‘Abbott Elementary’: Chris Perfetti Can’t Eat Fried Chicken Anymore Because of 1 Scene

Many people have stories of foods or drinks that they’ve sworn off for life after an uncomfortable experience. For Abbott Elementary star Chris Perfetti, it’s fried chicken. In a recent interview, the What We Do in the Shadows actor shared his favorite memory from the Abbott Elementary set, which happened to leave him with a newfound disgust for the popular southern dish.

Chris Perfetti plays Jacob Hill in ‘Abbott Elementary’

Abbott Elementary follows a group of teachers at Willard R. Abbott Elementary, an underfunded public school in Philadelphia. Most new teachers don’t last more than two years at the school, but two have stuck around: Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) and Jacob Hill (Perfetti). Jacob often tries to show off how “cool” he can be, but his colleagues and students often poke fun at him for his quirks. Those same quirks have also made Jacob a beloved character among Abbott Elementary fans.

Chris Perfetti’s favorite memory from the ‘Abbott Elementary’ set left him unable to eat fried chicken

Last year, Abbott Elementary Season 1 featured an episode where Janine bribed her colleagues with fried chicken to get them to play a game where they learned more about each other. Perfetti recently told Esquire that he loved filming this scene because it made him feel “giddy and inspired to have the entire main cast working together. However, he also “made the mistake” of chowing down on the fried chicken a little too early.

“For continuity purposes, you have to do the same thing in every take so that it all matches up, and so I ate an obscene amount of fried chicken in that scene when we were all trapped in the library, just making each other laugh,” Perfetti said.

The scene left Perfetti feeling very unwell, and it “ruined” fried chicken for him for good. However, he also said it was “truly one of the greatest moments on set I’ve ever experienced.”

“RIP fried chicken,” he added.

Perfetti’s character gave him a new sense of appreciation for being ‘corny’

One of the running jokes surrounding Perfetti’s character on Abbott Elementary is that his students find him “corny,” even going so far as to nickname him “Mr. C.” Even Jacob’s coworkers agree that he has his corny moments. Season 2 episode 3, “Story Samurai,” further explores Jacob’s corniness as he learns to embrace that quality. For that reason, this episode has also been particularly important to Perfetti.

“It’s a real opportunity with Jacob because in this season, we are going to dig deeper into why these characters are the way that they are. And I feel like as soon as we break down those walls and permeate that layer, we just have so much opportunity, and so I love that Jacob is having this existential and cathartic recognition so early in the season,” Perfetti told Esquire. “And not to say that these characters are going to completely change overnight, because this is a sitcom and that’s not how things work, but I just think it was a really smart decision on our creator’s part to write an episode about Jacob realizing that he’s corny.”

Fans can see more of Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill in Abbott Elementary Season 2. New episodes air every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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