Josh Allen imitates Chris Pratt in Buffalo Bills video

The Bills made the comparison last week in their annual schedule video, just as Allen runs for touchdowns.

The three-minute video in which Allen impersonated Pratt’s “Parks and Recreation” character Andy Dwyer while playing golf, fishing and gardening at the new stadium construction site attracted thousands of views on YouTube and received rave reviews on social media.

Allen and Pratt have several things in common.

They both play superheroes – Pratt as the star of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films and the “Jurassic World” trilogy and Allen in the weekly Bills games.

They both have winning personalities.

Allen’s attractive personality is on display in local and national advertisements.

Pratt has such a winning personality that he was originally cast as a guest star in the first season of “Parks,” playing an unemployed slacker, but he became a series regular when Dwyer became a character popular.

Like Allen, Dwyer is a movie buff. The character had an incredible ability to remember lines from the film word for word.

Dwyer is also a huge football fan. He was such a fan of the Indianapolis Colts that he wore wide receiver Reggie Wayne’s jersey to his wedding.

And now both Allen and Pratt live in tents in construction site pits.

Pratt’s awkward character lived in a tent in a pit near his girlfriend in the first season of “Parks and Recreation.”

Allen lived in a tent in the Orchard Park construction pit for a few hours in the program’s video, having awkward discussions with construction crew workers.

In a humorous moment showcasing the quarterback’s acting skills, Allen asked the workers if they had watched a sporting event the night before.

After one said he did it, Allen replied, “I didn’t.”

In an interview, Jeff Matthews, the Bills’ vice president of media and content, said the video was filmed in two to three hours in early May. He explained that creating the video was a team effort after a brainstorming meeting.

The team of about 20 behind filming the annual program video included producer JJ Territo, director of videography Kevin Carges, videographers James Acton and Josh Pohlman, editors James Wrobel and Alex Odachowski, and photographer Bill Wippert.

“One of the things that really stood out to me this year was doing something with the construction site,” Matthews said.

They presented Allen with two other concepts for the construction site. In one concept, Allen was going to record the podcast guests on site at the stadium. In another concept, he would infiltrate the construction site and talk to the workers.

“But it’s a little difficult having Josh Allen undercover for obvious reasons,” Matthews said.

He added that Allen always cooperated with the creative team and enjoyed being a part of the videos.

“He liked the one the most that we did that was inspired by Andy from ‘Parks and Recreation,’” Matthews said.

Allen is a huge fan of pop culture and used to review movies for the podcast “Kyle Brandt’s Basement.”

However, Matthews said the resemblance between Allen and Pratt was only part of the reason the quarterback was sent to the pit.

“It was certainly in the conversation, but that’s not why we got there,” Matthews said. “The theme made more sense than Josh looking like Chris Pratt. It was a nice extra piece, a bonus, that he looks a bit like Chris. And he did a good job playing it a little too, much like Chris did.

The video was scripted, but allowed Allen to act freely as he does on the football field.

Conversation with construction workers about watching a game allowed for some improvisation.

“He had a few lines left to choose from what he wanted…just to try to fit in with the construction workers,” Matthews said. “It was supposed to look a little awkward and it worked the best. Because Andy is so clumsy. Josh played this role very well. He was deliberately clumsy like that.

Matthews wasn’t sure if Allen needed to practice being like Andy, whose spirit is captured by many of his famous silly lines.

Dwyerisms include: “I take my shirt off because bad feelings make me sweat.” »

“When they say 2% milk, I don’t know what the other 98% is.”

“Butter is my favorite food.”

Allen was as smooth as butter while delivering his lines.

“I don’t know if Josh went back and watched episodes to be better,” Matthews said. “I know he was aware of the show and the character, and I think he knew how he wanted to play him the way Andy would have been on the show.”

The video included appearances by Allen’s buddy in car commercials, Steve Tasker, and Bills tackle Spencer Brown (who was known by his locker room nickname “Spenny”). At the end of the video, as Allen prepared to leave the site, Brown read the program to the quarterback.

Matthews doesn’t know if Allen took any acting classes.

“It’s just his personality,” Matthews said. “He’s been in several of our TikToks…He has a great sense of humor. Without his cooperation on many of these videos, they obviously wouldn’t be as good. He was great.

It helped that Allen seemed like someone who would go to a construction site and talk to the workers.

“You’re 100 percent right,” Matthews said. “He’s definitely that kind of person.” He is as he appears, whether it’s a press conference, these types of videos, or the work he’s done with Oishei and the hospitals. He’s not pretending to be a character, he’s not fake. I mean, it’s just his personality, how he is. He’s just a good person.