Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals awarded its 58th Man of the Year honor Friday to “Mad Men” and “Landman” actor Jon Hamm. After taking part gamely in a roast presented by the student troupe – with all the patience and grace you’d expect from a former theater teacher – Hamm took part in a press conference in which he talked about the way he chooses roles, what Don Draper would watch for during the Super Bowl … and how too many people have been sleeping on his comedy chops the whole time. Some high points from the evening with the Pudding:
Of course there was going to be a Hamm-off. One roast segment was a game called “Hamm or Ham?” Facts were shared and Hamm was prompted to attribute them to himself or to a slab of ham on a table next to him. After winning the game (but not an Academy Award, as was pointed out multiple times), he carved the ham while wearing two hook hands – an ode to his “30 Rock” character, Dr. Drew Baird.
As he sawed away with his plastic implements, Hamm noted that the character was written by a Harvard alum, Robert Carlock. Carlock, as Hamm couldn’t help jabbing, “wrote a man smart enough to be a doctor with a child, but not smart enough to avoid losing his hands while waving to someone from a helicopter … twice.”
As it turns out, a lot of college-aged kids think 53 is old. Multiple jokes hinged on the idea that many of the Pudding’s members responded “He’s still alive?” when Hamm was announced as the year’s honoree. The troupe’s other common response was an elegant turn on one of Hamm’s admitted favorite lines from Mad Men: “I don’t think about him at all.”
Later, in the press conference, asked about his comedic emergence, Hamm credited “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels for his return to the form. It was his turn hosting the show that opened doors for him on projects such as “30 Rock,” “Bridesmaids,” “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and more – including the Boston-shot film “Confess, Fletch” from 2022. Michaels allowed him to activate, in Hamm’s words, “the predominant side of me” before “Mad Men.”
In an earnest moment to wrap up the roast portion of the evening, Hamm thanked the Hasty Pudding for the honor, saying, “You’re so kind to have me. What kind, I don’t know.” He went on to connect his origins to the students on stage, saying, “from one theater kid to another, thank you for honoring me with this.”
The Hasty Pudding Man and Woman of the Year honors take place in concert with the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ annual six-week run in Cambridge. Its current show, “101 Damnations,” runs Friday to March 9 at Harvard’s Farkas Hall. Proceeds from the run, and other Hasty Pudding endeavors, are shared with projects that offer access to the performing arts for traditionally marginalized individuals.
Actor Cynthia Erivo is expected to be honored Wednesday as the 75th Woman of the Year
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