McDonald’s career skyrocketed in 1998 when he joined the late-night sketch-comedy show MADtv. MADtv ran from 1995 through 2009 on the Fox network. McDonald became the face of the show and created the program’s most memorable characters, including a boy named Stuart. He was also the only cast member to earn tenure in his tenth season at the show. In 2007 he left the program to pursue other acting opportunities and to work on his stand-up comedy. McDonald’s hard work on the stand-up circuit led to his first comedy special, Michael McDonald: Model Citizen, which premiered on Showtime in the fall of 2010.
Along with stand-up comedy, McDonald has continued to work as an actor, landing guest roles on many television shows, including Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, Pushing Daisies, House of Lies and Web Therapy with Lisa Kudrow. He has also appeared in a handful of films, including Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and 2013’s The Heat alongside Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.
McDonald looked to expand his skills further by moving behind the camera. He began work as a producer, director and writer on the Courteney Cox sitcom Cougar Town. Along with his work on Cougar Town, McDonald has also directed episodes of Scrubs, 7th Heaven and 2 Broke Girls.
McDonald identifies his mentors as Kathy Griffin, a good friend whose show he has appeared on numerous times, and Bill Lawrence, the creator of Cougar Town.
