In January 2026, Men’s Journal interviewed Jon Hammabout the “Ritz Island” Super Bowl commercial he starred in with Scarlett Johansson and Bowen Yang. During that discussion, the respected actor revealed why he thinks everyone should be watching Shoresy after Heated Rivalry became a sensation. Hamm also spoke about how it feels when younger fans discover Mad Men and to see his former onscreen daughter, Kiernan Shipka, grow up and become a Hollywood success.
Jon Hamm Explains Why You Should Be Watching ‘Shoresy’
Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images
Men’s Journal: What is Jon Hamm watching that everybody else should be checking out?
Jon Hamm: It is very Canadian. And I think you can actually watch it because there’s a show called Shoresy, Jared Keeso’s spinoff of Letterkenny, that I’ve only recently seen it get a little shine in the U.S. And I think it’s only recently caught reflected shine off of the phenomenon that Heated Rivalry has become.
Somebody was writing an article about Heated Rivalry with tips about “if you like hockey shows.” But it’s much more to me than that. What I really like about Shoresy and what I think Jared has done so incredibly well is balancing the really, really funny parts of that show with a tremendous sense of pride of place and heart about not only hockey, but about Northern Ontario and Sudbury specifically. It’s about a guy in the second phase of his life trying to figure out what’s next. And I think for a lot of athletes, especially, that’s a really difficult transition, but he handles it not always the most gracefully, but tremendously hilariously.
And I’ve been a fan of the show since it began. So I think anybody should watch it. You don’t even have to be a hockey fan. I mean, I don’t think a lot of people watching Heated Rivalry are hockey fans. But Shoresy is tremendous television, and hats off to not only Jared and his creative team, but the good people at Crave where it airs. I hope somebody picks it up so you can watch it in the States.
Jon Hamm Reflects on New ‘Mad Men’ Fans and Kiernan Shipka’s Growth
Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for W Magazine
Men’s Journal: When you star in a show as big as Mad Men was, all these years later, is it wild for you to have people coming up to you who may not even necessarily have been born when that show premiered, and they’re talking to you about it? How does that feel?
Jon Hamm: It’s been nice. Some people are finally discovering it for the first time, that younger generation that maybe was too young to watch it or wasn’t around to watch it. It was 20 years ago when the first season came out in 2005. So yeah, it’s bizarre.
It’s also strange, of course, to watch my television daughter, Kiernan Shipka, now starring in the industry. It’s like, time moves in one direction, as Don Draper might say, and we’re all going the same way. But it is nice, especially when it’s something that you can be tremendously proud of.
I’ve obviously made so many friends over the course of that, making that show, not just on the show, but tangentially through the show and people on 30 Rock and SNL and Kimmy Schmidt and the folks I got to meet because of the opportunities that that show provided me, but as well as getting the opportunity to do really, really fun, funny stuff in the creative space and the advertising world too. Playing Don Draper has definitely put me on a lot of creative directors must-have lists, and I’ve been able to carve out a pretty unique and fun place in that world, and this is just another example of that.
