Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, and musician.
Born in New York City, McKean started his career as Lenny Kosnowski in the ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley from 1976 to 1983. He was briefly a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for its 19th and 20th seasons from 1994 to 1995, and played Gibby Fiske in HBO series Dream On (1990–96). He has acted in films such as Used Cars (1980), Clue (1985), and The Big Picture (1989), the last of which he also co-wrote.
McKean is also known for having collaborated with Christopher Guest acting in his films such as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). He co-wrote the song "A Mighty Wind" (for the Guest film A Mighty Wind), for which he won a Grammy Award. Along with his wife, Annette O’Toole, McKean also co-wrote "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" from the same film, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2019 for his role as Chuck McGill on the AMC series Better Call Saul (2015–18; 2022). Since 2020, he has voiced Lou Pickles in Nickelodeon's Rugrats franchise. He has acted in shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, Grace and Frankie, Breeders, and The Diplomat.
On stage, McKean made his Broadway debut as Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray (2004). He took on dual roles portraying J. Edgar Hoover and Robert Byrd in the political epic play All the Way (2014). He has acted in Broadway plays such as the Tracy Letts play Superior Donuts (2009), the Gore Vidal revival The Best Man (2012), and the Lillian Hellman revival The Little Foxes (2017). McKean is the twenty-third highest-earning game show contestant of all time, having accumulated $1,115,400 during his appearances on Celebrity Jeopardy!.
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Early life
Michael John McKean was born October 17, 1947, in New York City at Manhattan Women's Hospital. He is the son of Gilbert S. McKean, one of the founders of Decca Records, and Ruth Stewart McKean, a librarian, and was raised in Sea Cliff, New York, on Long Island. He graduated from North Shore High School in 1965. In early 1967, he was briefly a member of the New York City "baroque pop" band the Left Banke and played on the "Ivy, Ivy" single (B-side: "And Suddenly").
Career
McKean began his career (as well as the characters of Lenny and Squiggy) in Pittsburgh while a student at Carnegie Mellon; David Lander was a fellow student at CMU. Their partnership grew after graduation as part of the comedy group The Credibility Gap with Harry Shearer in Los Angeles, but McKean's breakthrough came in 1976 when he and Lander joined the cast of Laverne & Shirley portraying Lenny and Squiggy. McKean directed one episode, and the characters became something of a phenomenon, even releasing an album as Lenny and the Squigtones in 1979, which featured a young Christopher Guest on guitar (credited as Nigel Tufnel, the name Guest also used that year in his first appearance as part of the spoof rock band Spinal Tap). "Foreign Legion of Love" was a big hit for the Squigtones, with frequent play on the Dr. Demento Show. McKean also played his character in an episode of Happy Days. After leaving Laverne & Shirley in 1982, McKean appeared in the film spoof Young Doctors in Love, then two years later as David St. Hubbins in the comedy This Is Spinal Tap with both Guest and Shearer.
McKean quickly became a recognizable name in film and television, with appearances in movies such as Used Cars (1980), Clue (1985), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), and taking a lead role in Short Circuit 2 (1988). He appeared opposite Kiefer Sutherland and Dennis Hopper in Flashback (1990). The same year, McKean was part of an ensemble cast in the television series Grand, which aired for a short time. In 1991, McKean co-wrote (with Christopher Guest) the second episode and later directed the final episode of the mock documentary series Morton & Hayes, created by Phil Mishkin and Rob Reiner. McKean appeared in a number of film roles, including the film adaptation of Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Coneheads (1993), Airheads (1994), and Radioland Murders (1994).
After he appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest and later as a guest host, McKean joined the cast from 1994 to 1995. At age 46, he was the oldest person ever to join the SNL cast at the time (later surpassed by Leslie Jones, who joined in 2014 at age 47), one of a handful of SNL cast members who weren't already hired to work behind the scenes (like SNL's numerous writers-turned-cast members) to appear on the show before becoming a cast member and the only one to be a musical guest and a host before becoming a cast member. During this time, he also released a video follow-up to Spinal Tap, played the villainous Mr. Dittmeyer in The Brady Bunch Movie, and played the boss Gibby in the series Dream On. After leaving Saturday Night Live, McKean spent a lot of time doing children's fare, voicing various TV shows and films. In 1997, he performed the lead voice role in the video game Zork Grand Inquisitor as Dalboz of Gurth and appeared in the 1999 films Teaching Mrs. Tingle and Mystery, Alaska.
Personal life
In 1970, McKean married Susan Russell in Westminster, California. They had two sons, Colin (1976–2012) and Fletcher (born 1985), before divorcing in 1993. Colin also became an actor, but died in 2012 from an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 36. McKean married actress and singer Annette O'Toole on March 20, 1999, becoming stepfather to her two daughters Nell and Anna.
Characters on SNL
Recurring characters
Anthony, the weatherman from Good Morning, Brooklyn
