The Untold Truth Of Michael McKean

Some actors like to think they live their lives on the edge, but has anyone turned it up to 11 quite like Michael McKean? While he might be best known for being the lead singer of the fictional English rock band Spinal Tap in "This Is Spinal Tap," McKean has established himself as not only a talented actor but also a total package in entertainment. Seriously, one would need to look far and wide for another actor who is also a successful comedian, screenwriter, composer, and musician. What's even more remarkable is how he has managed to reinvent himself and not be stuck to one singular project at any point.

For decades, McKean has entertained us, but how much do we really know about him? Aside from the personal details he has opted to reveal in interviews, there's more to his career and life than meets the eye. From his love for superheroes and Turner Classic Movies to his unexpected firing from "Saturday Night Live" and a lawsuit involving Spinal Tap, here is the untold truth of Michael McKean.

While Michael McKean has proven himself a more than capable musician and dramatic actor, he is also renowned for having the comedic chops to have the audience in stitches. Most people will point to his performance as David St. Hubbins in the mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" as his most hilarious moment in the genre; however, he also had a stint on "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-'90s. As per Entertainment Weekly, it was the second time he had been approached to appear on the show, since he'd turned down the opportunity a decade earlier.

However, his stint on "SNL" didn't last as long as some might have expected, including himself. McKean joined the cast in 1994 and departed a little over a year later. Chatting to Recode Media (via Vox), McKean revealed that he didn't leave on his own terms but was pushed out with everyone else. "No, they cleaned house, but the main year I was on, it was ... Not all the elements were gelling," he said. "Let's just put it that way." McKean added that there was a New York columnist who would write a weekly article criticizing the show and asking for it to be canceled, and it struck a nerve since it was disheartening to read such negative reviews on a regular basis.

One of the best parts about "This Is Spinal Tap" was how it parodied the self-seriousness and overindulgence of the rock 'n' roll genre. It poked fun in the right kind of way as the actors nailed down the prototype for the mockumentary genre that would become the template for future films. What was particularly impressive was how it relied on the actors' improvisation skills to carry the film and cement the cast as legitimate comedic talents — but would this have been entirely possible with a by-the-numbers script in place?

In an interview with Slate, Michael McKean discussed how the plans for "This Is Spinal Tap" were originally far more traditional in nature. "We actually started writing a screenplay, because the company paid us to write a screenplay," he said. "I think we got about a page and a half into it, and we just said, this is really boring. This is not going to yield what we want to show. And we said, well, let's really do it documentary style." Good thing that they trusted their intuition here since the film became a cult classic and is set to receive a sequel in 2024, as per Variety.

There is a saying that "half the battle is showing up every day." Most successful people attest to this, believing that consistency and reliability are the two most important ingredients for a long career. Considering Michael McKean's decade-spanning experiences across film, television, music and theater, it's safe to say that he's the poster child of showing up — and he agrees, bar that one time when the choice was taken out of his hands.

In an interview with Esquire, McKean revealed how important his stage shows were to him and how he prided himself on always appearing, until an unfortunate instance forced him to miss a scheduled show for the play "All the Way." "I had been one of those guys who had never ever missed a curtain until May 22, 2012, when I was hit by a car," he said. "That's the first time I ever missed a curtain. The string was broken anyway, so it was very difficult to leave ['All the Way']. I think I only missed five performances total." Talk about total commitment to the cause.

The first season of "Good Omens," the television adaptation of the fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, featured a stellar cast. From the likes of Michael Sheen to Michael McKean, there was no shortage of talent as there was a star in every role. In the series, McKean portrayed Sergeant Shadwell, the last of a witchfinder army.

Despite there being a famous face in every scene (and lest we forget, the four horsemen of the apocalypse), that didn't stop David Tennant, who played the demon Crowley, from succumbing to the nerves of sharing the screen with McKean, an actor he deeply admired. "It's not very helpful being starstruck," Tennant told The Sydney Morning Herald. "I was very starstruck by Billy Connolly a few years ago and it takes you a couple of days to relax. Really, it's not helpful because you don't do your best work when you're slightly in awe of the people around you." As long as Tennant didn't ask for a selfie while McKean was filming a scene or waiting for him outside of the bathroom, it's unlikely that the veteran actor would have been too bothered about Tennant's enthusiasm for his body of work.

"This Is Spinal Tap" was all about the chuckles in 1984, but it was no laughing matter for Harry Shearer. In 2016, the actor filed a lawsuit against Vivendi SA, claiming that accounting related to the total income of the film and its merchandise had been misreported and not in line with the initial agreements signed by the respective parties, as per Spin. Shearer claimed $125 million in compensation. A year later, Shearer's collaborators — Michael McKean, Rob Reiner, and Christopher Guest — joined the lawsuit, raising the total claim to $400 million.

"'This is Spinal Tap' was the result of four very stubborn guys working very hard to create something new under the sun," McKean said in a statement. "The movie's influence on the last three decades of film comedy is something we are very proud of. But the buck always stopped somewhere short of Rob, Harry, Chris and myself. It's time for a reckoning. It's only right."

As per a Deadline report in 2020, the parties reached a settlement. Undoubtedly, this is also the reason that there was a delay in announcing the long-awaited sequel to "This Is Spinal Tap."

As is clear enough, "This Is Spinal Tap" hit the nail on the head in terms of the silliness of rock bands and their antics. For years, band members had done outlandish things and behaved strangely in the press, but it had all been shrugged off as rock stars simply being rock stars. Thanks to the 1984 mockumentary, Spinal Tap became the recognizable term for these kinds of groups, especially when they were odder than otter. So which band could be considered a real-life version of Spinal Tap then?

Well, there's no one better than Mr. David St. Hubbins to answer that question. In a hilarious interview with The A.V. Club, Michael McKean opened up about which group he would consider the closest to Spinal Tap. "Well, there really is no one answer," he said. "I heard a rumor that Foghat or Foreigner or Journey ... One of those bands. I think maybe Foghat, because I don't think it was anybody as big as Journey where a girlfriend took over management of the band and was using astrology as a guide." Hmm ... the question is, what do Foghat's members think of this comparison? Maybe some bands might not want to be known as the real-life Spinal Tap.