15 Trivia Tidbits About Adam Scott
It took a while for Adam Scott to finally break out in Hollywood, but once it happened, the guy who helped make the Catalina Wine Mixer a worldwide catchphrase could not be contained. He’s currently on everyone’s screens in the new season of Party Down, filming his first Marvel movie, Madame Web, and probably listening to a lot of R.E.M. because he’s still a big nerd. (We mean that in the most complimentary way possible.)
So to learn more about the guy who, like his pal Paul Rudd, will probably continue to age like a comedic Dorian Gray, we’ve assembled a bounty of tidbits about Adam Scott, the everyman actor...
Mark Hamill Once Gave Him a Lightsaber
When Scott was two years old, he (or more likely his parents) wrote Hamill a letter inviting him to his birthday party, which Hamill obviously did not attend. Scott was in the middle of telling this story to Kristen Bell on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2017 when Hamill appeared on stage, surprising the lifelong Star Wars fan and even gifting him a lightsaber. You can literally see Scott shaking as Hamill walks out in the video below.
His Career Kicked Off Doing Music Videos in Hollywood
When Scott first hit Hollywood in the early 1990s, he was cast as an extra in music videos. “I did this Tia Carrere video set in a coffeehouse,” Scott explained to Entertainment Weekly. “I was in the background, having coffee with a model, while Tia Carrere was singing on some stairs. That’s all I had to do — drink coffee. But I made up a whole backstory for my character, who I was, and what I was doing at that coffee shop. I even tried to improvise with the model. She thought I was an idiot.”
Scott also admitted that he searched for that specific music video online, only to learn that his part got cut. However, he is proud to have been part of the crowd of limbs in R.E.M.'s video for “Drive.”
He Has Met and Worked With Two U.S. Presidents
On Parks and Recreation, Scott got to meet and work with now President Joe Biden, and during his time with Funny or Die, he personally pitched an Obamacare sketch to Barack Obama himself. The bit saw Scott reprise his character from Step Brothers, Derek, and thankfully got approved.
If He Wasn’t an Actor, He’ d Probably Be a Journalist
Scott told Sky News that even though he lacks any prerequisite skills, he’d probably have gone into journalism if filmmaking didn’t pan out. “Occupations I’ve had romantic notions about over the years are like a political journalist or a music journalist,” Scott admitted. “Writing about music, I would love to do. When I was a teenager, I thought I could do that. But being a political journalist and like being on the road with a campaign, it was something that I always wanted to do.”
He Once Analyzed the Lyrics of ‘Ice Ice Baby’ on a Talk Show
In Step Brothers, Scott plays the insufferable Derek, who lip-syncs and busts moves to Vanilla Ice’s one-hit wonder. When asked about it by Conan O'Brien, Scott whipped out the lyrics and started analyzing every line and word — perhaps too literally, but to great effect and probably right on the money.
He Got His Guts Ripped Out in a ‘Hellraiser’ Movie
Scott followed in the footsteps of many great actors who came before by grabbing a role in a horror movie for his first-ever feature film. Hellraiser IV: Bloodline was the one set both in space and in 18th-century France (also during the 1990s because that completes the hellish trifecta). Scott plays Jacques, a character who looks like he stepped out of an Interview with the Vampire porn parody and got mutilated halfway through the movie.
He Really Wanted to Star in ‘Six Feet Under’
Scott said that he auditioned for the 2001 HBO drama and revealed that it came down to him and Michael C. Hall for the part of David Fisher. “And I went through the wringer, so many auditions, and obviously didn’t get it,” Scott told Uproxx. “And that was a real heartbreaker, where I was sort of like, ‘Maybe I just can’t do this. Maybe I can’t. I don’t know if I can take this brick wall, I keep running into.’ And that was a real tough time, where I remember my girlfriend, now wife, came to me and kind of asked me about, ‘Have you ever thought of anything else?’”
He Was Grieving the Loss of His Mother While Filming ‘Severance’
In Apple TV+'s Severance, Scott plays a man who lost his wife and deals with it by getting a weird job where he basically forgets about her during his working hours. Scott lost his mom to ALS in May 2020 and ended up grieving her while filming the show’s first season. “I found myself in New York, kind of by myself,” Scott told Insider. “Because it was a pandemic, I was either sitting in an apartment by myself, or I was on the set working. And so the grieving, I ended up doing it through the show.”
He’s Super into Karaoke Night With His Family
While he might not be the best singer — he was the only one who did not sing for real in that wonderful Step Brothers car scene — Scott does enjoy frequent karaoke nights with his wife and kids. Scott's go-to karaoke tune is Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.”
He Once Got to Work With Billy Joel, Too
While filming The Greatest Event in Television History, Scott met and worked with Joel, who ended up taking Scott and Paul Rudd out for some grub somewhere in Long Island. So he actually got to hang out with the Piano Man, too.
He Doesn’t Have Fond Memories of Working on ‘Boy Meets World’
Scott played Griff Hawkins during the second and third seasons of Boy Meets World. While reuniting with some of his former cast members on their podcast, Pod Meets World, Scott admitted that he never got over how he was treated by some of his co-stars back when they were doing the show. He confronted Rider Strong (who played Shawn) about once bluntly dissing him after everyone was celebrating the wrap of the second season, and Danielle Fishel (Topanga) about a rumor he read on a message board back in 1995 that alleged Fishel told people no one liked Scott on the show. They all denied it, and Scott didn’t make a big deal out of it. Still, it appeared to have been bothering him for quite some time.
He Met Rob Lowe for the First Time Moments Before They Started Shooting Their First ‘Parks and Recreation’ Scene
While Lowe was guest hosting The Ellen Show, he did a Zoom interview with Scott where they talked about how they literally met seconds before shooting their first scene together. Both actors said it was a pretty terrifying experience because their first Parks and Rec on-set experience was acting with a total stranger.
He’s an Avid Blu-ray Collector
Scott told Harper's Bazaar that he indulges in collecting Blu-rays but shamefully admitted that he hardly ever watches any of them. “I just like owning the particular movies and knowing I could watch them at any point, and I never end up even opening them,” he explained. “But I like having them. I need to stop.”
People Keep Saying His Famous Lines Whenever They See Him in Public
Scott said that a lot of people echo his Party Down line, “Are we having fun yet,” as well as “nonsense about calzones,” referring to Ben Wyatt’s food obsession in Parks and Recreation. And, of course, that little alcohol soiree reference from Step Brothers.
He Still Relates to His Character in ‘Party Down’
Even though his career has solidly taken off since Step Brothers and Parks and Recreation, Scott says that he doesn’t feel like he’s made it. “I still feel exactly the same. I don’t feel like a successful person,” Scott told UPI. “If you are trying to make it in show business, you always feel like being famous will feel like a warm embrace, but it doesn’t feel that way. It’s not like a terrible feeling or something to complain about, but it’s different. It’s like an adjacent feeling. It’s not what you expect. Having some success doesn’t make you feel great at all.”
