Imagine you have a friend who was in a tragic accident that left him in a coma in 2006 (or your mother-in-law, whatever makes you feel good). Now imagine that they woke up from their long sleep in the year 2011 and kept reading and hearing about this “Jon Hamm character”. If you were asked to explain who he was, I imagine the conversation would go something like this:
You: Jon Hamm rose to fame in 2007 when he started Mad Men. Mad Men has been taking it by storm during awards season, and everyone loves Hamm’s performance on that show.
boy eat: That’s great. Does he seem like a nice guy?
You: That’s the thing. looks like a extraordinarily good uncle. He adapts to any interview situation, he’s not afraid to make fun of himself (he seems to enjoy it, really) and he loves sports. Women love him and guys want to hang out with him.
boy eat: Glad to see there are still good people out there. He sounds like a good young actor.
You: Dude, he’s 40.
Comma Guy (slightly incredulous):40?! Did you start acting a few years ago?
You:Actually, I was a credited actor for almost 10 years before your coma.
boy eat: What were you doing before that?
That’s the thing, we really don’t know. When I say we don’t know, I don’t mean we don’t know what he was up to (thanks, IMDB), I mean we have no idea why it’s taken this guy so long to get to where he is now. If you haven’t already, watch Hamm do his thing in Mad Men. He oozes charisma when he’s on screen, he dominates every scene he finds himself in and can bring grown men to tears during a coming-out meeting. Since everyone now agrees that Jon Hamm is a superstar, why didn’t anyone see him 15 years ago?
Many people will say that it is not a big deal because many actors became famous later than Hamm. They will cite the likes of Gene Hackman, Abe Vigoda, Dan George and a few other notable names. They will be correct in their argument. The problem is, none of those guys have reached the level that Jon Hamm is at right now. A quick rise from obscurity to prominence isn’t uncommon (after all, isn’t everyone dark before it’s prominent?), but Hamm’s late rise is mind-blowing, to say the least. If an athlete had a sudden meteoric rise out of nowhere, we’d all excuse them for using performance-enhancing drugs (right or wrong, I’m looking at you, Jose Bautista).
Therein lies part of the mystery of Jon Hamm. Not only is he now considered a superlative actor and an A-list celebrity, but you can’t find anyone who matters to say a cross word about him. I consulted my brother’s friend, Dr. Google, about whether Jon Hamm had any bad reviews. Google returned zero results. He did his best, but the best he could do was remind Hamm of a bad review written by Tom Shales of the Washington Post. As it turned out, even he didn’t hit Hamm; he criticized Matthew Weiner’s direction and narration. I even tried to type “Jon Hamm sucks” and couldn’t even get some loser complaining about Jon Hamm on some interweb forum somewhere.
Why does no one have anything bad to say about Jon Hamm? Because there is nothing bad to say about Jon Hamm. All those things you said to your friend/mother-in-law who came out of the coma are true. He does an excellent job of not taking himself too seriously by taking on various roles that make him look like a fool. He even got 2 Emmy nominations for playing a goofy guy who gets both hands cut off. 30 Rock. He is a woman killer (just ask TV Czarina any woman) and a man at the same time. He has dominated the small screen and now he’s making his way onto the big screen (The city, bridesmaids).
By the end of the year, he will be credited in 7 different shows/movies besides Mad Men. He’s everywhere, but no one will complain, because that would be saying something bad about Jon Hamm.
The TV Czar
