Jon Hamm says 'Mad Men' is 'was, and will always be the high-water mark in my life and career'

It's been nearly a decade since the finale of Mad Men, and Jon Hamm has tackled roles ranging from an Elon Musk-esque billionaire on The Morning Show to a country sheriff on Fargo. But the veteran actor is very comfortable knowing that he'll always be best known for playing ad man Don Draper from the AMC series.

"Mad Men is, was, and will always be the high-water mark in my life and career," Hamm said Friday night at Harvard University. "It's the one [role] that's led to even more opportunities in my career, for obvious reasons. And it will be, I think, 10 years since we wrapped the show and 20 years this year since we started the show. So it's fading in the rearview, but it's still very prevalent."

The actor, 53, reflected on his career highlights as he was named 2025 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Following a roast onstage from the cast of their current production, 101 Damnations, Hamm opened up about his lengthy career and being catapulted into mega-stardom with Mad Men, which ran for seven seasons until its conclusion in 2015.

Since then, he's also made a concerted effort to show his audience that despite Don Draper's dark nature, Hamm himself has strong comedic chops.

"When the show first really sort of entered the consciousness and the culture, I was offered a lot of roles that were a version of that character: Wearing a hat, smoking cigarettes, brooding, looking out the window into the dark city," Hamm said. "So I figured, while I do that for my day job, I think there's more stuff to do."

Hamm credited Lorne Michaels for giving him the option to show his comedic chops with a spot hosting Saturday Night Live.

"Most of the people that knew me before that knew that was the predominant side of me," Hamm explained. "So Lorne gave me that opportunity, which led to 30 Rock, which led to Bridesmaids, which led to a lot of other gigs in the Tina Fey/Robert Carlock/Lorne Michaels universe. So I'll be forever grateful to him for that."

Hamm got silly during the roast portion of the program when he was asked to tackle tasks ranging from carving a fake ham to selling car insurance to a baby driver. (Referencing his role in the 2017 film Baby Driver.)

He also proved he could be a good sport as he received a variety of barbs from the cast, who joked about how his wife Anna Osceola is "20 years younger than him" ("17!" Hamm interjected.) and those viral paparazzi shots of his manhood, nicknamed the "Hammaconda."

While he may not be on the most famous television show in the world these days, he's doing just fine.

“I can’t believe there are so many people here,” Hamm told the audience. “Did you all seriously think I was dead? This is such a wonderful honor.”

As to whether there's any chance he'd be returning to his most recent role as oil tycoon Monty Miller on Paramount+'s Landman, Hamm said the outlook is not so good.

"I've said to most of the people who've seen the show, not to be a spoiler or anything, but usually when you're surrounded by your loved ones on a hospital bed, and they're crying and the machine has a flat line on it, it's not great," he laughed.

But Hamm will be gracing TV screens soon. His new Apple TV+ series, Your Friends and Neighbors, premieres on April 11. The actor stars as a divorce-addled hedge fund manager who is desperate enough to steal from his wealthy neighbors.

This time, his role won't be as short-lived as the series has already been renewed for Season 2, Variety reported.