Adam Scott Is Constantly ‘Haunted’ by This ‘Parks and Recreation’ Running Gag
Many iconic fictional characters have a favorite food. Garfield loves lasagna, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eat nothing but pizza, and Popeye derives super-strength from spinach, thanks to Depression-era government propaganda.
As every Parks and Recreation fan is well aware, Adam Scott’s character, Ben Wyatt, similarly has a go-to preferred meal: calzones.
Don't Miss
Ben’s fascination with calzones began when he lost his job in Season Four and took it upon himself to try some new culinary skills (and borderline offensive Italian pronunciations). Sadly his vision for a chain of calzone-focused fast food restaurants, the “Low-Cal Calzone Zone,” never actually came to fruition.
Ben subsequently became a vocal advocate for the cheesy dough, and once used his calzone-making talents to enter a baking contest, even donning a calzone-themed apron for the event — much to the ire of a gang of men’s rights activists.
The character’s love of this particular dish has been embraced by fans to the point that some people have created recipes for “Ben Wyatt’s Calzone.”
And in 2017, Scott took a pizza-making class in Italy and proudly informed his social media followers that his botched effort to make a pie was saved when the chef simply turned it into a calzone.
But in a shocking turn of events, it seems that Scott isn’t a huge fan of calzones in real life.
Because forcing celebrities to feed each other greasy food on camera in order to promote multimillion-dollar entertainment projects has somehow become normal, Scott and his Severance co-star Patricia Arquette recently appeared on Hot Ones Versus. Midway through the show, Scott was asked to “blindly taste test three calzones” and “correctly identify the filling.”
In the video, as soon as Scott hears the word “calzone,” his soul seemingly exits his body. “Ever since Parks and Rec, I’ve been, like, haunted by calzones,” Scott confessed as the Oscar-winning actress fed him like a toddler.
On a recent live episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Scott elaborated on how his feelings about calzones differ from his character’s. When asked by host Josh Horowitz to name a “food that makes you confused,” like a punch in the gut, Scott responded, “For all the hubbub about Ben Wyatt and his favorite food, I find calzones confusing.”
In addition to regarding them as utterly baffling, apparently, Scott has become annoyed by calzones because can’t eat out without being bombarded by them. “Often when I go to Italian restaurants, they ask me if I would like to try the calzone,” Scott explained. “And sometimes calzones are sent over. And every time that happens I text (Parks and Recreation co-creator) Mike Schur and I just say, ‘Again, thanks.’”
“We all loved you up until that moment, Adam. Now you've lost the crowd,” Horowitz told the Party Down star.
To be fair, Scott’s words were less harsh than Ben Wyatt’s after he was “betrayed” by a batch of tainted mini-calzones.
