By all accounts, the cast of Parks and Recreation really had a wonderful time working together. The NBC sitcom made it through a sorta-rocky first season, and went on to become one of the biggest hits for the network, finally wrapping up in 2015 after seven seasons. When you spend that much time working with people, you tend to develop inside jokes and bonding moments which help bring you all even closer and keep you going through long hours. Well, Chris Pratt once went a little overboard in his efforts to keep Nick Offerman laughing, and ended up eating 16 racks of ribs. Oh, Mylanta!
Chris Pratt appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently to promote his new film Onward, but when the conversation turned to his preparations for the latest Jurassic World installment, Pratt revealed that he has to basically starve himself to get into dino-escaping shape. Then, he gave us a wonderful story about gaining weight while working on Parks and Recreation, and how watching just how much Pratt could shove down his gullet became a lovely pastime for the cast and crew.
All of this led to Chris Pratt taking his love of eating and gaining Andy Dwyer-weight a little too far during one day of filming. Here's what he had to say, but make sure you take an antacid before reading:
There was a restaurant in Parks and Rec called the Jurassic Fork, and that was where we would go to eat. They gave us dinosaur-sized portions. And so I didn’t have anything to say in the scene. So, inevitably, I wanted to try to get some screen time and I decided I would eat one rack of ribs per take. If the camera happened to catch me, I would absolutely be inhaling ribs. I went through 12 takes; I went through 12 racks of ribs, which is the equivalent of six pigs.
Ugh. Chris! OK, sure. We've all heard the story now, but I know you're wondering how those four additional racks of ribs came in. Well, after each take, Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson, would launch into his trademark giggle at Chris Pratt's ostentatious gastronomy, which would, in turn, make Pratt want to eat more to keep him giggling. Here's what happened next:
And then at lunch, because our catering company was creating the ribs, they cooked ribs. I sat down with another four racks of ribs, right next to Nick. And ate the ribs, and I got a big laugh. I gave myself a food coma.
Man. The very idea of eating that much of anything in a day has really unsettled me, folks. But, Chris Pratt is correct that it makes for a funny story and I can see it being an odd treat to watch it happen. Of course, Pratt readily acknowledges that he probably shaved about three and half years off of his life eating that much porky goodness in less than 24 hours, but thinks those years were just going to be "the boring ones" anyway.
Phew! Talk about dedication to your craft, right? You can watch his interview below:
Chris Pratt will be on the big screen in the grown man tear-inducing Pixar film Onward on March 6, but he's also planning a return to television in the conspiracy thriller The Terminal List at some point in the near-ish future, so be on the lookout for news on that. But, in the meantime, you can check out our 2020 midseason guide to see what else is on TV right now!
