Tell Me You Love Me

The air in the studio thickens with the kind of comfortable silence only decade-long friendships can afford, punctuated by the rustle of felt sandwiches and heavy ceramic peaches. Amy Poehler and Adam Scott sit across from one another, not as the power couple of Pawnee but as survivors of a Hollywood machine that often feels like it's moving too fast to catch. The scene is intimate, a far cry from the chaotic energy of the Saturday Night Live sets Poehler recalls as an "emergency room," or the antiseptic, infinite hallways of Scott’s current hit, Severance. Their conversation begins with the trivia of existence—Scott’s bizarre Santa Cruz habit of driving barefoot and the safety hazards of flip-flops—but it quickly pivots toward the deeper anxieties of the creative life. Before the leading man status and the Emmy nominations, there was the grind. Scott describes a version of himself that many fans might not recognize: a young actor so paralyzed by the "moon-landing" surreality of being on a film set that he could never quite relax. This tension reached a breaking point during the casting of Six Feet Under. Scott reveals he was in the final two for the role of David Fisher, a part that ultimately went to Michael C. Hall. Watching the show become a cultural phenomenon while he remained on the sidelines was more than just a professional setback; it was a soul-crushing experience he likens to seeing an ex-girlfriend with someone else. He admits that at that moment, he was ready to read the tea leaves and walk away from the industry entirely. The long road through CSI and the prosthetic penis Before Parks and Recreation anchored him in the public consciousness, Scott was the ultimate journeyman, a face that popped up in the background of every major procedural. He recalls a poignant moment shared with Jon Hamm in Culver City, where both men were filming separate CSI episodes. They sat over beers, wondering how much longer they would have to pay their dues in the "dead-body-of-the-week" circuit. Scott’s filmography from this era is a chaotic tapestry of high-concept drama and B-movie schlock, ranging from Piranha 3D to the HBO series Tell Me You Love Me, where he famously wore a prosthetic penis. Nick Offerman joins the fray via a pre-recorded segment to marvel at Scott’s "risible" and varied career, noting that Scott has always been the "cool kid" of the industry, even when the work was absurd. Poehler observes that Scott and Kathryn Hahn share a unique pedagogical background—they are trained, "serious" actors who eventually learned the "sense of play" necessary for high-level comedy. Scott credits Parks and Recreation with teaching him this fluidity. On Step Brothers, he felt he was barely treading water while trying to improvise with giants, but by the time he reached Pawnee, he realized that deep character work and "dumb fun" weren't mutually exclusive. This evolution from a nervous audition-hater to a confident leading man was not a straight line; it was a jagged path of endurance. The medicine of Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope The conversation inevitably turns to the legacy of Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope, a relationship that Poehler notes has become a form of "medicine" for audiences, particularly during the pandemic. They reflect on the rarity of a TV couple that fundamentally respects and roots for one another. Scott admits that watching the show now makes him sad, not because of the quality, but because he misses the specific, tender bubble the cast inhabited. They were a group that lived under the constant threat of cancellation, a reality Poehler and producer Michael Schur tried to shield the rest of the cast from, which only tightened their bond. They revisit the most romantic beats of the series, settling on the "Smallest Park" episode, directed by Nicole Holofcener and written by Chelsea Peretti. It was a moment where the characters—and the actors—felt a profound connection. Poehler highlights the "indirect" chemistry fostered by the mockumentary style, where the camera acting as a silent observer allowed Ben to love Leslie through glances and "spy shots" through blinds. This style, they agree, created a depth that traditional sitcoms often lack. Scott notes that Ben Wyatt’s greatest trait was his unwavering support for Leslie’s ambitions, a dynamic that remains a blueprint for healthy television romance. Running through the corridors of Severance The transition from the warmth of Pawnee to the cold, labyrinthine halls of Lumon Industries has been a physical and mental marathon for Scott. He discusses the grueling 186-day shoot for the second season of Severance, a schedule that leaves him "too tired to laugh." The technical demands of playing two versions of the same person—Mark Scout and his "Innie"—required a level of precision he hadn't touched before. In the first season, he attempted to use massive construction paper maps to track his character's emotional arc across episodes, only to eventually give up and trust the "math problem" of the script. Poehler, ever the fan, grills him on the explosive finale of the first season, expressing the collective frustration of the audience regarding the fate of his character's wife, played by Britt Lower. Scott explains the existential stakes of the show: for the "Innie," the office isn't just a job; it's the only world they have, making the decision to leave it a form of suicide. This high-concept dread is a stark contrast to the optimistic public service portrayed in Parks and Recreation, which they agree was filmed in a more hopeful era of American life. Scott’s current work on Severance reflects a modern anxiety about corporate overreach that Leslie Knope could never have imagined. Reflection on the intelligent art of rewatching As the dialogue winds down, the pair finds solace in the familiar. Scott confesses to rewatching Sex and the City in its entirety, praising Sarah Jessica Parker for her ability to anchor a show while servicing an ensemble. He jokes that according to "Dr. Instagram," the urge to watch something you've already seen is a sign of high intelligence—a convenient justification for his and Poehler's shared nostalgia. They reminisce about the "who’s who" of New York actors who cycled through Sex and the City and Law & Order, with Scott recalling his own "red herring" role as Timothy Dinkens on the latter, where his agent chided him for not knowing how to handle grocery store vegetables properly. The ultimate lesson from their shared journey is one of presence. Poehler reflects that Parks and Recreation was the job where she felt the most "present" in her life, a sharp contrast to the blur of SNL. For Scott, the path from being a nervous kid in a polyester red suit to a producer and leading man was paved with rejection and the eventual realization that the "dumb stuff" is often the most profound. Their friendship, surviving the end of their fictional marriage and the shift in the cultural landscape, stands as a testament to the fact that in an industry built on smoke and mirrors, authentic connection is the only thing that doesn't need a script supervisor.