-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy Award-winning actor
you know from his work on "Mad Men"
and movies such as "The Town" and "Baby Driver."
He stars alongside Tom Cruise in "Top Gun: Maverick,"
which opens in theaters May 27th.
Let's take a look.
-Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
Your reputation precedes you.
-Thank you, sir.
-Wasn't a compliment.
I'm Admiral Beau Simpson.
I'm the air boss.
I believe you know Admiral Bates.
-Warlock, sir.
I must admit, I wasn't expecting an invitation back.
-They're called orders, Maverick.
You two have something in common.
Cyclone here was first in his class back in '88.
-Actually, sir, I finished second.
Just want to manage the expectations.
-Please welcome back to the show our good friend Jon Hamm!
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
Hi! -Howdy!
-It has -- It's been forever. It's really been forever.
I used to see you all the time, and then the last time
you were here was for the finale of "Mad Men," in 2015,
which is nuts.
-Seven years ago. -Seven years ago.
-Yeah, and nothing has happened since then.
-Nothing has happened since then.
That's the thing -- we would've brought you back,
but the world is absolutely the same.
So, you -- Well, before we talk about "Top Bun: Maverick,"
which I'm so excited about, Alexi and I --
we rewatched "Mad Men."
I feel like that was one of those pandemic shows.
Did you hear from a lot of people?
-I got a lot of nice texts of like,
"Hey, finally got around to watching your show."
I was like, "It only took a global pandemic?"
Like, "Nice. Okay. Thanks."
-And they were like, "Also in 2021.
We made it through the first --
the first year of the pandemic, we didn't do it."
-Did not.
Well, they had to get through "Sopranos"
and "Breaking Bad" and then "The Wire."
But, no, it was always a pleasant thing
to get when somebody says like, "Oh, I really like your work."
-And I will say, it holds up so well.
Like, I mean, I think it's any --
Like, period things have this ability to hold up
because it was already -- It took place in a different time.
-Yeah, in a different world anyway.
So it's -- But, yeah, you know, I'm very proud of that show.
It was -- I worked on it for the better part of a decade.
-Yeah. And Alexi and I loved watching it together.
It's such a beautiful show about marriage.
-Yeah, really, really...
-Everything it says is so wonderful.
-...brings couples together.
-So, we were talking backstage.
We are of a similar age, where the first "Top Gun"
was a formative film, a seminal film.
-A seminal experience, not just a film.
-Right. Going to see it in the theaters was a huge deal.
-I've described it as like the definition of cool.
For 15-year-old me in the Midwest --
and I'm sure for you in the Northeast, as well --
it was just like, "Well, that's --
Oh, that's what cool is."
Sunglasses, volleyball, aircraft.
-Yeah, everything. -You know, those three things.
-Yeah.
A lot of people are like, "Wait.
That was what was cool in the '80s?"
-Yeah! Sunglasses, volleyball --
-Yeah, and two out of three of them still are!
I'm not gonna say which.
-Volley and ball.
I feel like there were a lot of volleyball movies
in the '80s, though.
-There were. -Right?
-"Side Out," anybody? And that's it.
-Yeah, "Side Out."
The other crazy thing about this movie is it was --
You filmed "Top Gun: Maverick" in --
-2018 and 2019. -So that's a long time ago.
-A long time ago. And then it sat.
It was meant to come out in 2020,
and then the world had different plans.
And we had to sit on it for two years, basically,
and no one could see it.
-And sit on it because there was a real sense that
it was going to be important to see this in theaters.
-In theaters. Yeah, big and loud.
That was a Tom Cruise mandate, which we were
very happy to support, because it was --
It really does play as a theatrical,
as I said, experience.
Like, you feel this movie,
like, right in the chest.
It's amazing. -We saw a little in the clip.
You kind of get to be a thing that I don't think
a lot of people in real life get to be,
which is a little bit mean to Tom Cruise.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-A little bit.
-I don't think anybody talks to him
the way you talked to him in that clip.
-No. -Yeah.
-The fun thing is that it's scripted.
-Yeah.
-And believe it or not, he might get the upper hand in the end.
-Yeah, yeah. He might. -Come on.
-You know what?
I think he even knew in that clip he might, yeah.
-It seemed like he did.
He was like, "I read the rest of this scene,
and I'm going to be okay."
-This isn't my first Tom Cruise movie.
I think I know how this ends.
You know, I've heard a lot of interviews,
a lot of the cast.
You do not play one of the pilots who flies.
-No. -Who all did flight training?
