Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "He Wants To Be A Guy, But Also Wants To Be A Man"
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 14 | Aired on 11.14.2007
CB: So let's get into Mad Men. How did you first hear about the show? RS: Um, it was during my first major pilot season in New York, because after The Devil Wears Prada, some people were willing to let me come in and audition, and it was one of many pilots I went in for that year. CB: And you read for Harry, originally? RS: Actually, you know, a lot of us boys read for other parts. Aaron Staton, who plays Ken, originally read for Pete, I read for Dick, who became Paul Kinsey, played by Michael Gladis…I think all of us were reading for different parts and it just kind of came out in the wash. CB: Gotcha. So you knew nothing about the project other than getting sides? RS: Well, I had the script, and my manager was calling to give me some background. They called me about this one -- they said that this one was kind of a biggie, because it was being made by people who had worked on The Sopranos, and the pilot script was being touted as being especially different, and an especially strong piece in that pilot season. I remember talking to people way back then about Mad Men and them saying, "Oh, I heard about that! My agent was saying that was one of his favorite scripts of the year!" It was definitely one of the hot projects of that season. CB: Was there anything noteworthy about the audition process? RS: [laughs] Well, I had an interesting little run at it, because I auditioned for it maybe at the end of March or early April -- I don't fully recall, and about a week later, I got a callback, and I went and did it, and I felt…okay about it, and then I didn't hear anything for like two weeks. And I was like, "Crap!" I felt really good about the project -- I loved it, and there are those projects…when you're auditioning as much as I was then -- between commercials and pilots and stuff, I was going out for five to ten auditions a week. So I couldn't really get too invested in anything emotionally or I would just be constantly heartbroken. But this was one that I really had kind of gotten invested in. So I was really bummed, because it was so good. And it was about the day after I was lamenting that -- I told this story at the Paley Center a few months ago -- I was literally sitting at home on my couch, in my boxers and my t-shirt watching Judge Alex, and the phone rings, and they said, "Hey! Rich! We want to see if you're still interested in playing Harry for Mad Men. "Uh…yeah." "Great! Can you be here in two hours for a read-through? We start shooting the day after tomorrow." "Um…yeah." [both laugh] "I can be there in two hours." And I was just running around my apartment calling…because they called me directly, I called my managers, and I called my wife, who was at a temp job or something, and was like, "I'm going in for Mad Men , the read-through's today in like an hour and a half, I gotta go shower." You know…it was a good day.