SmartLess - "Jon Hamm"

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

The guys go full-Yamaha this week with avid golfer, Jon Hamm. It’s mad, man.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, it's John Hamm. I got here early and set my tech up very quickly, so of course, I'm waiting for three idiots. Welcome to SmartLiz. Smart. Liz. Smart. Liz. Smart.

Liz. Smart. Liz. Liz. Smart. Liz. 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 telephone. 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 I was 15 and I went back home. I talked to my mom about this love I fell in 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- Tell her you fell in love with a girl? Yeah, working the phone banks with me at this telephone and we had a magical weekend and that was that.

All we listened to was Yaz the whole weekend. Yeah, only you. The best songs ever. Now Jason, did you know 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 kinds of songs. Then he left Depeche Mode and went to Erasure and wrote all the songs. 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, did you guys know what the music festival was where Queen, Queen, Queen was the headliner and Yaz led in for them? It was called Yaz Queen and it was, it was pre, it predated Lollipalooza and I can't believe I'm laughing at that, it's so stupid, look at her, good one, Yaz Queen, even a stopped clock.

I want to ask you guys with the worst trouble in Uganda 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 in this kid? Scotty got his mouthwashed out with soap from the nuns and 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. Why they should have scrubbed his armpit. Right. But you know what he did? Right with the soap. He breathed in to make his mouth all dry so that it wouldn't suds up. You got under eye guest or? I mean, yeah.

Wow. What are you, are you trying to? Will, 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 they're backs against the wall are forced to come up with, right? A little bit of Scott outsmarted them, 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 mouthwashed out with

soap. But he got his mouthwashed out. That once happened to me. I, one time my mom went to hit me with a wooden spoon, true story. And I was in the kitchen and I was being mouthy, I guess. I can't imagine how and I was sweeping. I was holding a broom and I was sweeping and she went and I said to me 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, step off just cause I was able to block her so easily. And then the whole topic of the whole topic of abuse and families is well, she went to

hit me on the butt with the, with the wooden spoon and next time does she come at you with a metal spatula? Cause that's what I would have done. I would have learned my lesson. You know, I know it, 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, what you advocate for. Yeah, I want to open that up and I'd like to open it up to the world and not only that,

I want to hear their opinions on it. He would never do anything. No, of course not. Guys, here we go. Hi. Ready? What if I, I got a burp. I'm not gonna burp right now.

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, we're going to do it. You didn't. Why bother saying it? Was it a false alarm?

Because I didn't see you burp. Yeah. No, I came up. It was right on the, whatever this is 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 10 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, you like to. What? Yeah, no. You like to kind of yell your burp. Jason, you like to do the burp that's almost like is, you pretend as if you're about to

throw up. And you go, but I do the same thing. I do. 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 from the other. Yeah. This guy's amazing.

Let's get, he, I don't want to waste time. He's received guys 16 Emmy nominations for one television show. Huh. Yeah. I'm going to say, yeah. I'm going to say, well, wait. So that's 16 years. Well no, it could be further.

No, no. It could be multiple. Multiple. Yeah. Yeah, sure. He's one of the, 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 the Ellie Kemper. I didn't know that. Really? Because I loved this. And I hope we talk about it for the entire episode. He's an avid golfer. There's none other than the dashingly handsome, the talented, very relatable, John Hamm.

What? What? What? Did I get any of that right, John? Yeah, you got it all right. I did really. Him. 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. Yeah. Do you want to join in? You just perked me up. Hi boys. John.

What's happening, Ham? It's been a minute. How are you doing? Oh, John. The best or nothing? Yes. Exactly. We got three car guys on here.

Come on, John. Get a fucking car contract. Or how about a motorcycle, John? 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 in a hurry. Hey, guys. Pissed off at those dudes cutting line by going right in between your cars. Get a Yamaha. Hey, guys.

Why don't we've 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.

Yes. They make guitars. I know they make violins because I had one in third grade. Really? A Yamaha violin? I believe I did. Whoa. How long did you play violin?

I think until about sixth grade. And then it just got too, I could never really read music. Yeah. It got too complicated. I just, I could 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. It's the weirdest thing how your brain-

What's your mom's birthday? February 1st. Oh, well, that's a good one. Who would forget that? It's a good one. That's a very easy day. 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. Would you jump into in sports? Football, baseball, swimming, soccer, basketball, what have you? It was a- Were you kind of good at all of them? I was better at football, baseball, but I was kind of good at a lot of stuff. This is the high school I went to. He says, borough's baseball.

This was my baseball shirt from 10th grade. Is that your actual 10th grade t-shirt? Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. 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 mid-drift 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 Winterbrothers lot tour shirt. It's a tank. Okay. It's got a cap to match it. It's from up front. They came in after Al.

It's from up front. 1988 up front. 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, we were encouraged to try everything so it was like arts and sports and academics and

everybody was sort of encouraged to achieve and do well and that sort of was the ethos of the whole joint. So 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 it wasn't, you know, there weren't like the jocks and the nerds and the sportos or whatever the Edie McClurg thing from Ferris Bueller is of all of the gradations. They were all kind of-

Nice call on Edie McClurg. Come on. You got to know McClurg. You got to have McClurg at the top of that. I did. I did a show with her for five years. Did you really? With that woman.

Yeah. Hey, so, but now John, don't be falsely modest here but I've got you between the jocks and the nerds, I've got you heavier over on the jock side. Yeah. The dials twisted a little to that side for sure. Very well in high school. Is that, was that a fair statement? Yeah.

I graduated with honors and yeah. That's not what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah it is. You did okay? Did you do all right? Yeah. Okay.

Why do you keep winking at him? I'm not winking. Did you, look, we're talking about sports. Did you score? Did you score a lot? I scored a lot of points. Yeah. I scored a lot of points.

I played a lot of defense. Did you put a lot in the bucket? That's how good he was. Did you put a lot 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 on? Well then how did, all right, so then, so then you start to feather in. Jason, fix your hair. I'm sorry. You start to feather in some theater, right? Did that, did that? Feather. Feather in some theater.

Feather in some, and then did you braid anything in? I don't have a lot of terms. Will's so tired of my shit. I love it. But it's new to John. So be, be hush hush. There was, there was some theater feathering for sure. Yeah, did the jocks ostracize you for that?

That's a new one. Well, I'm going to, I'm going to 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 together quite well. Yeah. And the jocks were all over. We did the senior production, senior year production was Godspell.

So as in most high school productions, they were, you know, 35 roles and they've split up roles and you would, you would do half a song and with the exception of me who played Judas and the kid who played Jesus. So yeah, you know, it was, it was fun and exciting and it was, you know, 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 a luxurious hair?

I had a good flow in 89. 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 can have it. John wins every category with any man on the planet, you know, your foolish, you just chase the silver with him.

Listen, it's just nice to be nominated in any category. Wait, Johnny, when you went back to teach at your high school, was there anybody still there that you knew? Oh yeah. There was tons of teachers that I knew and loved. So it was kind of a trip. Now teaching behind, beside them? Yeah.

Yeah. There were now 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. I kind of taught under him as his, 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.

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. I did too.

Okay. Wow. What a coincidence. Okay. Lower your eyebrows. Sean. A lot of people hit the 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. I lost another one down here. And then I went on the 405. I was on the 405, Bill. What car? What exit did you go on? Cause I was on the 405.

Okay, wait. I came here so long ago was the 404. Thank you. Hello. Hello. It's so sleepy. Okay. Wait a minute.

Sorry, John, when we were on tour, Will or Jason, one of them came up. It was Will. The best pun in the history of puns. Stupid. It was the dumbest. You were eating Japanese food. I kept going. I was too lazy to make, to make dinner, so I ordered some, some Japanese food.

Sashimi. It's so stupid, and we were so punch drunk and tired, we couldn't stop laughing. Oh God, it 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, as teaching the eighth grade class again, now that you're, that you got the 16

Emmys, this incredible career. Nominations. 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.

That'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 you won three as an actor? I won one. Oh. No. Yeah.

But I was nominated, I think, as a guest star on SNL and on 30 Rock and a couple of things like that. So I think those have been lumped in there. What'd you do with all the speeches? Would you do with the 15 speeches that you didn't use? I still got them. I bet you do. Right?

I still got them right up here. No, no. Did you memorize them or did you write them down? No, no. I didn't write anything. I never wrote anything down ever. 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 was right there on, I've probably numbered four on the text chain. Congrats, buddy. John is incredibly- Reserve it. Supportive. Love you. Consistent.

Oh, fuck. You know what? Yes, a good point. Congrats, Jason. What happened? I know it's been a couple of years. No, you're winning the Emmy. Sorry, I don't think I ever said anything.