Did you ever feel like you were missing out on an element of --
-They had to do 4 1/2 months -- months --
of preparation and training for that,
some 60 hours of being in a cockpit.
And being in a cockpit is not comfortable
in the best-case scenario.
It's really not comfortable when you're covered in your own vomit
and going around and around and pulling all the G's
and all the blood's leaving your head.
So, I was very happy to leave my shoes on the ground.
And I got to go on an active aircraft carrier,
the USS Theodore Roosevelt, "America's Big Stick."
It's literally -- It says it on there.
-Yeah, that's great. -You can't make that up.
-No, that's great.
-And it was impressive. It was impressive.
It was impressive to see the scope of all of that,
but also just the -- what the men and women
in the U.S. Armed Services, especially the Navy,
go through and sacrifice every day.
It was a real impressive thing to see firsthand.
-Yeah, I think we all see it often in a wide shot,
and it must have been really cool to be up close.
-Yeah, and terrifying, by the way,
because you realize you're on a boat
that has two working nuclear reactors on it.
And so you're like, "What does this button do?"
"No, no, no, no!"
-They shouldn't -- That button shouldn't be out.
-It shouldn't be out.
-It shouldn't be out in the room
where they bring the actors into.
-There should at least be, like, a weird cover
that you have to flip over it.
-There's also a -- There is a volleyball scene --
-Volleyball adjacent. -Volleyball adjacent.
-Yes.
-You were not -- But shirts -- A lot of shirts off.
-A lot of shirts off. Not this guy.
-Not this guy, yeah. Very well done.
-This is what 51 years on the planet teaches you.
-They're like, "We're going to get you in the boardroom."
-Yeah, exactly.
Tie, button it up, you know, shiny shoes.
-But that -- I mean, talk about 4 1/2 months in a cockpit.
I saw shots of those guys. That'd be like 4 1/2 years.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Yeah.
-The topless scene -- "Topless." That sounds weird already.
But the football, volleyball, the sports scene --
-Yeah. Yeah. It's about sports, you guys!
-Beach sports.
-Beach sports, okay? Get your head out of the gutter.
-Yeah, come on.
I not only left my shirt on,
I have loafers and socks on on the beach.
So I am full granddadding it.
-We saw it a little bit there.
As call signs go, I remember that was the thing.
When we talked out of "Top Gun" when it came out --
-Maverick, Goose, Slider, Jester.
-Jester, yeah.
-Yeah, it was amazing. Everyone had a cool one.
-And you got a good one, "Cyclone."
-I got a good one. Cyclone. -Cyclone is great.
-Cyclone is good. It's an emoji.
-Yeah. -That works.
-Yeah. -There's no Maverick emoji.
-There's no Maverick, yeah.
By the way, I get a sense if Tom Cruise hears that,
there just might be.
-There's gonna be a Maverick tomorrow.
-And, also, like, it's just gonna be him.
-Yeah, I wouldn't put it past him.
-Yeah, I thought a lot personally about, like,
if I -- What would --
-I bet you -- I could come up with a couple good ones.
Right out of the gate, Frisbee.
-Frisbee as a call sign? -Yeah, Frisbee.
-I don't know -- Frisbee's okay.
I think Frisbee shows, like, yeah,
there's something fun about Frisbee.
-It's a beach sport. -Yeah, it's a beach sport.
It's a beach sport they say -- It's weird.
They say, "Keep your T-shirt on."
-Doink. -Doink.
-Doink would be a good one for you.
-I don't know if Doink -- I feel less, like --
I would feel bad making my colleagues have to say,
"Cover me, Doink."
-Cover me, Doink.
Although, if you ever went down, "My Doink fell off" would --
-Yeah, my Doink fell down. Doink is down!
-We got Doink down.
-Anything else? What else?
I'm gonna pick one. -Alright, you go.
-I will pick one. You got some?
-I've got a bunch. -Okay, great.
-I actually -- I told your writers to come up with a bunch.
-Oh, no.
-Oh, there's a list. -Okay, great.
-Cyclone's Friend. -Okay.
I don't hate it. I don't hate it.
-B.J. Novak.
-That's not a call sign!
You can't say B.J. -- Yeah, okay.
-Sea Captain. -Okay, Sea Captain.
I don't mind -- See, I mean, it's a little counterintuitive
when you're in the sky.
-True.
And then Stewardess. -Stewardess?
I'm going Frisbee. I'm going Frisbee.
-Thank you. Thank you very much. -Alright.
You guys, that's Jon Hamm.
"Top Gun: Maverick" is in theaters Friday.
We'll be right back with Julio Torres.