Adam Scott Had Never Improvised Before "Step Brothers": 'I Didn't Know What I Was Doing' Victoria EdelJanuary 22, 2026 at 2:57 AM 0 Alamy Adam Scott in 'Step Brothers' Adam Scott opened up about starring alongside Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Kathryn Hahn in Step Brothers He said he 'didn't know' what he was doing acting alongside comedy heavyweights when he had no improv experience Ultimately, the 2008 film pushed Scott's career in a comedic direction Adam Scott felt out of his depth when he was cast in 2008's Step Brothers. Scott, 52, opened up about making the classic comedy on the Jan.
- - Adam Scott Had Never Improvised Before "Step Brothers": 'I Didn't Know What I Was Doing'
Victoria EdelJanuary 22, 2026 at 2:57 AM
0
Alamy
Adam Scott in 'Step Brothers' -
Adam Scott opened up about starring alongside Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Kathryn Hahn in Step Brothers
He said he 'didn't know' what he was doing acting alongside comedy heavyweights when he had no improv experience
Ultimately, the 2008 film pushed Scott's career in a comedic direction
Adam Scott felt out of his depth when he was cast in 2008's Step Brothers.
Scott, 52, opened up about making the classic comedy on the Jan. 20 episode of Hey Dude… The 90s Called! hosted by Christine Taylor and David Lascher. In the movie, he played Derek, the younger brother of Will Ferrell's Brennan. The film follows Brennan and John C. Reilly's Dale, two stay at home sons who eventually become besties when their parents (played by Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins) marry.
Scott shared that when he first met Taylor and her husband Ben Stiller, they came up to talk to him about Step Brothers. "I couldn't believe you guys were talking to me . . . and that you guys had seen Step Brothers," he said. "That was like almost 20 years ago. It's crazy."
Taylor, 54, said Step Brothers is a favorite in her house and Scott said, "If I wasn't in that movie, it would be a movie I would watch a thousand times."
Columbia/Courtesy Everett
Adam Scott in 'Step Brothers'
Lascher, 53, asked what was it was like to walk on to set with "some of the biggest heavyweights in comedy" and if Scott felt comfortable.
"Not at all. Not in the least," he said. "I didn't know what I was doing. I had never really improvised before." He said improvising with such expert improvisers was like "learning how to do the high jump at the Olympics."
He did have one workaround for his lack of improv skills. "I remember I used to write jokes on a piece of paper and I would pull it out in the middle of scenes," he admitted. "Like I didn't know what I was doing and but eventually I figured it out."
He called his costars "well-oiled improv machines, and explained with a laugh, "I didn't know what the hell I was doing. By the third month, I felt like I had sort of clicked in a little bit."
Scott remembered he was cast as Derek after the original actor dropped out. He read with the casting director and director Adam McKay before auditioning with Ferrell, who was "hilarious and and super nice."
Entertainment Pictures / Alamy
Will Ferrell (left) and John C. Reilly in 'Step Brothers'
"And I just thought there was no way I'm gonna get this," he said. "It's like the classic thing, like when you think it's not going to happen you sort of let go a little and maybe that's what helped me get it." Scott also praised Kathryn Hahn, who played his wife Alice, who falls for Dale, as "firing on all cylinders."
Taylor said that from Step Brothers forward, it seemed like Scott was working in comedy "nonstop": in 2009, he was cast in Starz's Party Down, and Parks and Recreation followed in 2020.
"It ended up being kind of a trifecta," he said. ". . . Maybe it was like Step Brothers helped me get Party Down and party down kind of led to Parks and Parks was kind of the first like real mainstream thing that I got to do. Comedy for me hadn't been a focus or even like a career intention of mine until Step Brothers kind of happened." He also noted that he had a tiny role in 2007's Knocked Up, too, which helped him get Step Brothers.
"That period of time, all of that stuff, kind of helped me," he said. "I just kind of loved working in comedy. I never wanted to go back. It was just so fun. . . . And as far as sort of acting is concerned, there is nothing more challenging than being able to land the jokes but also land the character stuff." He was also inspired seeing his costars "try a bunch of stuff" and not be afraid to work through stuff that wasn't good to find the "great" stuff.
Scott now stars on Stiller's Apple TV series Severance.
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: January 21, 2026 at 11:37PM on Source: RED MAG
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle