Jon Hamm: “I don’t find myself funny. I find myself smart enough to stand next to funny people”

As AMC period drama Mad Men films scenes for its fifth season, due to begin early next year, series star Jon Hamm recently talked with Moviefone about his role in upcoming film Friends with Kids and his future in the comedy world.

“I do love comedy. I’ve been a fan of it since I’ve been a little kid,” said the 40-year-old actor, who plays womanizing advertising executive Don Draper on the show that sparked AMC’s foray into original programming.

Still, might he stick to more serious fare? “I don’t find myself funny. I find myself smart enough to stand next to funny people. And I think that goes a long way for me.”

Plenty of people would disagree with Hamm on that last one, as he recently had a hilarious turn on NBC’s 30 Rock and has hosted Saturday Night Live not once, not twice, but three times since his star ascended in 2007. “Fortunately, there’s a place for me in that world and I’ve been asked by very funny people to stand next to them and bathe in the funny…” he continued. “Whether it’s Tina Fey on 30 Rock or Kristen Wiig in Bridemaids,it’s been a really nice counterpoint to kind of my day job.” 

In Friends with Kids, which is scheduled for a spring 2012 release and follows a pair of thirty-something couples who plan to date other people after procreating, Hamm will star alongside girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. Concerning the potential issues brought up by the premise, “There were certainly a lot of pitfalls that can crop up,” he said. “Part of the reason why we didn’t obviously play opposite one another was to sort of lessen that. Not only for the audience, which I think has a particularly tricky time differentiating between real and fake-y times.”