Jon Hamm #2 on EW's Entertainers of the Year

Image credit: Entertainment Weekly.

From his 30 Rock cameos and his hardnosed law enforcement officer in The Town, to his joyously funny Emmy song and dance "Born to Run" routine and his painful portrayal of the complicated Don Draper on Mad Men, Jon Hamm has had one helluva year.

He's shown he can crack wise on TV with the award winning Tina Fey. He can be goofy with the likes of Betty White, such as when he "taught" her how to dance during the Emmy Awards' opening bit. He can sing. He can dance. He can smolder. He can cry. He can say, "What" in a thousand different ways . . . which is why Entertainment Weekly placed him at number two on their entertainers of the year list. (Taylor Swift topped the list, which thrilled my 12-year-old daughter.)

In the amusing accompanying article Hamm said of 2010: "My eternal pessimist comes out whenever things get as good as they have been. However,  I will say that 2010 was the best year I will ever have.”

Image credit: Michael Muller/Entertainment Weekly.

Notes on Pop Culture: Hamm on Lackluster 'SNL,' Stewart's Rally for the Sane Middle, 'Grey's' Goes Documentary-Style

Jon Hamm Does His Best with Lackluster SNL Skits

The faux Back to the Future screen tests and the YouTube victim skits were moderately amusing but other than those sketches, the Saturday Night Live writers sure let the earnest Jon Hamm down with the material they gave him. Hamm did a great Robin Williams impression and his best with the Auto-Tune crying bit, (which, incidentally made me think of the folks who put crying Don Draper images into all different scenes, like BuzzFeed’s “Things That Make Don Draper Cry” post and the web site devoted to “Sad Don Draper”) 

But overall, I was left wondering what is going on there at SNL and why so many of the sketches have been falling flat lately. They’ve certainly been proving the truth in the adage: “Comedy is hard.” There’s a reason why Modern Family is such a gem; it’s reliably funny.


Those of you who caught SNL this weekend care to weigh in?



Stewart's Rally for Sanity & Promoting the Middle

Let’s not mince words: The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart leans toward the liberal side of things, but he’s unafraid to call both sides of the political aisle to task for being idiotic, close-minded or full of vapid talking points. (See his pointed interview with President Obama last week, in which he called the president "dude.")

But that being said, his satirical rally in Washington, D.C. over the weekend was but one more step in Stewart’s long-running campaign against the promotion of explicitly partisan, divisive, shouting verbiage on cable TV, initially commenced with his broadside against the CNN political talk show Crossfire in 2004 when he asked, “Why do we have to fight?” Stewart proceeded to skewer the show -- as well as shows like it -- in front of its gobsmacked hosts, saying, “Stop hurting America.” Some folks actually credited Stewart’s appearance that night with killing Crossfire.