"RE-RELEASE: Jon Hamm"

Hey, it's Jon Hamm. I got here early and set my tech up very quickly. So of course, I'm waiting for three idiots. Welcome to Smartless. Oh my God, that gives me, is that Yaz? Yeah, Yaz it is. That brings me back to, I met, I went to Chicago once to work the phones at a charity or a telethon. Jason? What have you done with my Jason? Yeah, and I met a girl there and she was also working the phones and we fell in love. And? And I was 15 and I went back home. I talked to my mom about this love I felt. And I was like, I'm gonna go with this girl in Chicago for a whole full week. She said, why don't you go back and see her? I'll take you. I'll go with you. I was like, great. My mom and I got back on a plane the following weekend, went back to Chicago. And I had the most. You told her you fell in love with a girl? Yeah, working the phone banks with me at this telethon. And we had a magical weekend. And that was that. All we listened to was Yaz the whole weekend. Yeah, only you. It's one of the best songs ever. Now, Jason, did you know that the lead, that the guy who wrote all those Yaz songs wrote all those Erasure songs and wrote Depeche Mode songs? Really? Vince Clark. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Yeah, a bunch of them. Well, Vince Clark was the writer of Yaz and then he went to Depeche Mode and wrote, you know, Just Can't Get Enough and all those kind of songs. Then he went, then he left Depeche Mode and went to Erasure and wrote all those. So now let me ask you this. Here's a little, here's a, Sean, you might know that, you probably do, the name of the lead singer of Yaz. What was her name? Alison Moyet. Wow. Again, I said you may know this, but yeah, okay. Well, do you guys Don't give Jason a chance. Yeah, go ahead. Did you guys know what the music festival was where Queen. What was the new game show we had? Queen, Queen was the headliner and Yaz led in for them. It was called Yaz Queen. And it was, it was predated Lollapalooza. I can't believe I'm laughing at that. So stupid. Look who had a good one. Yaz Queen. Even a stopped clock. You know what I mean? I want to ask you guys what the worst trouble you got as a kid, because here's why. Because whenever I'm like five minutes late to rehearsal, whatever, however late I am in rehearsal here in Chicago, you know, I feel like you get in trouble like I was a kid. So I was talking to Scotty about that. And Scotty's like, I asked Scotty, what's the worst trouble you got as a kid? Scotty got his mouth washed out with soap from the nuns in Catholic school. He was about six or seven years old and he got in trouble because he was making fart noises on his arm in the bathroom. And they literally took soap and they really, literally scrubbed his mouth. He should have scrubbed his armpit. But you know what he did? He breathed in to make his mouth all dry so that it wouldn't suds up. Under our guest or? I mean. What are you, are you trying to? Will, can you, can you top Scotty's, Scotty's dry wash? I mean, there have been a lot of stories of heroes over the years. And that is really, people really when their backs against the wall are forced to come up with, right? Alois got outsmarted them. Yeah. You know, there's no fluid in my mouth, so you will not get suds, ma'am. But I always thought that was like a not real thing that you got your mouth washed out with soap, but he got his mouth. That once happened to me. Right. Yeah. I, one time my mom went to hit me with a wooden spoon, true story. And, uh, I was in the kitchen and I was being mouthy, I guess. I can't imagine. What? No. How. Probably not. And I was sweeping. I was holding a broom and I was sweeping and she went, and I said something and she went to swat me with the wooden spoon. And I put the broom up to block it and it broke the wooden spoon in half. My timing was perfect and it snapped it in half. And there was a moment of like, what just happened? And then we both burst into laughter. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Because you said you better step off. Well, just because I was able to block her so easily. Right. Well, just the whole topic of, the whole topic of abuse in families is. Well, she went to hit me on the butt with the wooden spoon and I don't know. Next time does she come at you with a metal spatula? Because that's what I would have done. I would have learned my lesson. You know, I know. I guess these days I don't even want to get into the broader conversation because. Yeah, well no, hang on a second. Let's talk about how you discipline your children and what you advocate for. Yeah. I want to open that up. I'd like to open it up to the world and not only that, I want to hear their opinions on it. You would never do anything? No, of course not. Guys, here we go. Hi. Ready? What if I. I gotta burp. I'm not gonna burp right now. Yeah. Would this guest appreciate something like that? He wouldn't care. He wouldn't care. You didn't even wait for our answer. You said, do you mind if I burp? And then you just were gonna do it. You didn't. I was gonna. Why bother saying it? It's just. Was it a false alarm? Because I didn't see you burp. Yeah. No, it came up. It was right on the. Whatever this part of your throat is. But it didn't. You are. You are, I will say, after having been on the road with you for ten days, almost two weeks. I'm a burper. You're quite a burper. