Yes, that’s actually footage of a clueless young Jon Hamm in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
By Erin Qualey
Catch yourself doing a double take at the young Jon Hamm in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 4? You’re not alone.
As Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jon Hamm has reached new heights of hilarious depravity. While Richard reached levels of middling celebrity in his life as a misogynistic DJ in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, he truly set the nation into a rage when it was revealed he was keeping four women against their will in a bunker behind his home. And, as we all know, our heroine, the bubbly, eternally optimistic Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) was one of those women.
In Season 4, Richard Wayne returns yet again to wreak havoc on poor Kimmy’s life via a Making a Murderer-style documentary created by an old fan turned DJ superstar, DJ Fingabang . Warning: If you have yet to watch the season, gosh darn spoilers follow.
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Of course Fingabang quickly comes to the conclusion that his childhood idol is innocent of his crimes. In a frenzy, he earnestly follows the thread of the case in a giggle-inducing send up of true crime entertainment. If Adnan Syed from Serial got a new trial, why can’t Richard Wayne? Well, because he’s a sleazy dude who enslaved multiple women in an underground bunker for decades, that’s why.
But Richard Wayne’s weird brand of charisma is hard to ignore, especially because he’s played by Jon Hamm. And when Fingabang includes a vintage clip of Gary on a dating show, well, viewers would be forgiven for doing double and triple takes.
In the era of hologram wizardry that can resurrect Tupac to help headline a lackluster year of Coachella and coax a performance out of a long-deceased character actor in Star Wars, maybe this clip was simply a trick of technology. Nope. It’s so much better than that.
Nothing beats the real thing, kids.
It’s actually a young Jon Hamm, y’all. On a dating show. In 1996. Check out the original clip below.
While Hamm went on to portray one of the most suave ladies men on this side of the Atlantic throughout seven seasons of Mad Men, his oh-so-90’s response was overzealous and cringeworthy with a hint of creep, aka: a perfect fit for a young Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne. In fact, other than a quick dub of Hamm’s real name, the clip is unadulterated as it plays out in the faux documentary Party Monster. It’s not 100% clear why the clip was included, but when life hands you a young Jon Hamm on a dating show in the 1990’s, you have no choice but to make art.
‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ Season 4A is currently available for streaming on Netflix.