The Epic Prank ‘SNL’ Writers Played on Jon Hamm When He First Hosted
Jon Hamm will return to host Saturday Night Live for the fourth time this weekend. And while there’s no Four-Timers Club, maybe we’ll get another sketch about the joy of eating cured meats while you’re taking a dump?
Hamm first appeared on the show way back in 2008. In addition to “Jon Hamm’s John Ham,” the Halloween episode also found the actor impersonating James Mason for a Vincent Price-themed sketch, playing the unfortunately-named Butts City Council candidate Pat Finger, and interrogating a trick-or-treater who may or may not be a registered sex offender.
But coming just one year after Mad Men premiered, there were obviously a number of sketches dedicated to the award-winning AMC drama. Like “Don Draper’s Guide to Picking Up Women,” which featured helpful tips such as “look fantastic in a suit,” “lie to everyone about everything” and “drink and smoke constantly.”
In another Mad Men sketch, the employees of Sterling Cooper pitch Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig’s “Two A-Holes” characters. It also starred actual Mad Men cast members, John Slattery and Elisabeth Moss. The latter was a last-minute replacement; originally, Amy Poehler was originally going to play Peggy Olsen, but she unexpectedly went into labor right before the show. Since Moss was already there to see Hamm host the show, she ended up being dragged into the sketch.
Clearly the folks at SNL were big fans of Mad Men, but the funniest tribute happened off screen, days before the episode aired. As John Mulaney once shared on social media, the writers and cast all decided to surprise Hamm by dressing up like Mad Men characters for the pitch meeting. To further the illusion that the SNL offices were really a 1960s ad agency, everyone “started day drinking.” Hamm, who again, didn’t know these people yet, “walked in to be greeted by drunk Comic-Con. It was the best.”
Hamm confirmed the story to Yahoo! Entertainment in 2018. “I was sitting in Lorne (Michaels’) office and everyone comes in on pitch day, and everyone was dressed in Mad Men gear,” Hamm recalled. ”Like, everyone. (Bill) Hader was in drag. Bryan Tucker was in drag. Paula Pell had a cigarette taped to her finger because she didn’t know how to smoke. And I was sitting there in a denim jacket and a (St. Louis) Blues hat, going like, ‘Uhhhh… what’s going on, guys?’”
Wiig clarified that the stunt was entirely atypical for the SNL staff. “We never do that,” the Bridesmaids star told Hamm during a Variety interview. “I don’t think we’ve ever done it since.”
Thankfully, the SNL prank didn’t end with a drunken employee mutilating Lorne Michaels’ foot with a lawnmower.
