Last night I finally got around to listening to the WTF with Marc Maron podcast from this week in which Jon Hamm was the guest and WOW was it all kinds of interesting. I kind of already knew this from seeing/hearing him being interviewed previously, but Hamm is ridiculously well-spoken, affable, funny, engaging — he just seems like such a good dude. I listen to podcasts quite a bit and I have to say that this is one of my favorites of all-time.
Above all else, Hamm was brutally honest in the interview, which last a little over an hour, and revealed some things I never knew about the man who plays Don Draper on Mad Men, namely: he was the high school acting teacher of Ellie Kemper from The Office, hates reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, is put off by a well-manicured vagina, was a vagabond who did all sorts of odd jobs to survive and didn’t shower much for many years and lived on friend’s couches, aspires to have a career like that of Jeff Bridges, turns down lead roles in movies all the time, got the role of Don Draper after Thomas Jane turned it down, and hates going to clubs. Among other things.
So I’ve transcribed some of my favorite quotes from Hamm below. Go listen to the full podcast when you have time. Trust me, it’s great.
Hamm on growing up in St. Louis: “It’s a good place to be from and it’s a good place to be a kid…but it’s very much a place where when you grow up you either work for your dad or you leave town…there’s not a lot of innovation going on in St. Louis…and for whatever reason, I always kinda wanted to get out of that place.”
Hamm on his mother dying of cancer when he was 10: “No fun. It was no good. She was single, I was living with her…she had massive, rapid abdominal cancer that back in the day, in 1980 in St. Louis…there was just no treatment…It was not fun. It was not a good time.”
Hamm on being a “vagabond” for much of his life: “I lived in a lot of basements…surfing couches for quite a bit…thank God grunge was in because there were not a lot of showers.”
Hamm on working as a handyman after moving to L.A.: “That was one of my first jobs when I came to L.A…like switches and painting and ceiling fans and all that sh*t…(for) a bunch of gay dudes.”
Hamm on returning to St. Louis to teach acting at his old high school: “I needed a job…It was a trip, but it was a thing to do every day…One of my students is on The Office right now…and was in Bridesmaids…Ellie Kemper…she was very talented…she and her sister…they’re both incredibly talented kids, and they were back when they were 14, 15 years old. It’s hilarious.”
Hamm on deciding to return to L.A. to give acting another shot: “I had a buddy, Paul Rudd, who was out here and making it big…so I figured, ‘Alright, I know at least one person and I’ll make one phone call and we’ll see what happens…Part of the benefit of living on people’s couches and in their basements is you don’t get shy about asking for help. And, for the most part, people are, if you’re a good guy and if you’re a relatively responsible human being, they’ll help you.
Hamm on the proliferation of reality shows like Jersey Shore: “It all get backs to the freakshow. ‘Wanna go see the Freaks? Carnival’s in town, let’s go look at it…Yeah, sure…it only costs a nickel.’…I mean, how different is Jersey Shore from a freakshow? Just stick ’em in a cage and watch ’em all beat it each other up and it’s hilarious.”
Hamm on lady-scaping: “That seems like a brutal thing…whatever you got is good…it feels like there’s an expectation of some kind of performance or something that maybe I’m not prepared to put in…if you look at a car that’s clearly been souped-up, you’re like…’I don’t know man, looks like it takes a lot of skill (to drive).'”
Hamm on going to clubs: “I could never do it. I was kinda like, ‘Ugh I don’t know what I’m doing here and I feel like I’m wearing the wrong shirt’…it was never right. I was always five years too old and didn’t have the right look.”
Hamm on auditioning for roles as a struggling actor: “It took me 3 years, where I went on a lot of auditions but got absolutely nothing…It’s depressing…but you do develop a very thick skin.”
Hamm on people who are famous for being famous: “It’s kind of like, ‘What do you do? Why are you famous? Why are we giving you anything?…And the honest reason is because somebody’s watching somewhere.'”
Hamm on his career inspirations: “Was I gunning for being Tom Cruise? Absolutely not. The guy I’ve always wanted to be most like was a guy like Jeff Bridges, who’s kind of always been awesome.”
Hamm on auditioning for Mad Men: “Mad Men came around and I got the script and the little cover sheet was like it’s for AMC and it was the last one of the bunch (of pilot scripts he’d been sent), it was way late in pilot season…I started reading it and was like, ‘Oh wow this is really good.’ And then I read the whole thing like in 10 minutes and then I walked in to my girlfriend and said, ‘This is the best script I’ve ever read.'”
Hamm on who AMC originally wanted to play Don Draper: “I started literally on the very, very bottom…I wasn’t on anybody’s list…The funny thing is, they went to Thomas Jane for it and they were told, ‘Thomas Jane does not do television.'”
Hamm on playing the lead in a movie: “I’ve had a lot of lead things thrown at me but most of it has been stuff that I haven’t really liked…I don’t wanna be the guy who’s carrying a movie yet…At some point, yeah, but not yet…I feel you get one shot at that…No one makes adult movies anymore. They make movies for 14 year-olds…I haven’t found anything that I’ve liked.”
Hamm on the proliferation of American exceptionalism: “There’s something American about that…We are kind of raised as AMERICANS…arrogantly insecure…Honestly, it’s getting to the point now where it’s crazy, the arrogance and the entitlement.”