Be sure to tip your waiter at least 20% — and then tell him he was very funny in “Scary Movie.”
After New York audiences check out the sixth film in the long-running horror spoof franchise this weekend, they can head to Cecchi’s restaurant in the West Village where one of its stars, Cameron Scott Roberts, works as a server.
The 28-year-old Los Angeles native had a busy and surreal week. On Sunday he was buzzing around tables in his orange uniform on West 13th Street asking, “Why are these onion rings taking so long?”
By Tuesday, Roberts was on a plane to California for the glam premiere, where he walked the red carpetwith Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Cheri Oteri and the Wayans brothers.
And then — here’s some showbiz whiplash — he goes back to serving steaks and pork chops and nimbly balancing cocktails on a tray this Saturday. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m a huge believer that actors should be waiters,” boyish Roberts told me during his shift on Sunday, while in-the-know regulars excitedly congratulated him. “It’s good for us. It keeps us grounded. And it’s a great way to stay on our feet while we’re auditioning.”
Roberts, who plays the boyfriend of the female ingenue Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan) in Paramount’s parody flick, first learned about the big audition at the restaurant, where he’s worked since January 2025, while the staff was noshing.
“We were all eating family meal together,” Roberts said. “I get the email and I read the description. It said, ‘This character is handsome in a serial killer kind of way.’ All the employees in the restaurant were in the room. And they all went, ‘Oh, you’re gonna get it.’”
They were right. Dead right. And two weeks later, Roberts jetted to Atlanta for two and a half months of filming.
Cecchi’s owner, Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, spent years acting in the theater and is flexible when his workers have outside projects. His three-year-old restaurant has become a haven for artists.
Roberts actually wanted to join Cecchi-Azzolina’s team after reading his tell-all memoir, “Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D,’” about what really went down in the city’s hottest eateries.
“I was like, ‘The way you talk about acting as well as waiting tables and those two things helping one another really moved me,’” he told his future boss. Roberts has become a popular fixture at the hotspot. He said a celeb recently tipped him $900 on a $900 bill.
Down south in September, Roberts got to act alongside much of the original “Scary Movie” cast, including Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who returned to write the screenplay with their siblings for the first time in 25 years.
“When Marlon gets on camera, it’s like he takes control and allows himself to play around and come up with ideas and improv.”
The young actor noticed that same adventurous spirit in Dave Sheridan, who’s back as Doofy Gilmore.
“He was like the wildest guy in the whole movie,” Roberts said. “He tried absolutely everything, and it gave me the power to try that by the end of the shoot. On our last day of filming, I remember I came in with an idea. I didn’t tell anybody about it. I just did it. And nobody said a single thing about it in a positive way, and nobody said anything about it in a negative way. But it made it in the movie.”
“Scary Movie” is poised to have a big opening weekend. It’s expected to gross upwards of $45 million and take the No. 1 spot at the box office — a rarity for a big-screen comedy today.
Roberts, however, is mostly concerned with his coworkers seeing it. He’s taking them in the next few days.
“Everybody’s invited, which will be fun. And I said I’d get people’s popcorn,” he said.
Their support means the world to him. The actor remembers that when the trailer for the film dropped in March, the first people blowing up his phone weren’t school friends or family members — but restaurant workers.
“I got calls and texts from every food runner, waiter, busser from all the restaurants I’ve worked at in New York,” he said. “And that’s how I feel like I know that this movie is going to be awesome and successful — because those are the people who actually go to the movies.”
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