When preparing for his role serving drinks on “Party Down,” Adam Scott took a page out of the book of TV’s most famous bartender.
Scott joined Ted Danson this week on Danson’s SiriusXM podcast “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” and revealed that he borrowed an acting trick from Danson’s “Cheers” character Sam Malone when he played cater-waiter Henry on the Starz comedy “Party Down.”
“When we started ‘Party Down,’ I’m the bartender of the catering crew. And I don’t know how to bartend, and I don’t know how to make any drinks,” Scott told Danson. “There was a lot of time to fill, and I didn’t know what to do. So I just remembered everything you do on ‘Cheers,’ and I just ripped it all off. Slicing lemons, washing shot glasses… Pop a pretzel in your mouth as you’re walking over and talking to someone. Open a seltzer. Drink a seltzer.”
Danson agreed that those little tasks helped him on “Cheers” as well: “I find eating and drinking makes my acting better. Because you can’t fake chewing. So you’re tempted not to fake anything else.”
Scott added that “taking the lemons and putting them in a thing as you’re talking makes the acting look so much better. But I stole every move of yours from ‘Cheers’ for ‘Party Down.'”
Party Down ran for three seasons on Starz
“Party Down” debuted in 2009 on Starz, following a team of jaded cater-waiters working parties for rich L.A. clients. Adam Scott led a cast of comedy all-stars, including Lizzy Caplan as aspiring comedian Casey, Ken Marino as clueless team leader Ron, Ryan Hansen as actor Kyle, Martin Starr as cynical sci-fi writer Roman, and a pre-“Glee” Jane Lynch as ex-actress Constance. In fact, once “Glee” went to series at Fox, Lynch had to leave the “Party Down” cast, with Megan Mullally taking over in Season 2 as new team member Lydia.
A critical favorite but never a ratings blockbuster, “Party Down” was axed at Starz after two seasons. However, Starz brought it back in 2023 for a six-episode Season 3 revival, with all of the main cast (including Scott) returning to reprise their roles. (Caplan wasn’t a series regular in Season 3, but returned as Casey in the finale.)
“Cheers,” starring Ted Danson as former ballplayer and Boston bar owner Sam Malone, wasn’t a ratings blockbuster at first, either, when it premiered on NBC in 1982. But it stayed on the air thanks to a wave of critical acclaim — it won the Emmy for best comedy series in both of its first two seasons — and eventually became the most-watched show on TV, running for 11 seasons. Danson won a pair of Emmys for best lead actor in a comedy, too, for his work as Sam Malone.
Scott and Danson have a shared TV history as well: Scott guest-starred as evil demon Trevor on NBC’s “The Good Place,” where Danson co-starred as Michael.