Bridesmaids saw Jon Hamm in a supporting role as Kristen Wiig’s uncaring friend with benefits, but he’s not the only Mad Men cast member to venture into the realm of comedy. The show’s large ensemble cast is full of dramatic actors with an appreciation for comedy and a desire to star in lighter fare. Jason Sudeikis has talked about the friendship between the casts of Mad Men and Saturday Night Live and both groups’ appreciation for alcohol. This Mad Men-SNL bond has been the main gateway into comedy for the show’s actors, leading them to take part in 30 Rock and SNL guest spots. It’s not just Lorne Michaels productions that keep turning out comedic performances from Mad Men actors; they’ve appeared all over the comedy map. These days, Judd Apatow, a fan of the show, seems unable to make a movie that doesn’t feature somebody from Mad Men. He’s currently in the midst of a four-film streak of comedies that feature Mad Men actors, take a look:
Many Mad Men cast members have been gravitating towards humorous roles in the off-season, and it seems like more and more are crossing over into comedy by the second. Let’s take a look at several Mad Men actors and actresses and their forays into comedy.
Alison Brie
Alison Brie is one of the few Mad Men regulars who’s better known for her comedic work than her dramatic. Brie has been playing Pete Campbell’s wife Trudy since Mad Men’s first season, but she’s more recognizable to audiences as Annie Edison on NBC’s Community. That’s not the only comedic work on her resume. Alison Brie starred in the 2009 Atom.com web series Hot Sluts, created by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon head writer A.D. Miles. She also wrote a contribution to the book Worst Laid Plans, a collection of bad sex stories. Brie’s piece for the book, which can be found here, details a night of sexual experimentation between the actress and her gay college friend, and it’s a rather frank and funny story that breaks from the nice girl image Alison Brie has obtained from playing parts like Trudy Campbell and Annie Edison. Brie’s Community character tells a similar story in a season one episode, with her the actress’s real life experience serving as the basis for an anecdote from Trudy’s life. Alison Brie can next be seen in a comedic role in the Judd Apatow-produced Jason Segel comedy Five-Year Engagement, which is in production now.
John Slattery
As hard-drinking man out of time Roger Sterling, John Slattery’s often a source of comic relief on Mad Men, breaking the show’s often-tense tone with his quips and remarks. Slattery’s sharp comedic instincts are on full display in Mad Men, so it’s only fitting that he’s taken a number of comedic roles over the years. Most recently, he’s played a bumbling congressional candidate in a 30 Rock guest spot and voiced another politician on The Cleveland Show. Slattery also guest starred on a number of sitcoms, including Will & Grace and Becker, as well as appearing on The Colbert Report and reprising his role as Roger Sterling in a Mad Men sketch on a Jon Hamm-hosted episode of SNL.
Michael Gladis
One of the few castmembers to disappear in the transition between Mad Men’s third and fourth seasons, which found Don Draper and company starting up their own ad agency, Michael Gladis took a different kind of TV gig after leaving the show. He now plays Chris Elliott’s boss on Adult Swim’s live-action series Eagleheart. Gladis’s character, simply named “The Chief,†is a blustery, Orson Welles-type who is in charge of a team of federal marshals. Although Eagleheart’s runtime is a scant 15 minutes, Michael Gladis still has enough time to show off the comedic abilities Mad Men fans didn’t know he had. Eagleheart’s been renewed for a second season, which will be debuting next year, for those who have yet to catch Gladis’s unexpected turn as The Chief.
Joel Murray
Being Bill Murray’s younger brother can’t be easy for an actor, but Joel Murray, who plays Freddy Rumsen on Mad Men, has managed to carve out a respectable comedy career of his own. After cutting his teeth at Second City Chicago, just like his older brothers Bill and character actor/Caddyshack screenwriter Brian Doyle-Murray, Joel went to Hollywood and began appearing in big movies and TV shows. His best-known comedy roles are as one of John Cusack’s buddies in the cult-classic teen comedy One Crazy Summer and as a lawyer pal of the titular character Greg on the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg. But Joel Murray’s comedy career is far from over, as he’ll be starring in his One Crazy Summer co-star Bobcat Goldthwait’s next directorial effort, the dark comedy God Bless America. Murray is playing the lead role, a man who becomes enraged by the behavior of a spoiled teenage girl on the TV show My Super Sweet 16, drives to the girl’s house, and kills her. He then sets off traveling cross-country, taking out people whose behavior he feels needs to be put to a stop. Goldthwait’s last movie, the Robin Williams-led World’s Greatest Dad, was a critically-acclaimed, high-quality film, and if that project’s any indication the path the Goldthwait’s career is going, then God Bless America should give Joel Murray his meatiest and most promising role yet.
