Adam McKay.

• Author: Sirota, David
• Position: THE PROGRESSIVE INTERVIEW - Interview

Politics and comedy in America have always needed each other, since it is often difficult to discern whether what you are seeing, reading, and hearing is real life or fiction. Quite often, comedy is the way to both make light of it all and also distill serious political trends down to their core essence.

That, in fact, is what Adam McKay has made his career doing. For years, the writer, director, and producer has presented hilarious-yet-biting takes on everything from the shamelessness of Presidential politics to the demise of journalism to the nihilism of local Congressional campaigns--and he's done it all while making America guffaw. In the process, this son of a working-class single mom has turned himself into a Hollywood mogul.

Today, McKay has his hands in seemingly everything. Through Gary Sanchez Productions, the firm he co-owns with his old Saturday Night Live buddy Will Ferrell, McKay runs the online juggernaut Funny Or Die, produces films like The Campaign, and incubates television shows to follow in the footsteps of his past hits like Eastbound & Down. In his off time, he also raises funds for Move to Amend, the nonprofit working to limit the role of corporate money in election campaigns.

Though he's one of the busiest people around, McKay made time to chat with The Progressive about how Hollywood and politics intersect, what drives his work and where his next projects will be.

Q: What do you make of Hollywood's liberal reputation?

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

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. You can't really be a significant or important or effective artist while arguing that billionaires should get to keep everything they want and fuck the poor. 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.

But in general, the final filter of Hollywood is for-profit. Nothing goes through unless it can make money.

Q: The right assumes that because this or that celebrity is personally liberal, that means that what...