Everyone has to start somewhere, right? For Adam Scott, that somewhere was on MTV, appearing in a show called 'Dead At 21'. Despite the low-key gig, it was a big step-up from singing happy birthday to clients at Johnny Rockets, "I worked at Johnny Rockets. For one day. I had to quit because they said that anytime a particular song comes on the jukebox, all the servers have to stop and do this special sing-along and dance, and I just knew that I wouldn't be returning. I also worked at an antique store at one point. I did just about anything to pay the rent for a while. My first on-screen gig was a guest-starring part on this pilot for MTV called Dead at 21. I was a kid who had a microchip in his head, and I was going to die in, like, 24 hours, and I had to warn the lead of the show that he had a microchip in his head. Some weird nonsense like that."
Scott enjoyed big-time success on Parks & Rec, though on the sitcom, he never really showed his funnier side. That all changed thanks to his close friend Paul Rudd, who might've changed his career thanks to some major praise.
Landing 'Step Brothers'
Director Adam McKay was the one in charge of casting. According to Decider, he didn't know much when it came to Scott's past work, especially given that he had never really shown his comedic side. Paul Rudd ultimately gave Scott the biggest endorsement possible, calling Scott one of the funniest guys he knows. Ultimately, Scott got on the radar and the role was his.
Scott admitted, the role changed his career and added a different layer to his resume, "It opened my eyes to this other world and I never wanted to go back. Right after the movie came out, I went and did Party Down with my friends and Parks [and Recreation]. There’s no way I would’ve been able to bring what I brought to that stuff without Step Brothers as a training ground for me.”
The friendship between Scott and Rudd is a very real one, heck according to Adam, the two were close prior to their Hollywood fame, hanging out at Rudd's lackluster apartment, "We had dinner together with our families last night--our wives are friends, our kids play with each other--but after dinner I was driving back past Paul's old apartment and laughing about how many times we'd go back there at, like, four in the morning and play music," he said. "It was such a sh**-hole. But we were happy listening to music so loud and staying up late just so drunk."
A good friendship in the business goes a long way and that was proven as Scott got a chance to thrive in a role nobody would've expected.
Sources: Decider, Bazaar & Huff Post