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You are a loud burper like me. You like to. What? Yeah, no. You like to kind of yell your burps. Well, Jason, you like to do the burp that's almost, like, you pretend as if you're about to. Throw up. completely throw up, and you go. But I do the same thing. I do the same thing. I will say that, to both of your credits, you. Neither one of you have bubble problems from the other end. No. I don't have too many bubble problems. Bubble problems. Bubble problems from the other end. Yeah. This guy's amazing. Let's get. He. I don't want to waste time. He's received, guys, 16 Emmy nominations, or one television show. Huh. You're guessing off of that? No. Yeah, I'm gonna say, uh. Well, wait. So that's 16 years. Well, no. It could be for other things. No, no. It could be multiple. Multiple, uh. It could be writing and producing and. Yeah, sure. He's one of the rares that's known for both comedy and drama, and his films are some of the best ever made. This, I didn't know about him. He returned to his high school in St. Louis, Missouri, to teach eighth grade acting, and one of his students was Ellie Kemper. I didn't know that. Really? You guys would love this. And I hope we talk about it for the entire episode. He's an avid golfer. Uh-oh. It's none other than the dashingly handsome, the talented. Very relatable. John Hamm. What? What? Did I get any of that right, John? Yeah, you got it all right. I did, really? You have to say, I don't think I've ever been immediately put in a good mood from any of our previous guests. I know. It was a pretty low bar given the fart-burp conversation that I stumbled onto, but. Do you want to join in? You just perked me up. Hi, boys. John. What's happening, Hamm? It's been a minute. How you doing? Oh, John. The best or nothing. Yes, exactly. We got three car guys on here. Sean, get a fucking car contract for Christ's sake. Or how about a motorcycle, Sean? Let me hear you sell a Yamaha right now. Okay, ready? Hey, guys, are you in a hurry? Get a Yamaha. Wait, you're advocating? They're going to be like, no, no, no, we don't want to advocate for people to speed if you're. You're in a hurry. Hey, guys, pissed off at those dudes cutting line by going right in between your cars. Get a Yamaha. Hey, guys, want to weave in and out of traffic? Hey, we make musical instruments and motorcycles. That's not weird. Hey, you can play our car. Do you want to ride up to your baby grand in style? Hey, I wonder how many products Yamaha makes. They make musical instruments. They make pianos, obviously. They make guitars They make. I know they make violins because I had one in third grade. A Yamaha violin? I've never heard of it. I believe I did. Whoa. How long did you play violin? I think until about sixth grade. And then, uh. And then it just got too. I could never really read music. Yeah. It got too complicated. I just. I could. I can still kind of do it from memory, like that weird, long, long-term memory where you remember lyrics of songs, but like, you know, your mom's birthday somehow, you forget. Um, I. It's the. It's the weirdest thing, how your brain. Quick, what's your mom's birthday? February 1st. Oh, well, that's easy. That's a happy birthday song. Who would forget that? That's a very easy date. Did you move on to a different instrument, or did you just say, screw it? No. I think that's when, like, sports became kind of paramount, and I just did that. What'd you jump into in sports? Uh, football, baseball, swimming, soccer, basketball, what have you. Were you kind of good at all of them? I was better at football and baseball, but I was kind of good at a lot of stuff. This was the high school I went to, it says Burroughs Baseball. This was my baseball shirt from 10th grade. Is that your actual 10th grade t-shirt? Yeah. Yeah. From. Congratulations. God, what brand is that? That's really holding up. I think it's a champion. Will's high school t-shirt's now a beautiful midriff that he wears every once in a while. It's turned into an homage to 90s Britney Spears. Jason's high school t-shirt is a Warner Brothers lot tour shirt. It's a tank, okay? It's got a cap to match it. It's from Upfronts. They came in after Al. It's from Upfronts. Kind of did. 1988 Upfronts. I didn't know that about high school where you graduated with an English degree and then went back to your high school to teach it because that's kind of like a. I'm one of the few people that loved high school. And clearly you did too. I went to a really excellent high school, the aforementioned John Burroughs High School in St. Louis, Missouri. And we had like crazy, you know, we were encouraged to try everything. like arts and sports and and academics and everybody was sort of encouraged to achieve and do well and and that sort of was the ethos of the whole joint so you know you didn't have to be good at it but you had to try and that was the fun of it all and exposing getting exposed to like all of these different disciplines was really was really cool and and it wasn't you know there weren't like the jocks and the nerds and the sportos or whatever the ed mcclurg thing from ferris bueller as of all of the gradations they were all kind of call on ed mcclure come on you gotta know mcclure you gotta have mcclure get the top of i did i did a show with her for five years did you really that woman yeah hey so but now john don't don't be falsely modest here but i've got you between the jocks and the nerds i've got you uh heavier over on the jock side yeah the dials twisted a little to that side for sure very well in high school is that is it was that a fair statement yeah i graduated with honors and uh yeah that's not what i'm talking about yeah yeah it is you did okay did you do all right okay why do you keep winking at him did you uh no we're talking about sports did you score did you score a lot scored a lot of points yeah scored a lot of points played a lot of defense did you put a lot in the bucket that's how good he was he had to play a lot of defense put a lot of balls in the basket i don't know where this metaphor is going jason is amanda got you like on a no-fly list what's going on right now are you not what's going um well then how did all right so then so then you start to feather in i'm sorry you start to feather right did that did that feather feather and then braid and then did you braid i don't have a lot of terms will so tired of my shit