Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Jon Hamm
“Zach [Galifianakis] is monumentally famous now, and he’s still the same guy I’ve always known. I look at him and say, ‘This thing happened to you.’ And he just smiles back at me and says, ‘The same f*cking thing happened to you.’ I don’t see it because I’m looking outward rather than in. But it is true, and it’s funny.”
MR: Right, exactly. "It's uncomfortable to make people feel uncomfortable."
JH: Yeah. And I think that’s a big part of what comics do. Zach Galifianakis who’s a pretty good friend of mine, I was talking to him the other night. He’s from North Carolina, and has kind of the Southerner thing that he has to sort of suppress as well, because he’s an incredibly nice, shy, polite person. But this persona that he adopts on stage is this incredibly prickly, weird, inaccessible, non-sequitur machine. It’s this sort of chaos.
Speaking of the comedy scene, I read that you first met Zach Galifianakis when you were starting out as an actor in Los Angeles.
Yeah, Zach's from North Carolina and he went to New York to get his start, and then he came out to L.A. like most comics eventually do to make money. There was a really cool comedy night, Mondays at Largo. It's still there, it's just a different Largo now. It was this tiny, weird little place on Fairfax, and on Monday night was like the hottest room in comedy. There were really, really funny comics there that are now big names: Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Thompkins, Zach, Patton Oswalt—also in the movie with us—Louie C.K., Demetri Martin, Doug Benson, Jimmy Pardo, Scott Ackerman. Tenacious D got its start there. It was just a hot night, a fun night, and it was five dollars. That was the best part of it. It wasn't a super exclusive thing, you just had to know about it. You just had to stand in line, which was a long line and a very small room, or you kind of had to know somebody. I was fortunate enough to know [Mark Flanagan], the guy that owned the place, so I could come in the back door and not have to wait in line, which was even better.
Do you remember what stuck out about Zach's early comedy?
Yeah, I do. Zach's comedy was sort of these very funny asides, this observational stuff. But he would sit at the piano and play beautiful piano and make goofball dumb jokes. You can see that online, there's a lot of that stuff that existed.
Darrell's House II - Saturday Night Live
Conan O’Brien show : Hamm about President Obama jokes at the White House Correspondents dinner
"He was amazing, and I had kind of the best seat the house because I was sitting sort of right behind Donald Trump’s table, and watching that dude who has no problem telling people what to do and giving people trouble actually take it? He didn’t take it very well. That was a rough table. I was actually sitting next to Zach Galifianakis and we were laughing very loudly to the point where I kind of checked in with him and I was like, can we kind of tone it down? These are funny jokes but [Donald's] right there. He was not having any of it, but they were funny jokes, and Obama was hilarious. I felt kind of bad because I was like, ‘Seth’s gotta follow this guy,’ and he did do a great job. It was fun, it was super fun. I got to meet him, I got to meet the President. That’s not something that happens every day."
Bonnaroo SuperJam 2015: Jon Hamm And Zach Galifianakis Sing "We Are The World"
Jon Hamm Throws Gummy Bears in Jimmy Kimmel’s Mouth
After spending a few days at Bonnaroo with his pal Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm left on Sunday and the two stopped at the Tupelo Honey Café in Chattanooga, Tennessee for some grub. After chatting with their waitress for an hour or so Jon Hamm gave her his all-access wristband and told her to “go to Bonnaroo and have a great time,” and she did just that. With Jon Hamm’s all-access wristband in tow she left Chattanooga for Manchester (a short drive), and proceeded to have one of the greatest Bonnaroo experiences of all time.
Sean Phipps of Nooga.com has the story:
It was just a routine Sunday afternoon shift for Tupelo Honey Café bartender Abby Swartz until Jon Hamm and Zach Galifianakis walked in.
The two, along with a third person thought to be a producer, arrived at Tupelo Honey at about 2:30 or 3 p.m., following a well-documented Saturday evening.
Hamm and Galifianakis were in Chattanooga following several appearances at Bonnaroo the previous day. They were emcees for one of the famous Bonnaroo Superjams and led the crowd in a rendition of “We Are the World.” At one point, Galifianakis became Hamm’s pet, for some reason.
Swartz, a recent transplant to Chattanooga by way of Indiana and Florida, immediately recognized the celebrities when they sat down at the bar.
“There was just no doubt in my mind,” Swartz said. “You know how you sometimes see someone famous and you’re not sure if it’s really them? I immediately knew. I got really nervous and I was trembling.”
The two, along with a third person thought to be a producer, arrived at Tupelo Honey at about 2:30 or 3 p.m., following a well-documented Saturday evening.
Hamm and Galifianakis were in Chattanooga following several appearances at Bonnaroo the previous day. They were emcees for one of the famous Bonnaroo Superjams and led the crowd in a rendition of “We Are the World.” At one point, Galifianakis became Hamm’s pet, for some reason.
Swartz, a recent transplant to Chattanooga by way of Indiana and Florida, immediately recognized the celebrities when they sat down at the bar.
“There was just no doubt in my mind,” Swartz said. “You know how you sometimes see someone famous and you’re not sure if it’s really them? I immediately knew. I got really nervous and I was trembling.”
