Thirty-eight-year-old Adam Scott has been acting for nearly 20 years, doing stints on established shows like Party of Five and Boy Meets World, and even landing a role in a Martin Scorsese film (2004’s The Aviator). But it wasn’t until small roles in comedies like Knocked Up and Step Brothers ("I haven’t had a carb since 2004!") that he became something more than a Hollywood That Guy. After nailing the disaffected never-was actor-turned-catering-service-bartender role on the beloved cult hit Party Down, Scott seamlessly moved to the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, where his character, budget manager Ben Wyatt, has become a dependably wry love interest for Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope. We chatted with Scott about his career’s evolution, the surprising Parks role he nearly landed, and the underground comedy fraternity that’s thriving in Hollywood right now.

GQ: When you were cast on Parks and Recreation you were still, technically, a member of the Party Down cast. It hadn’t been canceled yet. How did you first get cast on Parks and Rec?

Adam Scott: I actually auditioned for it before it was even on the air. I really wanted it and didn’t get it; I actually kind of blew it, and so I was obviously pretty upset—I really wanted to be a part of it from the beginning. So when the opportunity popped up again a couple years later, I was really excited. I went and had a meeting with [showrunner and co-creator] Mike Schur, and then it all just kind of fell into place from there.

GQ: What part were you reading for initially?

Adam Scott: Well, they didn’t have any parts yet. I think, I could be wrong about this, but I think they were sort of reading actors just randomly, and then kind of finding people they liked and developing parts around them. And I could be wrong about that, but I just gathered that from interviews with Mike. There was no part. Nick [Offerman] and I were reading the same scenes when we were going in and auditioning. So they were just sort of reading people and seeing what kinds of people interested them.

GQ: Are you saying there’s an alternate universe where you are Ron Swanson?

Adam Scott: [laughs] Or Nick is Ben Wyatt.

GQ: It could happen. Maybe it will happen some day. How well did you know Mike beforehand?

Adam Scott: I didn’t at all, I just met him that at that audition. So I didn’t really know him at all. But then a couple years later when I went in, we had a meeting when I came in to meet him for this go-round, and we got along really well. He’s a really nice guy and we kind of have similar tastes in television and movies and music. You know, we’re just kind of like, nerds in our 30s.

GQ: I remember reading about your casting, and the way it was portrayed in the press was, "Oh my God, what’s going to happen to Party Down?"

Adam Scott: Yeah, you know, the show was about to be cancelled, and they just weren’t either going on the record or confirming it, but the writing was on the wall for all of us, simply because they weren’t totally confirming it, it made it a little tougher, but it was clear to everyone what was about to happen and so I just kind of jumped at the chance to join up with Parks because I was really a big nerd for the show and for me it was a no-brainer just because it was a show that was already going and really working and it was a huge opportunity and I was excited.