but it's new to john so be be hush hush there was a there's some theater feathering for sure uh yeah did the jocks uh ostracize you for that that's a new one well i'm gonna i'm gonna feather that one in did they ostracize you and then did the nerds embrace and receive you like i said no not really because there was a real blend of talk about feathering we were both groups were feathered and we were feathered and we were feathered and we were feathered together quite well yeah and um the jocks were all over we did the the senior production senior year production was godspell so uh and and as in most high school productions they were you know 35 roles and they split up roles and you would you would do half a song and um with the exception of me who played judas and the uh the kid who played jesus so um yeah you know it was it was fun and exciting and it was you know it was something to do and it just it was encouraged so we all did it it was fun if i looked at your high school picture did you have uh luxurious hair i had a good flow yeah in 89 sure real good flow real salad huh bateman-esque i would say jason this is i think ham's giving you a run for your money he's got a great flow he's he can have it john wins every category with any man on the planet you know you're foolish you just chase the silver with him listen it's just nice to be nominated in any when you went back to teach at your high school was there anybody still there that you knew oh yeah yeah tons tons of teachers that i knew and loved um so it was kind of now teaching behind beside them yeah yeah there were no colleagues which is really cool that's crazy and in fact the guy who was who was pretty much responsible for me becoming a professional actor giving me the encouragement and hiring me and got me my equity card eventually wow uh i kind of taught under him that was my pitch was like look you're so such a good teacher that you you made this department like a fun thing to do so you have way too many students so you need a you need a helper and basically i'll be the like junior theater teacher if you'll have me and they did and when was that i graduated college in 93 so this would have been 94 94 95 and then i moved to la in 95 wow i did too okay wow geez what a airport in 95 out here like a million a day i remember we auditioned up against each other all the time sean so it was all the time wait a minute that's another one down here and then i went on the 405 i was on the 405 what car what exit did you because i was on the 405 okay wait i came here so long ago it was the 404 okay wait a minute wait sorry john when we were on tour uh will or jason one of them came up it was will the best pun in the history of puns it was the dumbest japanese food i kept going i was too lazy to make uh to make dinner so i ordered some uh some japanese food sashimi it's so stupid and we were so punch drunk and tired we couldn't stop laughing oh god was that funny i was crying real tears and we will be right back and now back to the show john would you ever consider doing something so generous and loving and give back-ish as going uh as teaching your the eighth grade class again now that you're that you're you got the 16 emmys this incredible career nominations nominations that's crazy is that the most nominations anybody's ever received for one show it's got to be a record i don't think so um it's crazy i think there's been because they were kind of they were for eventually i became a producer on the show so i got nominated for best show and things like that but but you won three as an actor i won one oh i won for the final season of madman but i was nominated i think as a guest star on snl and on 30 rock and and a couple of things like that so i think those have been lumped in there what'd you do with all the speeches what'd you do with the 15 speeches you didn't that you didn't use i still got them i still got them i still got them i still got them i bet you do right i got them right up here no no did you did you memorize them or did you write them down no no i didn't write anything i never wrote anything down ever did you didn't have any sort of thoughts prepared if i get up there i want to make sure i don't forget to thank honestly no i really didn't did you jason did you write a few of the times that you lost oh yeah no i've got a book yeah you did write them down yeah i was an early adopter for when bateman won i gave i was right there on i'm probably number four on the text chain congrats buddy john is incredibly conservative love you consistent oh fuck you know what yeah it's a good point congrats jason what happened i know it's been a couple years no you're winning the emmy sorry i don't think i ever said anything hey better late than never wait sashimi sashimi you know what will can use the same joke again another one from the tour which was when i said to jason uh i got him golf balls for christmas like two sets of 18 golf balls each or something and i said did you ever get that and he goes yeah i already had those and will goes that's a twist on thank you what did i say i already had those no you know you sean you said that you dropped them i sean you go i gave you like a couple boxes of golf balls you came over to my house and i gave them to you and go and jason you said oh yeah yeah i did get those i said well that's a fun twist on thank you thank you i don't think that happened i don't i think you're both way back to jason's question would you ever go back and teach now john would you ever do that desire still there i sure would i i i was offered a a chance to extend my contract by another year and i would have um loved to have done it but i was 24 turning 25 at the time and i thought well maybe i'm at least gonna try to to do la see what happens and um and you know i did and i did and i did and i did and i did and and i i really would though i i i found it tremendously fulfilling i