddenly The Cosby Show bubbled up and it was the right time for it.

As for movies, what's great about comedy is that if your movie gets laughs and makes money, you have freedom.

I grew up with a single mom who was a waitress. We were on food stamps. My mom then got Pell Grants, put herself through college to get a degree to get a better job. Because we were broke, I then had to go to a state school. I went to Temple University, and had to get loans. So I grew up in a world where I saw the government helping individuals pull themselves up, and saw it work very successfully.

There's always way less improv than people think. The truth is something like 15 percent.

Blanket cynicism toward government has always existed.

Animals talking are very rarely funny. But animals behaving as animals - always funny.

I always give myself a little part in every movie.

Every time I wrote a sketch that was in my voice, Ferrell would just do it better.

I think what's dangerous [about comedy] is that you're coming into the room announcing your intentions.

We punch mirrors and we explore our darker selves. No, it's just an amalgam of all newscasters that we grew up with. Sort of like before there was cable, when these people were like gods.