Robert Morse
Robert Morse’s work in comedy goes back further than that of anyone else in the Mad Men cast. The actor began his career on Broadway, appearing in a number of hit plays, many of which were comedies. He originated the lead role in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and reprised the part in the 1967 film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical comedy. Morse also starred in a number of big 1960s comedies, including A Guide for the Married Man and The Loved One, and made his rounds on the game show circuit in the late ’60s and early ’70s, appearing on Match Game, Hollywood Squares, and their ilk.
Rich Sommer
While most of the Mad Men cast is composed of dramatic actors who’ve discovered they have a natural ability for comedy late in their careers, Rich Sommer seems to be the other way around. Sommer’s past is mostly in comedy and Mad Men is a dramatic departure for him. He has guested on the Earwolf podcasts Comedy Death Ray and Eardrop, and he also played a potential romantic rival to Jim on The Office in a season 5 story arc that stopped short. In a Comedy Death Ray appearance, Rich Sommer said his Office character was intended to have a longer story arc but this was changed because of the audience response. Sommer interned at the UCB theatre early in his career in exchange for free classes and he’s performed monologues in their flagship show ASSSSCAT. Sommer’s also been involved with the guerrilla comedy group Improv Everywhere, having participated in their No Pants Subway Ride and Frozen Grand Central pranks. Rich Sommer can next be seen in the romantic comedy The Giant Mechanical Man, along with Jenna Fischer, Lucy Punch, and Bob Odenkirk. It’s due out sometime next year.
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss’s biggest comedy role, so far, has been as Jonah Hill’s girlfriend in Get Him to the Greek, but she’s done a whole lot more in the humor world than that. Moss played supporting parts in Mumford and Did You Hear About the Morgans?, and she also appeared in this web video, a faux-advertisement advocating the use of nachos to treat STDs. She was briefly married to Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen, who she met when she made a cameo on SNL as her MadMen character Peggy Olsen.
Jon Hamm
It’s not really any kind of stated wish of mine to be a comedian. But most of my friends in L.A. are comics, and those are the people I hung out with when I first came out here. And it was a lot of people that were just kind of on the precipice of breaking out when I met them. People like Zach Galifianakis or Patton Oswalt or Sarah Silverman, or Paul F. [Tompkins].
Jon Hamm’s credentials as a comedic actor pretty much outweigh the rest of the cast’s accomplishments in the field as a whole. Hamm is so busy working as an actor in all capacities that comedy is just one of the domains he’s conquered, in addition to dramatic acting and voiceover work. Jon Hamm has done work all over the comedy landscape from film to television to live shows to podcasts to web videos. He’s hosted Saturday Night Live three times and seems to be a favorite on the program, he’s guested on most of the big comedy podcasts, he’s done a Between Two Ferns video with Zach Galifianakis, played Tina Fey’s boyfriend Dr. Drew Baird on 30 Rock (a role that netted him two Emmy noms), and worked in films from genre juggernauts Judd Apatow and David Wain. Hamm had this to say on venturing into comedy:
His uncredited supporting turn as Kristen Wiig’s dickish fuckbuddy Ted in this past weekend’s blockbuster Bridesmaids is the largest part he’s had in a comedy movie so far, but with any luck, Jon Hamm will gravitate toward this sort of project in the future. Director Paul Feig had such a good experience working with Hamm on Bridesmaids that he’s been developing a film project for him to star in, comparing the actor to Cary Grant. Hamm’s also due for an appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast WTF whenever Hamm and Maron are able to work it into their busy schedules. Maron recently told a story about meeting Jon Hamm at SXSW and the two had discussed recording one of the show’s trademark in-depth interviews together.
Other crossovers into comedy from Mad Men stars
While the above-listed actors have found the most success in comedy, just about everyone from Mad Men has some experience in the genre. Jared Harris, who plays English ad man Lane Pryce, is an accomplished character actor who’s played a diverse assortment of roles in Father’s Day, Igby Goes Down, Happiness, and Mr. Deeds. January Jones has appeared in comedies like Pirate Radio, American Wedding and Anger Management, and she hosted an episode of SNL that was nowhere near as well-received as Jon Hamm’s hosting stints. Bryan Batt, who played closeted gay art director Sal Romano on Mad Men, had a bit role as Adam Sandler’s agent in Funny People. Also, comedic actors Colin Hanks, Carla Gallo, and Nat Faxon have all popped up on Mad Men at one point or another. Vincent Kartheiser and Christina Hendricks have done a little comedy in the past but haven’t taken big roles in any high-profile productions recently. They both seem like they’d make adept comic actors (Kartheiser has kind of an evil Dave Foley quality to him), and I eagerly await the moment one of them turns up on 30 Rock or in a Judd Apatow movie.
Bradford Evans is a writer living in Los Angeles.