don't know what teaching is like now with phones and internet this was pre-internet pre-phone well that's how i was going to kind of ask like what teaching would be like now for you though like you as an acting teacher then versus how you would teach acting now not to get into acting weeds because we'll lose the we'll lose our one listener um but like as your as your your whole theory about acting like how would you teach the kids now would it be different it would probably be similar uh if not identical i would just have much more credibility as a 50 year old rather than a 24 year old guy trying to wear a tie yeah what was the gig that you had what was the job you had right before madman um i was kind of unemployed for like i i i got a pilot which i got fired off of and then i tested for seven other pilots the following um pilot season and got none like i went all you know all the way up to the top and then seven times oh my god so madman was that my eighth test that season and it was crazy late in the in what used to be called pilot season because it was on amc which didn't really know how to do pilot season so they just had a different schedule than everybody else but i had tested seven times and then biffed them all um so yeah so my last job was a pilot that was called something that then went on to be called a show called related with lizzie caplin jennifer esposito and oh yeah someone else um and i played the love interest of god why am i spacing on her name she was in pretty woman with julia roberts sanju como yes laura sanju como so laura sanju como was the the eldest of three siblings and i was her love interest and the and she killed herself on this pilot she was wonderful in it and they forced her call every day and she had a kid at home it was like they treated her terribly and then i And then they fired her and the powers that be said, you're out and they told me they're like but you're we like you and you're gonna stay I was like there's no part for like that was my love interest I don't have a person and I'm not in the family so it doesn't make sense no no no no no and they kept me kept me kept me and I had to turn down another couple jobs that now I was available for and then they they released my option on the last day and fired me so that was that was my last gig before Mad Men. That's so great and and what it what if what a change of perspective you have now on the other end of it and we all know we've been there of just just just hearing you describe it brings almost like PTSD oh yeah for sure we yeah like you said we've all we've all had a version of that of just like for sure oh this is gonna go oh it didn't and then it's gonna go in the far worse way never possibly could have yeah right and a good example of while it probably felt like hell at the time had that show kept going had they not fired you you you would have been unavailable to do Mad Men so it was a great everything happens um yeah everything happens for a reason so you're saying look at the bright side of things which I you know I'm gonna say I agree with there's plenty of fluid in that glass um Johnny I read somewhere that you after Mad Men you got offered like 800 parts where it took place in the 60s or some kind of really same thing over and over and over and over again but you were smart enough to wait out wait for that one good thing and what was that one thing? well there's there's obviously like as soon as one thing hits then there's five versions of that thing that come around the pike and so for us it was NBC came out with something like called like Pan Am yeah something that was about like sexy stewardesses in the 60s and then like there was some other version of like Woodstock and and it was just all this stuff and and um you know then the like the movie Revolution Road came out like there were all of these kind of things that the 60s became kind of a a hot commodity or at least the late 60s and and it was um and not only that it was just yeah it was like so if there was a brooding dark character that smoked and drank a lot then I got that script and I was kind of like that's my day job like I don't right and I and I love it and I get to do it at a very high level and I very much appreciate it but it's my day job like yeah I would rather do something radically different was any part of you like oh god you know I know what it's like to not be able to do it but I would rather do something radically different than to not work so much that maybe I should just pick one of these things like the immediate instinct when you have that is to just grab everything with both hands and hold on for dear life um but I don't know there was something I guess I was older I was 36 at the time 37 like I was kind of like all right I got this this seems to be going really well but then like you know Lorne Michaels came calling and said like why don't you host the show and I was literally like this has to be a prank I don't understand um and I yeah I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know yes yes and in fact I had to turn it down the first time he asked because my then girlfriend at the time and I were had planned this huge trip like I'd never been to Greece we had like had planned this whole like two week long getaway and it was like we couldn't we couldn't move it well I was like well I get to say no to Lorne Michaels Sean will never go to Mykonos again tell him what happened I got Sean what happened Sean Jesus yeah you know me too well I love the highlights I love the highlights I love the highlights I love the highlights uh John I you know it's funny Mad Men was and and remains such an incredibly uh like it's one of those shows that really changed I feel like in a lot of ways changed TV changed the way that people look at TV was one of incredible incredible writing and you were so incredible in it and I and I'll tell you here's a testament to how great you