Hey, better late than that. Wait. It's a shame, man. It's a shame, man. It's a shame. It's a dollar. You know what? Will can use the same joke again, another one from the tour, which was when I said to

Jason, 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. Wait. What did I say? I already had those. No, Sean, you said that you dropped them, Sean, you go, I gave you like a couple of

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. That's pronounced. Thank you. That's pronounced. 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? Does that desire still there? I sure would. I was offered a chance to extend my contract by another year and I would have loved to

have done it, but I was 24 turning 25 at the time and I thought, well, maybe I'm at least going to try to do LAC what happens and, you know, I did. And I really would though, 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 our one listener. But like, as your whole theory about acting, like, how would you teach the kids now? Would it be different? It would probably be similar, 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. What was the gig that you had, what was the job you had right before, Madman? I was kind of unemployed for like, I got a pilot, which I got fired off of.

And then I tested for seven other pilots the following pilot season and got none. I could 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 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.

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 Kaplan, Jennifer Esposito, and oh yeah, someone else. And I played the love interest of God, why am I spacing on her name? She was in Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts. San Jacomo? Yes, Laura San Jacomo. So Laura San Jacomo was the eldest of three siblings and I was her love interest 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 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 going to 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 of 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 Madame. That's so great. And what a, what a, 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. Yeah. Like you said, we've all, we've all had a version of that. Yeah. For sure. Oh, this is going to go. Oh, it didn't.

And then it's going to go in the far worst way, if we're possibly good at. 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. Yeah. Everything happens for a reason.

So you're saying look at the bright side of things, which I, you know, I'm going to say, I agree with it. There's plenty of fluid in that glass, 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 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, there was 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 something that was about like sexy stewardesses in the 60s. And then like there was some other version of like Woodstock and it was just all this stuff. And, and, you know, then the, like the movie Revolution Road came out, like there were all of these kinds of things that the 60s became kind of a hot commodity, or at least the late 60s.

And, and it was, and not only that, it was just, yeah, it was like, so if there was a brooding dark character that smoke and drank a lot, then I got that script. And I was kind of like, that's my day job. Like I don't, 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 I would rather do something radically different. Is any part of you like, Oh God, I, you know, I know what it's like to not work so much

that maybe I should just take one of these things. Like the, the immediate instinct when you have that is to just grab everything with both hands and hold on for dear life. 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, Lord 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. And I, 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.

Wow. And I was like, well, I get to say no to Lord Michaels. Sean will never go to me, can I say again, tell him what happened? I got Sean. What happened, Sean? Oh, Jesus. Yeah. You can't help me too well.

I love the highlights. John, you know, it's funny, Mad Men was and remains such an incredibly, 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'll tell you, here's a testament to how great you are. You were in that part and you are, cause 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 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 hang out with them afterwards? No, no, sure.

No, but yes, of course, but, but, but I think. Way more deferential. Way more. 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? I mean, that 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. But, but did.

So you do something like that. That changes your life in, you know, so many ways. Absolutely. And it's at first scary probably and weird. Like you say, Lord 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 be 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. And 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, 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 seven. 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 shows success. And it was, you know, it was crazy and it was a whirlwind and it was impossible to kind

of not enjoy because it was enjoyable. And it's 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 that's kind of what I did. But getting that level of fame and, and respect and success in, in, in a profession at, at the age you are at is, is fortuitous, I would think in that, in that you've, you've got the coping mechanisms to, to, to deal with something like that.

Were you able to take some really beneficial parts from fame and incorporate it into your life and in a healthy way? Yeah. I mean, I think part of it is, is being okay with, with appreciating it. If that makes any sense. Yeah. Yeah. 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, I think healthy about saying like, you know what? Yeah. Good for me. Hooray. Yeah. Me. I, I didn't for nothing like work for 10 years 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. He took me three years to even get a job. So, you know, it wasn't, 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 John Fabra. Yeah.

And, you know, who to this day, I still say I'm still a little angry at him. Sure. Sure. He beat me up for that. He had swingers. He had swingers. He's a writer. He had so much and he couldn't need deep impact.

He 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? Yeah. Johnny Marvel. Come on. The guy, isn't he in those movies too? He's down.

He's down. He's a driver, right? Sure. 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. 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 remember. 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. Have you guys done that? No, but I obviously know him. He's a fun guy in general. He is. He is fun in a scene. Yeah. Very fast.

