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Milestones
- 2004: Replaced Harvey Fierstein in the role of Edna Turnblad in the broadway production of "Hairspray"
- 2003: Co-starred in the Hollywood/Bollywood satire "The Guru"
- 2003: Featured in the comedy "A Mighty Wind", with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy; received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song
- 2002: Starred in writer-director Harry Shearer's ensemble corporate retreat comedy "Teddy Bears' Picnic"
- 2002: Had supporting role in the fiftysomething romantic comedy "Never Again"
- 2002: Appeared as an early video equipment executive in the Bob Crane biopic "Auto Focus"
- 2001: Co-starred as bandleader Adrien Van Vorhees on the Comedy Central series "Primetime Glick", starring Martin Short
- 2001: Appeared in director Christine Lahti's debut feature "My First Mister"
- 2000: Was one of the canine owners in the hilarious "Best in Show", directed by Christopher Guest
- 2000: Appeared in the beauty pageant spoof "Beautiful"
- 1999: Portrayed the high school principal in "Teaching Mrs. Tingle"
- 1997: Had featured role in the feature remake of "That Darn Cat"
- 1995: Cast as the villainous neighbor in "The Brady Bunch Movie"
- 1994: Joined the regular cast of the NBC latenight comedy-variety series, "Saturday Night Live"
- 1992: First TV producing credit, as one of the co-producers of the NBC rock'n'roll comedy special, "A Spinal Tap Reunion"; was also one of the writers of the special, and recreated his role as David St. Hubbins from the film, "This Is Spinal Tap"
- 1991: Directed one episode, and wrote another, for the short-lived CBS sitcom, "Morton & Hayes", whose executive producers included Rob Reiner (who also "hosted" the series) and Christopher Guest
- 1991: Played Dan Carver on the six-episode HBO comedy series, "Sessions"
- 1990: Joined cast of HBO comedy series "Dream On" in recurring role of Gibby
- 1990: Played one of the leading roles, that of Tom Smithson, on the NBC comedy series, "Grand"
- 1989: First non-US film, "Earth Girls Are Easy"
- 1989: Co-wrote the screenplay for a second film, "The Big Picture", directed by Christopher Guest
- 1987: Directed the Showtime TV comedy special, "The Rich Hall Show"
- 1987: Played two roles in the TV-movie spy spoof, "Double Agent"
- 1986: Played first leading role in a TV-movie, "Classified Love"; also marked his first romantic lead on TV
- 1984: First feature credit as screenwriter, song performer and songwriter, "This Is Spinal Tap", directed by Reiner and co-starring Reiner, Guest and Shearer; the four of them also co-wrote the screenplay
- 1982: Played first leading role in a feature in "Young Doctors in Love"
- 1979: Notable early collaboration with Christopher Guest (and also Harry Shearer from The Credibility Gap), "The TV Show", a pilot for a comedy series involving sketches which spoofed television
- 1978: First TV-movie, "More Than Friends"; also marked early collaboration with Rob Reiner
- 1977: Made feature film debut in "Cracking Up"
- 1975: Hired as a writer for the upcoming sitcom, "Laverne and Shirley", along with Shearer and Lander; reportedly, series star Penny Marshall suggested that McKean and Lander could play recurring oddball characters, which led to the roles of Lenny and Squiggy
- From 1970 to 1975: Also toured with The Credibility Gap
- 1970: Moved to Los Angeles; helped form the comedy group The Credibility Gap, which also featured Harry Shearer, David L. Lander and Richard Bebe and for a time had a program on the radio
- 1961: Began acting in plays at age 14 and performed in 22 of them by the time he graduated from high school (date approximate)
- Performed for a time with the Left Banke singing group in the late 1960s before returning to college, this time enrolling in New York University's school of the arts
- Raised in Sea Cliff, a small town on Long Island NY
- Hosted a series of specials on Comedy Central, "Uncomfortably Close With Michael McKean"
- First came to prominence on his TV series debut with the hit ABC sitcom, "Laverne and Shirley", in which he played Lenny Kosnoski
- Directed an episode, "Felines...Nothing More Than Felines", of the HBO comedy series, "Dream On"; also performed on the show
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