are you were in that part and you are because it still lives on when I actually started watching it in earnest I had already known you a few years and then started watching it and was completely immersed in it and could not get enough of it and watched absolutely every episode all the way through to the end and was really profoundly moved by your performance uh as Don Draper honestly and really really really truly and it's historical now absolutely did it change the way you acted around John when you when you need to when you'd hang out with him afterwards no no no but yes of course but but but I way more deferential way right let's see what John has to say I don't know he's my friend my friend John my friend John is John do you want anything um I mean I wasn't going out but I will I will totally go out the kids are in bed and the doors are locked but I'll get up no I'll get dressed I'll get dressed um but but did so you do something like that that changes your life in you know so many ways absolutely uh and it's at first scary probably and weird like you say Lorne Michaels is calling you and like and you and it didn't happen at 18 years old yeah I I to this day you know Jason God I do your life and growing up the way you grew up being famous since you were six I remember you on Silver Spoons I'll say it yeah I mean I was a fan I was a fan early on I was like this kid's good I get it um but uh yeah it changes everything you know it's it's it's it's it's it's and it and it really does provide an incredible amount of opportunity but it comes with an incredible amount of like you know uh caveat you know like just be careful what you wish for in a lot of ways so you know we also we also came around you know the show really kind of got famous and I then got famous around 2007 which seems like not that long ago but was a long time ago not only it was 15 years ago but it was um that was the year they came out with the iPhone and I think it was maybe around the time that Twitter started and then like 2010 was Instagram and like all of these things were starting to kind of like people's access to the internet became in their pocket and 24 7 and so that was kind of the blogging recap culture was just starting so this idea of kind of actively engaged fans that could in real time kind of talk about the shows really came around right when we happened to get famous so there was a lot of like serendipity and luck involved in in our show's success and it was you know it was crazy and it was a whirlwind and it was impossible to kind of not um enjoy because it was enjoyable and you and it's you it so rarely happens that you and we all we've all been a part of at least one in some in some cases several hits like that where you just it's out of your control and you just have to hold on for the ride and and that's kind of what it did but getting that level of fame and and respect and success in in in a profession um at at the age you are at is is fortuitous uh I would think uh in that in that you're you've you've got the coping mechanisms to to deal with something like that were you able to uh take some really beneficial parts from fame um and incorporate it into your life and in a healthy way yeah I mean I think part of it is is is being okay with with appreciating it if that makes any sense yeah yeah there's a lot of us I think that are want to like poo poo it and play it down and and be modest with it which is which is also very healthy and good but there's there's something very um I think healthy about saying like you know what yeah good for me hooray yay me I I didn't for nothing like work for 10 years and I didn't work for 10 years and I didn't work for 10 years and with very little recognition or accolades or money or jobs or anything like you know when I landed in 95 when Sean and I landed in 1995 it took me three years to even get a job so you know and it wasn't for lack of trying I auditioned for everything you know my my weird audition story was auditioning for Mimi Leader for Deep Impact a part that eventually went to Jon Favreau yeah um and you know who to this day I don't know who I'm going to be but I'm going to be a part of that and I'm going to be I still say I'm still a little angry at I'm a little angry at him sure beat me up for that he had swingers he had swingers he's a writer he's strict he had so much and he couldn't need Deep Impact couldn't back off and just give me that I needed it no but he could pay you back now give you some nice sweet arc on Mandalorian some Mandalorian love yeah nice little tight little three up three up arc well he's also he's the guy in all that stuff too and all the Marvel stuff isn't he that's Johnny Marvel come on isn't he the guy isn't he in those movies too he's Downey's uh driver right getting his SAG benefits you know what I mean listen he's been he's driven Robert Downey yeah in the Iron Man trilogy yeah quadruple E yeah he's driven Jack Nicholson yeah I think truly in as good as it gets really am I making this up I don't know was he a driver in that was he in as good as it gets I don't know I'll be honest I might be conflating a lot I think you made that up John is a fun guy to act with you guys have you guys done that no but I know he's a fun guy in general he is he is fun in a scene very fast very quick and him and Vince together that must have been fun to watch oh man yeah he's he's I've I've met those guys I live on the east side of LA and and they they're kind of credited with kind of bringing Los Feliz into the hipster world for sure yeah the Dresden mm-hmm the whole kind of swing you know the swingers scene was their scene for sure right and when those guys walked into a bar in 1996 like you knew it it was oh yeah they were they were very good hangs and they were very funny even then and you know the proof's in the pudding they both have very nice careers we were we were talking the other day about uh