A Stolen Moment with Jon Hamm

"Mad Men"'s Jon Hamm on his first movie leading role, the Olympics, and comics -- both stand-up and hand-drawn.

MTV News recently asked you about playing a superhero, and you then mentioned you’re a “huge comic book fan.” Which ones were you into growing up?

I grew up in a very fortunate time, comic book-wise. It was the end of the Silver Era — the overblown, crazy ’70s comics and the beginning of the ’80s, which was more moody, a story- and character-driven time in comic books. You started to see that even superheroes have day-to-day issues. They’re not all invulnerable. I really got into a lot of the artwork — Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, who were doing things like “The Dark Knight” and “Elektra.” Superhero movies back in the day were almost campy in their take, and now we get “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man,” that are more nebulous in what it is to be a superhero. I think that trend will continue.

Because I had no money, I couldn’t buy comics for years, but one of the guys that worked on “The Division,” the show I did in the early part of the last decade, was a big comic fan. I was like, “Write down the ten must-have titles and I’ll go on Amazon and get them.” So I recently got back into them, and there are some really cool comics out there that are doing a lot with the form. The term now is “graphic novel,” but that’s what they really are, these long-form stories told with pictures and words. I think they’re awesome, I don’t know what else to tell you. [laughs]

Your “30 Rock” character recently made another cameo, and you seemed to have a lot of fun hosting “SNL.” You’re now known for drama, so I’m curious about your relationship with comedy.

I’ve been a fan of comedy since I was a kid. I used to take records out of the public library when I was five: George Carlin and Richard Pryor and Bob Newhart. That’s what was there. I like the process of watching people trying to create funny stuff — it’s like a magic trick, to watch someone walk into a room of people and make them laugh. Comedy is an incredibly subjective genre, and the fact that people can do that on a consistent basis is mind-blowing to me.

When I moved to L.A., it was one of the cheapest things you could do. You’d spend five bucks and see a whole night of comedy. That was a pretty efficient use of your entertainment dollar, and so I ended up being friends with a lot of folks who were coming up through the circuit 15 years ago, and those people now are famous: the Sarah Silvermans and Patton Oswalts, Paul F. Tompkins and Zach Galifianakis. Those were the folks I would see Monday nights at Largo for five bucks. Now they’re huge, successful, international superstars, so it’s awesome. It’s been great to be allowed into that world, especially given that I play the opposite of that on a weekly basis.

I know you attended the Winter Olympics, and the games seemed to have especially resonated with more people this year than in the past. Why do you think that is, and what did you enjoy about them?

I love the Olympics. Everybody comes together — whatever’s happened, let’s put it on the back burner, at least for two weeks, and play a game. It’s the simplest kind of expression: let’s compete in a non-violent manner. It’s phenomenal. Vancouver is an amazing city, and it was so eye-opening to see so many countries, nationalities and people all totally stoked to be there, smiling, having a good time, open to the experience.

Up in Canada, people were going crazy. I think the U.S.-Canada game I was at was the most watched thing ever — they said at a certain point, three-quarters of the televisions in Canada were tuned to that game. It’s incredibly compelling. I get teary when people win gold medals, wherever they’re from.

“Stolen” is now available on demand and will open in New York on March 12th and Los Angeles on March 19th.

[Additional photos: "Mad Men," Lionsgate, 2009; "30 Rock," NBC Studios, 2009]

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