And him and Vince together. That must have been fun to watch. Oh man. Yeah. I've met those guys. I live on the east side of LA. And they're kind of credited with kind of bringing Los Feliz into the hipster world for sure. Yeah.

Dresden. Dresden. The whole kind of swing, you know, 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 very good hangs and they were very funny even then. And, you know, the proofs in the pudding, they both have very nice careers.

We were talking the other day about Jason and we're talking about Vince about how fucking quick and funny he is. It's just no one better at what he's fucking 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 in hindsight, it probably took longer than you wanted and longer than what you explained before. 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, who

I've known for some time. I didn't know her in St. Louis, but we were talking about something for some reason. 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 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 Fox in an hour. You know, and it's, you know, it's a lot and it's real and it's actually the part of acting that most actors engage with from a professional standpoint, far more than they do, you know, scene study or whatever. 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, oh, I'll just wing it. And then you're like, oh, right. But it's, it's a real lesson to learn of just, you know, it's the first one I learned in classes 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 was a character, actor, guy and he'd lived in L.A. a long time. He had moved back to New York. It's like really nice. Charles Nelson Reilly or early nineties. Charles Bronson. He was Charles Bronson. It was the first film.

And we, we'd only, we'd only do scenes from Fort Apache, the Bronx, but, but he would. Great movie. He wasn't in that. Charles Bronson was. Sure he was. You had a lot to pick from, but I'm glad you picked that one. Me too. 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 going to work through my stuff, you're fired. There's no time to work through your shit. They got to get this shot and they got to move on. 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 going to go and I'm going to work it out. I'm going to feel it.

Once they see how amazing I am, they'll give me all the time in the world. Right. But, but it depends on what you want. Right. If you want to be like, take Tom Cruise, for example, people are like, they didn't just go to him, like he, he worked his butt off to be Tom Cruise. You know what I mean? 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 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. Have you guys both directed television?

Sean and Will, like it's the same thing when you sit through those auditions and you think all right, the guy that comes, who's going to come in and take this part? Right. He's going to 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 got to shoot.

Yeah. And, and you watch, 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. Hey, this is not 10 minutes of bullshit. 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 the, but you're, you haven't directed, but you also, you go to the, when it goes 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, did you, did you spend any summers at the lake of the Ozarks down there?

Yeah. In fact, my good portion of my family has retired down there. My, my, my dad's sister, my Betty lives, lives down there full time now. And my cousin, Is it true that there, that there's a bar down there that does real well called big dicks halfway in? 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 red neck. 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, that they deserve to do a lot of business in that.

Jason, can we get, can we get a little something out of Marty Bird? 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 Bird. This interview has been conducted by Marty Bird, I think. I'd love to have a conversation with Marty Bird real quick. I think it might go a little something like this. Now, did you ever see any, any, any money laundering or 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. Sure. A lot of water skiing. Yeah. And some pretty heavy, heavy drinking. Yeah.

But you know, a lot of, a lot of very poor water safety. Yeah. But you're not getting a murder a week down there. No. Yeah. We're taking a little license. You know, fall out of the boat, hit your head. Sure.

Son of a bitch. Yeah. I had my phone in my pocket. God damn it. A lot of that. 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. Yeah. 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 can get some commercial flights in there and really open up tourism, darn it. You're speaking, you're preaching the choir at this point. What you get down there and kind of ramrod something like that?

Huh? Is that one of the other bars? The ramrod something like that? Ramrod does great business, but it's mostly on weekends. And it's gay. Mostly on weekends. Thank you. Johnny, what's your favorite best movie experience on a set or part that you played and experienced?

I've got it right here. He's loaded with that one. I worked on a movie called Bad Times at the L Royale a couple years ago. Directed by a guy who, 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 prom next on the WB. That guy that will probably got. No, I did CBS at that time.

Fair enough. Fair enough. And so, uh, and, and I, I got the offer for it, uh, during Sundance came through and they said, you got 48 hours to read this. It's yours. If you want it, you 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. Uh, who fell out basically? Cause clearly somebody did. No, John. No, somebody did. It was fine. It was Russell Crow, whatever.

Good, good replacement. I think. Sure. So I got to work with Jeff Bridges, who I've wanted to work with my entire life. And that's always thought was maybe the coolest, coolest guy, you know, even pre big Lebowski, I was just, I was on board. That's no letdown, right? He's a real, that's a high level professional.