jason and we're talking about vince about how fucking quick and funny he is there's just no one better at what he's unreal yeah and nobody does what he does which is a nice place to be yeah and now a word from our sponsor all right back to the show john when you you know now that you worked your butt off to get to where you are and and in hindsight it probably took longer than you wanted and longer than than what you explained before um is there anything that you tell younger actors going through it now or any kind of business businessy advice rather than acting you know technique advice that you know that you would probably pass on to anybody looking to make it now you know i've talked to actually jenna fisher about this who's also from st louis so i've known for some time i didn't know we're in st louis but uh we we were talking about something for some reason uh and and it's funny like you can go to all of the acting schools in the world and nobody really teaches you about the business of acting right and what it really is like of course like managing your day and managing your time and and your expectations your expectations for sure like thinking about you know here's what it is to like drive into the valley in august and then have another audition in in fox in an hour you know and it's you know it's it's a lot and it's and it's real and it's actually the part of of acting that most actors engage with from a professional standpoint far more than they do you know scene study or whatever and and so there's that part and there's also just the fact that everything at this level moves so quickly especially in television that if you're not ready to go if you haven't done the work before you get to work then you're it's not going to go well right for one reason or another and i've seen it happen i've been a victim of it of just like i'll just wing it and then you're like uh-oh right uh but it's um it's a real lesson to learn of just you know it's the first one i learned in class is just like be prepared i had i had an acting teacher two years ago he would he kind of would would would profess this and he was kind of a working actor he's a character actor he died and he'd lived in la a long time he had moved back to new york it's like early charles nelson riley or early 90s charles bronson it was charles bronson it was uh and uh we he'd only we'd only do scenes from uh fort apache the bronx but but he would but he great movie he wasn't in that uh charles uh bronson was sure he was um so anyway we had a lot to pick from but i'm glad you picked that one yeah me too um he would say the same thing which which was like as a young actor if you get on if you get to set and you start going like i'm gonna work through my stuff you're fired um there's no time to work through your shit they gotta get this shot and they gotta move on yeah and they don't give a fuck about what your process is and how you get there you deliver when they fucking call action be ready and i think that that was like the i had that in early age and i was i felt lucky because i feel a lot of actors feel like i'm just gonna go and i'm gonna work it out i'm gonna feel it once they see how amazing i am they'll give me all the time in the it depends on what you want right if you want to be like take tom cruise for example people like they didn't just hand it to him like he he he worked his butt off to be tom you know what i mean like and having worked with him he is the first guy on set he were you know he's in the gym at five in the morning call times at six he's there he's ready to go and he's the last guy that leaves and it's yeah that guy deserves it you know he wants it he got it he works hard at it and that's you know jason i know you've directed i'm have you guys both directed television sean and will like yeah it's the same thing when you sit through those auditions and you think like all right the guy that comes who's gonna come in and take this part right he's gonna come in so i can worry about something else so i can worry about something else and by the way so i can go back to the set i gotta shoot yeah and and you walk and you watch the guys that do it that walk in and just say like i don't have any questions or or i don't have any ridiculous questions not 10 minutes of no it's like let's do this and i'm going to prove to you how how i can crush this and then it's like great that's the guy i want on the day when i'm 10 hours behind sean you do that but you're you're you haven't directed but you also you go to the when it goes to going to the gym you're the last guy there the first guy out right yeah very similar yeah i mean look at me so john growing up in st louis did you uh did you did you spend any summers uh at the lake of the ozarks down there yeah in fact my uh a good portion of my family has retired down there my my uh my dad's sister my aunt betty uh lives lives down there full time now and my is it true that there that there's a a bar down there that does real well called big dicks halfway in whoa no way is that a true story it's entirely possible if i'm if i'm judging by the amount of of and the quality of puns that i've seen and heard throughout the years in the in the lake of the ozarks the redneck is that true jason is that a real bar that's a real bar from what i understand and it is a very high level pun that is uh that they deserve to do a lot of business in there jason can we get can we get a little something out of marty bird i i i don't i don't i don't change at all this is a full marty right now we hear a little something out of marty this whole interview has been conducted by marty bird i think we'd love to have a conversation with marty bird i think it might go a little something like now did you ever see any uh any um any money money laundering or um no no killings or anything down there very little if any we're painting a pretty bleak picture of the lake down