From telling lies in Philly to getting laughs with Ferrell

Adam McKay used to lie to tourists for a living.

A mere 19 years ago, as a Temple student and struggling stand-up comic, the Malvern-bred McKay was one of those carriage drivers offering out-of-towners a horse-drawn tour of Philly's historic district.

"I would go by Ben Franklin's house and say it was used as a beacon for ancient extraterrestrials," recalls McKay. "We'd go by Independence Hall and question the Declaration of Independence - 'Many Americans still feel that it was too bold a move against the English monarchy. . . .' And no one would ever blink."

Those clippity-clop days down Old City's cobblestones are but a fond memory for McKay, who left the Philly comedy scene in 1990, plied his trade in Chicago improv circles (Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade) and then landed a gig on Saturday Night Live in New York.

McKay and some tall, goofy, curly-headed guy named Will Ferrell interviewed for employment at NBC's late-night comedy show on the same day. McKay got hired as a writer, Ferrell as one of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.

Seven seasons later they quit the show and headed west to make movies. McKay and Ferrell's first collaboration: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). The duo's second: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006).

Their latest is Step Brothers - no colon, no long title, but just as many laughs. Ferrell and John C. Reilly star as grown men still living at home with their respective single parents - played by Mary Steenburgen (as Ferrell's mom) and Richard Jenkins. When those two marry, their developmentally arrested, slacker slob sons are forced to not only share the same house, but the same bedroom. Mayhem ensues.

The film, which opens Friday, is the team's first R-rated venture. McKay directed, and shares writing credits with Ferrell. The humor is considerably raunchier, and one scene - involving a Ferrell body part and a drum kit - offers the kind of OMG moment that ranks right up there in the annals of outrageous frat-boy farce.

"Oh, yeah, that always gets a huge shriek of horror and joy," he says about the scene, on the phone from his office in Los Angeles.

"We had done our first two movies and they were PG-13," he continues. "But once we knew we were going R on this, it was just so much fun to let the door wide open. . . .

"None of it is mean-spirited - you know, we're not putting a crochet needle through the testicles or something sadistic like that. My gauge is always like, if my daughter were 16 or 17 and saw this would I freak out, and my answer was always no. It's pretty silly. . . .

"And anyway," he adds, "the reaction we had to the dog being kicked off the bridge in Anchorman was far more questionable than this. We did a press screening for that where one of the reviewers stood up and yelled at the crowd not to laugh at the dog being kicked. 'THAT'S NOT FUNNY, DON'T LAUGH!'

"We haven't had anything like that on this. This is pretty juvenile fun."

Juvenile indeed. Like the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, like W.C. Fields, McKay and Ferrell work in a field of comedy where emotional immaturity reigns supreme.

"I don't know if I could do a 'grown-up' comedy," says McKay, who is a grown-up - he was born in 1968. But he is planning to do a comedy that doesn't have Ferrell as one of its stars.

"It's called Channel 3 Billion. This guy Dennis McNicholas and I wrote it years back, and it's just always stuck in my mind. I want to do like a Sin City-type of movie, but sci-fi. And do a movie without Will, even though I could easily do all my movies with Will. . . . But I thought that's probably a reason to do one without him, just for the hell of it."

Have no fear, though - McKay and Ferrell will be back. Probably with the further adventures of that dunderheaded San Diego news reader, Ron Burgundy.

"Yup, we're working on Anchorman 2," McKay confirms. "We thought that would be a fun sequel to do. It will probably involve the corporate takeover of the station, and [we'll] just have Will Ferrell be oblivious to it all and just playing right along, promoting the next episode of Survivor."

The duo also collaborated on a homemade short called "The Landlord," in which a tiny 2-year-old comes along demanding her rent from a deadbeat tenant. The epithet-slinging title role belongs to McKay's daughter, Pearl. The guy behind on his payments: Will Ferrell. McKay says that "The Landlord" has now seen something like 65 million hits - "the second-most hits in the history of the Internet."

If you're not one of those 65 million, "The Landlord" can be found on funnyordie.com, the Web site McKay and his pals launched last year as a venue for online comedy shorts. The Funny or Die site has proven a huge success, offering a platform for comics and filmmakers (including producer Judd Apatow), and attracting the eyes of HBO, which struck up a partnership with McKay and his colleagues. The premium cable channel is planning a series of at least 10 half-hour Funny or Die compilation shows.

"It's a great chance to goof around and try stuff," McKay says. "All our friends have really taken to it."

And here's a coincidence: They're showing deleted scenes and outtakes from a movie called Step Brothers on the site, too.