Comedian and actor
Adam Ray (born June 16, 1982) is an American comedian, actor, and YouTuber. Since 2023 Ray has regularly performed stand-up and improv comedy under the persona of "Dr. Phil", a parody of "Dr. Phil" McGraw.
Early life.
Ray was raised in Seattle and attended Shorecrest High School. He is of Jewish descent. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from University of Southern California.
Career.
Ray joined the YouTube community as "adamraycomedy" and has 460 thousand subscribers with more than 37 million views. His voice has been featured in advertisements for McDonald's, Hyundai, Brooks Brothers, the San Diego Zoo Zebra Exhibit, and Burger King.
Dr. Phil persona.
In 2019, Ray began performing full-length stand-up comedy routines as "Dr. Phil", a parody of "Dr. Phil" McGraw. Ray was playing a character based on McGraw for a pilot episode of a comedy show, and decided to keep wearing the prosthetics while performing at a Laugh Factory. Following positive feedback, Ray began to develop the character, which Ray describes as "a late-night version of a daytime guy". In 2023, Ray began producing monthly shows at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles based around "Dr. Phil" interacting with other comedians, which were then uploaded to Youtube. The shows resulted in a notable increase in attention around Ray as well as an endorsement from McGraw himself.
In October 2024 it was announced that Netflix would air an Adam Ray comedy special on 19 November. The special will see Ray in the Dr. Phil persona meeting Phil McGraw face-to-face as well as interviews with Patton Oswalt and Jay Pharoah.
Influences.
Ray has said that his comedy influences are Chris Farley, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, and Adam Sandler.