there there was a lot of bass fishing a lot of water skiing yeah uh and some pretty heavy heavy uh drinking yeah but uh you know a lot of a lot of very poor uh water safety yeah but you're not getting a murder a week down no yeah we're taking a little license you know fall out of the boat hit your head son of a bitch yeah i had my phone in my pocket god damn it a lot of that's for sure a lot of anger with that but not a lot of cartel guys walking down dirt roads with shotguns in the middle of the night right you just didn't see it and that doesn't mean it didn't exist now are they upset at us for painting that type of a picture i think any any publicity for the ozarks is good publicity at this point you know they do need to lengthen the runway there so they could get some commercial flights in there and and really open up tourism don't darn it you're speaking you're preaching the choir at this point you get down there and and and kind of ramrod something like that is that one of the other bars the ramrod something like this the ramrod does great business but it's mostly on weekends and it's gay i'm sorry on weekends thank you um johnny what's your favorite best movie experience on a set or part that you played and i will tell you i've got it right here he's loaded with that one um i worked on a movie called bad times at the el real a couple years ago yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah directed by a guy who I've known for a long time. He used to write promos for the WB. I auditioned to be the guy that reads the pro. Next on the WB. That guy that Will probably got. No, I did CBS at that time. Fair enough, fair enough. And so I got the offer for it during Sundance. It came through and they said, you've got 48 hours to read this. It's yours if you want it. You've got to be on a plane from Sundance to Vancouver. Let me know. And I read it and I loved it. And I was like, cool, cool, cool. This is amazing. Who fell out, basically? Because clearly somebody did. No, John. No, somebody did. It was fine. It was Russell Crowe. Whatever. Good replacement, I think. Sure. And it was to work with Jeff Bridges, who I've wanted to work with my entire life. He's amazing, yeah. And I've always thought was maybe the coolest guy. Even pre-Big Lebowski, I was on board. That's no letdown, right? Real, that's a high-level professional. He is the best. And so I got to work with that guy for, they shot the whole thing chronologically. Spoiler alert, I die in the first act, but I shot all, you know, whatever, two and a half weeks of my part. And it was mostly with Jeff. And man, that was a, that was a, and it was a beautiful set. It was super cool. Everybody on it was nice. It was, that was, that was one of the good ones. That was really one of the good ones. John, how weird. So you actually, you did this movie, with a guy who was writing promos at the CW. What a trip for you guys, right? Did you guys acknowledge that? Yeah, yeah. And I knew him through like a little poker league that we played in. Like he was just, he hit the big time. Drew Goddard. And he's still making movies. Oh yeah, he's doing very well. Oh wait, I know Drew, because he's Caroline Williams. He's married to Caroline Williams, who's a tremendous comedy writer. She's one of the funniest writers I've ever worked with. There you have it. She wrote on BoJack. Things happen to good people sometimes. Yeah. Now you mentioned auditioning to be the voice of CW. So the voice has been something that you've been using for a while, then it sounds like. But you've really hit the top of the mountain there with Mercedes for how many years now? I think going on 13 now. Jon Hamm. That's so cool. Yeah. Yeah, they've outlasted several CEOs and CMOs. 13 years, that's pretty good. It's not bad. Here he comes, here he comes, here he comes. It's not professional grade though. I mean, 13 years is good, but it's not professional grade. It's not professional. It's not professional grade. It doesn't matter. Oh no, I think people want to know. I will say, for the listeners out there, every now and again, I will get texts from both Jason and Will. About some voiceover, something or other, which is, it's a compliment, but it's a left-handed compliment. No, no. It's always a, oh, I see you doing that too. Good for you. Good for you. Good for you. Real happy for you. Let me tell you what else is a good, that Apple commercial that you do is killer. I love that. That's well done. Come on. And it's beautiful. Who shot that, by the way? I want DP on director. Another guy I've known for a long, long time through our mutual friend, Tall John Schrader. A guy named Wayne McClammy, who now is another guy that came out of the trenches of the WB. No way. I'm not kidding. Do you know who shot it? Do you know who the DP was? I don't remember the name of the DP. I'm sorry. Okay, wait. Johnny, before we let you go, because I know you got to go, I want to know what you're excited about coming up that's really getting you going. I'll tell you exactly what I'm excited about, because I've said it about four times today. I get to go to Europe for my birthday. I turned 50. I turned 50 last year, and it was during a pandemic, and my big celebration was having some people over and standing 10 feet away from them. Yeah. And I get to go, my gal and I get to go to the Alps for two weeks for my birthday. I've never been. I've never been to Switzerland. Oh, that's exciting. I've never been to that part of France, and I've never been to that part of Italy, so we're going to do it right. You're going to like that a lot. I'm leaving in a week, and I'm very, very excited about that. That's so exciting. George can toss you the keys for the house in Colorado. Jesus. Hey, baby, you got Como handy? Let me rock it out. It's right there. I promise I'll mop up. Why not? And listen, you can pop down to Zermatt. Where are you going in