And so I got to work with that guy for, they shot the whole thing chronologically. Um, spoiler alert. I die in the first act, but I shot all, you know, whatever two and a half weeks of my heart, 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. Um, 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, 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? And I, and I knew him through like a little poker league that we played in. Like he was just, he, 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 I, 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 Bo J. Things happen to good people sometimes.

Now you mentioned auditioning to be the voice of, of CW. So the voice, the voice has been something that, that you've been using for a while, then it sounds like, but you've, you've really hit the top of the mountain there with, with Mercedes for how many years now? I think going on 13 now. John Hamm. That's so cool. Yeah.

Yeah. That's great. I've, I've, I've outlasted several CEOs and CMOs and 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. It's not professional. It's not professional grade. It doesn't matter. Oh no, we, 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, it's a compliment,

but it's a left handed compliment. No. No. It's always a, oh, you see, you're doing that too. Good for you. Good for you. Good for you. Real, real happy for you.

Let me tell you what else is a good, is a good, that Apple commercial that you do is killer. Yeah. That's well done. Come on. Apple, who shot that? By the way, I want DPN 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 at 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, 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. Like 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. 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, 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 Como. Do you see, baby?

You got Como handy? Let me, 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, and you know, where are you going to Switzerland? Switzerland Stade. Stade, yes.

Nice. 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. Yeah. Dessert. Hey, what are, are you going to get, 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. Yeah. That's incredible. I think that's a, 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. Let's take this podcast on the road and do it German style. But one more thing. And I know that 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 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 these 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 it's, I've seen it.

It's really, really good. It's exactly what you want out of this. And it's, 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, tell my 15 year old self that. And I would punch my 15 year old self in the face. Yeah.

So Tom Cruise was not, not a disappointment either. I'll bet, right? Just incredible. The best in the biz, man. The best in the biz. Yeah. As advertised, he is intense and hardworking, but that's exactly who you want. Yeah.

That's who you, that's what you want in a, in a Tom Cruise. Oh yeah. That's great. 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. And it's hopefully if a major league baseball gets her act together, we can go. What are we going to do about that? Jason and I have a lovely friendly Cardinals Dodgers rivalry that the Dodgers have had

the better of the last few years, but not really fairly. You still have Flaherty though. You know, listen, you got, you got the ring. You give me him and all's forgiven. Okay. I'll trade you for Walker Biela, I mean with the high school out here and no, no, no, he needs to be with Walker. Oh anyway, we'll talk.

We'll negotiate something. No, no, no, please continue on with fucking baseball. All the fucking, 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, but that's, we, that's, wait, you did. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, he's got to go. I gotta go.

I gotta go. That's the name in the next episode. Did you really go on a blind date with Amanda? Ham. Just wink at me. One wink means yes. Two means. Okay.

John. All right. Thank you so much, John. Thank you, Johnny. Oh, great to have you. Ham, you're the best. You're the best. Go boroughs.

I'll end on the next time. All right. I love you guys. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. All right. John Ham is no ham.

John is a, is a very humble, classy, solid individual. Solid individual. 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, but to, to about other people, but he, whenever he's in something, you're like, oh, this is going to be great. Yeah.

Yeah. He's got a real solid presence. And I really meant it about, uh, about Mad Men watching that and, and truthfully like thinking like kind of know him in 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. He's like, you get into it and you're like, you forget that, you know, the guy, which is,

it's a hard, it's a higher bar to have to hire. I love that. Yeah. I know. That's so true. Like, and that shows how good it is. Oh, Jay, whenever I, yeah, whenever I watch it, I can't, it's like, I don't, it's transformative as they say.

So congratulations on that. Congratulations to John Ham. So Sean, also, what a great guest, so great having John on. Yeah. He's got a new podcast. Yeah. I was going to say that. He's got a new podcast.

It's called American Hostage and it's on Amazon Wondry. It's fantastic. You got to listen to the trailer. The trailer sounds like an actual movie. It's, it's really, really cool. He's perfect for that. It's really great. He's perfect for that.

Cause 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, 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.

Very honest. Oh, this is, oh, sorry, Mad. So it's an anger management, like a help group. Again, it's just, I honestly, I wish you could, it's just kind of a play on Madison Avenue, guys, of advertising executives. What is that? Oh. Explaining what they do.

I'm missed. 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. Bye. Menon. Menon. Smart. Less.

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