Chris Pratt Honored as Hasty Pudding Theatricals' Man of the Year

UPDATED: February 8, 2015, at 10:15 p.m.

Two members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals kiss Chris Pratt, Hasty Pudding Theatricals' Man of the Year, as he is presented the Hasty Pudding Pot on Friday evening in Farkas Hall. By Jennifer Y Yao

Actor Chris Pratt displayed good humor and versatility Friday night at Farkas Hall, chopping wood with his forehead and performing a lap dance as he was honored and roasted as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Man of the Year.

Pratt, known for his roles in the comedy television series “Parks and Recreation” and last year’s box office successes “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Lego Movie,” had to fend off “ghosts of movies past”—members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals dressed up as characters from his past movies—before he received the signature “Pudding Pot” award.

Audience members at the sold out event first watched Hasty Pudding Theatricals co-producers and emcees Joshua J. Friedman ’16 and Zoe B. Rosenthal ’16 mock Pratt’s career failures and successes.

“He stars in ‘Parks and Recreation’ as Andy Dwyer, a goofy but dim-witted guy. Who knew he was a method actor?” Rosenthal said.

Hasty Pudding Theatricals cast members paraded in turn onto the stage, challenging Pratt to complete various tasks. Pratt gamely chopped up wood with his hand and then his forehead, sang off-key, and gave a lap dance to Matthew W. G. Walker ’16, a Hasty Pudding cast member dressed as a female character from the movie Her, in which Pratt played a small part, during the roast.

“How beautiful was she? I had a tingle, I’m not going to lie,” Pratt said afterwards about the lap dance.

At a press conference following the award ceremony, he called the roast “a lot of fun.”

“The whole thing was a blast and a riot,” he said.

Pratt fielded light-hearted questions, picking Captain America as his favorite superhero from among three choices, which included past characters he had played.

“Shoot, I’ve known about Captain America since I was four,” he said.

When asked how he felt about losing a Super Bowl bet, wagered on Twitter, against actor Chris Evans, who plays superhero Captain America, he joked that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady “is the greatest quarterback so far,” but said Brady was “soon to be eclipsed by [Seattle Seahawks quarterback] Russell Wilson.”

He then set joking aside to discuss his visit to see sick children at Christopher's Haven in Boston with Chris Evans on Friday morning, the wager of their bet, noting that he hopes to continue such visits in the future.

He also offered advice those pursuing an acting career.

“More belief than desire is the key, because there’s a lot of people who desperately want to pursue their dream, whatever it is, and there are people who believe it’s theirs, ” he said.

Pratt’s visit follows that of his “Parks and Recreation” co-star Amy Poehler, who was honored as the Hasty Pudding’s woman of the year in late January.

—Staff writer Quynh-Nhu Le can be reached at quynhnhu.le@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @qnhule.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: February 8, 2015

An earlier verison of this article misquoted Zoe B. Rosenthal ’16. Rosenthal referred to "Parks and Recreation" character Andy Dwyer as a "goofy but dim-witted," not "lovable," guy.