Switzerland? Switzerland, Stade. Stade. Nice. Yes. I just want to be like, I want to do like one thing James Bond did. Right. Like I want to eat dinner in a like UFO-shaped thing that you have to take a gondola to, and then you ski out for dessert. Hey, are you going to get into Germany at all? You should get to Germany and have Mercedes give you one of their cars and drive on the Autobahn where there's no speed limit. It's incredible. I think that's a different trip, but yes, that's going to happen at some point. I'll go on that one with you. Okay. Let's go. Yeah. Come on. God, that sounds like farce. Let's take this podcast on the road and do it German style. But one more thing, and I know the personal life is way more important than anything we do for a living, but I'm just excited about you and your talent. And is there anything that you're excited about? Or excited that's coming up that you can share with us that you're working on or going to work on? The most exciting thing that I have coming out, which will finally come out in May, is the long-awaited 30 years on sequel to Top Gun. Oh, nice. You're in that? Yes, I am. That's great. And that's coming out, I think, Memorial Day weekend around there. And I've seen it. It's really, really good. It's exactly what you want out of this. And I cannot wait for people to see it. It was one of those things where. Another kind of pinch-me moment. Like, just like, wait, they're asking me to be in the Top Gun sequel? Like, tell my 15-year-old self that. And I would punch my 15-year-old self in the face. Yeah, that's healthy. So, yeah. Tom Cruise was not a disappointment either, I'll bet. Right? Just incredible. The best in the biz, man. He's the best in the biz. He's as advertised. He is intense and hardworking, but that's exactly who you want. That's what you want in a Tom Cruise. Yeah, that's great. I could do a whole hour on that. That's awesome. Well, I'm excited about that. Johnny, thank you for being here. I know you got to run. It means the world to us. And thank you for saying yes to coming on. I'm such a big fan. Thank you very much for having me. It's rare that I know all three podcast hosts at the same time. Hopefully, if Major League Baseball gets their act together, we can go out there and spend some quality time. You know, Jason and I have a lovely, friendly Cardinals-Dodgers rivalry that the Dodgers have had the better of the last few years. Not really. Barely. You still have Flaherty, though, you know? Listen, you got the ring. You give me him and all's forgiven. Okay, I'll trade you for Walker Buehler. You want me with the high school out here? No, no, no. He needs to be with Walker. Anyway, we'll talk. We'll negotiate something. No, no, no. Please continue on with fucking baseball, man. I'm all the fucking sports. Yeah, let's end on baseball. We can end on the fact that I went on a blind date with Jason's now wife. We can all. But that's for another time. Wait, you did? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Maybe 30 seconds. No, he's got to go. He's been in there really bad. I've got to go, but I've got to go. That's the next episode. Bateman, shut it. Did you really go on a blind date with Amanda? Ham, just wink at me. One wink means yes, two means okay. Yes, fuck it. John! All right, John Hamm, thank you so much, John. Thank you, Johnny. Oh, great to have you. Ham, you're the best. You're the best. Go Burroughs. Let's bring Amanda on the next time. All right, I love you guys. Thank you so much. Love you, buddy. Bye, man. Talk soon. John Hamm is no ham. John is. John Hamm is a very humble, classy, solid individual. Solid individual, yeah. Yeah, I was super excited that he was coming on. I mean, he's like one of those guys that's, you know, I say it all the time about other people, but whenever he's in something, you're like, oh, this is going to be great. Yeah. Yep, he's got a real solid presence. And I really meant it about Mad Men, watching that, and truthfully, like, thinking, like, kind of know him, and like, this. How's this going to be watching him in this? It's kind of like Jason watching you in Ozark, which is also a testament to how good you are. It's like you get into it, and you're like, you forget that you know the guy, which is, it's a hard. Yes. It's a higher bar to have to, a higher special to have to get over. I know. That's so true, like. And that shows how good it is. Jay, whenever I, yeah, whenever I watch Ozark, it's like, I don't. It's transformative, as they say. So congratulations on that. Congratulations to John Hamm on being successful. So, Sean, also, what a great guest. It's so great having. It's so great having John on. Yeah, he's got a new podcast. Yeah, I was going to say that. Does he have a new podcast? It's called American Hostage, and it's on Amazon Wondery. It's fantastic. You've got to listen to the trailer. The trailer sounds like an actual movie. It's really, really cool. Ah, he's perfect for that. It's really great. He's perfect for that, because he's so good. I meant it when I said, like, I watch Mad Men. And to, I mean, how many. You would never think that a series about a pot store would last for how many seasons? Oh, no, no, you're thinking of, sorry, you're thinking of Mad Men, which is a pot store out here in California. No, it's a different, it's a totally different, yeah. I mean, it's a very honest. Oh, this is, oh, sorry, Mad Men. So it's an anger management, like a help group? Eh, again, it's just, honestly, I wish you could, it's just kind of a play on Madison Avenue guys of advertising executives. Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm lost. But it's like where they, you know, those ad executives, they come up with all the different slogans, like, you know, do this, do this, or like. You're thinking of, like. Bye. Hey, Mad Men. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarv, and Bennett Barbico. Smart. Less. Thank you.