Over the next 45 minutes, Swartz chatted with them about Bonnaroo (she had no idea they were scheduled to be there) and other topics. Swartz said Galifianakis recognized the Tupelo Honey name, having lived in North Carolina near the original Asheville location.
As they were preparing to leave, Swartz said Hamm stood up and started tugging and struggling with his Bonnaroo wristband. He eventually removed it and handed it to Swartz, saying, “Take this wristband and go to Bonnaroo. This will get you anywhere you need to go.”
One of the film's producers, Walter Parkes, tells PEOPLE the four actors played off each other seamlessly.
"They're all so funny and they're so different physically and yet there's something about this group of friends that you just feel very kind of satisfied at the end," Parkes explains. "I think we were benefitted by the fact that Zach and Jon go back many, many, many years, they're very good friends, and so that had the opportunity for them to form together."
people.com
Zach Galifianakis on working with Jon Hamm :
I've known Jon before Jon was Jon Hamm. He's a comedy guy - really funny. A lot of leading-type guys like that don't have humor. They think they do, but they don't. It's really frustrating because no one's ever gonna [say], "God, Zach does handsome really well!" He's funny like a comedian is funny, not like an actor is funny. Jon and I have a friendship that I think helps when you work together. I never thought I'd have such a cool friend. All my friends are just...just not cool!
I've known Jon before Jon was Jon Hamm. He's a comedy guy - really funny. A lot of leading-type guys like that don't have humor. They think they do, but they don't. It's really frustrating because no one's ever gonna [say], "God, Zach does handsome really well!" He's funny like a comedian is funny, not like an actor is funny. Jon and I have a friendship that I think helps when you work together. I never thought I'd have such a cool friend. All my friends are just...just not cool!
Jon Hamm On working with the cast:I've known Zach for almost 15 years now and really wanted to do something NOT on the internet with him. This came up and it was just a great fit. I've worked with [Greg Mottola] before and he's such a wonderful guy and a great director. It seemed to coalesce into this serendipitous experience. It's really great -really fun - it's one of the reasons why I jumped at the chance to work with [Zach] because I thought that we could be very funny together. When I did Between Two Ferns it was very early on in the Mad Men thing and I don't think that people A) Knew who I was B) Cared or C) Kind of thought that the guy from Mad Men would be funny. I had a blast. We shot 90 minutes that we culled down to 2 1/2 and it was fun. When I saw the group they were assembling for this movie, it was definitely one of things that I sparked to. Value added, so to speak. Greg has been remarkably effective at bringing that kind of humanity to all of his films. Even within whatever genre he happens to be working in.
So just how great was it to work with Zach?
Zach and I are similar ages, are in a similar pool from which to pull your cultural references and your senses of humor and what not. It’s really great, it’s really fun, it’s one of the reasons why I jumped at the chance to work with him because I thought that we could be very funny together. When I did "Between Two Ferns" it was very early on in the Mad Men sort of thing and I don’t think people really, A) knew who I was, B) cared, or C) thought that the guy from Mad Men would be funny so who cares, and I had a blast. We shot 90 minutes of stuff that we culled down into two-and-a-half, but it was fun. I’ve done enough stuff with these guys at UCB and all of these other comedy shows that I feel comfortable enough to be able to play with these guys and at least pick up what they’re putting down........
Zach Galifianakis on His Buddy Jon Hamm
HBO This or That with Zach Galifianakis and Jon
So we wondered: Can the stars of Keeping Up with the Joneses hide the truth better than their characters in the movie?
We pitted Zach Galifianakis against Jon Hamm, and Isla Fisher against Gal Gadot in a head-to-head battle to see who could sniff out the truth. Admittedly, our lies were pretty tough.
Galifianakis struggled a bit with his card.
"I don't know the answers to my own rounds," he admitted.
Good thing he had Hamm there because Hamm did guess the lies.
"Is there a prize?" Galifianakis wanted to know, and Hamm was very unimpressed with my offer of a high-five and some "pride and glory." Next time I'll remember to bring chocolate. Or, as Galifianakis suggested, some chinos that say "SheKnows." Who do I talk to about making that a reality?
Zach Galifianakis
Q: You and Jon have a great comic relationship.
A: “Jon and I have known each other a long time, before he starred in MAD MEN. We were both actors and we’d run into each other a lot. He and I share a similar sensibility in terms of humor and I think that is why we enjoy each other’s company. Jon is very funny and quick. It drives me crazy that he’s those things plus being a nice guy. And he happens to be so good looking too. And Gal Gadot is an impressive lady. She’s very talented.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/zach-galifianakis-talks-keeping-up-9770146
Zach Galifianakis: One year, Jon Hamm and I were working near there and decided to drive up. I did stand-up. I asked Jon to throw gummy bears in my mouth as part of my show because that’s how we killed time on set. We would throw things at each other’s mouth. Why would anyone want to see this? I am not sure they did, but we did it regardless, and it was dumb and fun. It’s not that experimental when I think about it but more in the moment. Later we introduced Belle & Sebastian and continued with the gummy mouth trick there, too. You won’t get that kind of high-end entertainment at some of these other festivals.
http://www.avclub.com/article/deadnecks-and-sound-checks-oral-history-bonnaroos--256409
