Adams is a native of Lexington, Massachusetts. He graduated from Lexington High School in 1989, then earned a bachelor's degree from Emory University in 1993, majoring in political science and philosophy.^[1]

Adams has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He is featured in the 2002 documentary Comedian starring Jerry Seinfeld.^[4]

Adams' comedy DVD/CD, Path of Most Resistance, was released on November 10, 2006.^[1][3] On October 29, 2010, Adams' one-hour comedy special, Orny Adams Takes The Third premiered on Comedy Central. On December 1, 2017 Adams' third comedy special Orny Adams More than Loud premiered on Showtime. 

In 2007 CBS Television Distribution and Yahoo! announced a development deal with Ashton Kutcher’s production company Katalyst for Tube, which was to have been hosted by Adams and featured viral videos, comedy bits and sketches.^[6] In 2011, Adams was cast as Coach Bobby Finstock for the MTV series Teen Wolf.^[7] He portrayed the secondary character until Season 5, when it was announced that he would not be returning to the show to focus more on his comedy, but will return for the last ten episodes of season 5.