Paul Rudd and Jon Hamm are both certifiable comedic Hollywood hunks. While Rudd has been developing his status as a go-to funny man for decades now, it is only in the last few years that Hamm has traded in his reputation as a serious actor (known best for his turn as Don Draper in Mad Men) for that of a comedic star. However, the two have a history that goes back even further than either of their careers, back to when they lived near each other in college and had a rocky start to their now 30+ year friendship.
Paul Rudd and Jon Hamm first became friends near St. Louis
It all started because when both were in college, a childhood friend of Jon Hamm’s became Paul Rudd’s roommate. Rudd would accompany his roomie on visits to St. Louis, where they would hang out with Hamm. However, their friendship almost never blossomed because of a classically predictable factor: they both had their eyes on the same girl. Specifically, Rudd was dating Hamm’s ex and would sometimes bring her along to hang out, which seemed to intimidate Hamm, leading to tension.
A game of Trivial Pursuit left Rudd feeling ’emasculated’ by Hamm
As Paul Rudd once told E! Online, things came to a head during what should have been a friendly game of Trivial Pursuit. In Rudd’s words, “He was great at everything. We were playing Trivial Pursuit one time and I was with Sarah, the girl…I would roll and be, ‘Um entertainment, sports.’ And Jon, every time he rolled, ‘I wanna go history.’ And it was the most emasculating because every time he’d get a question he’d get it right every time. And I actually felt so lame that I’d start reading atlases.” Sarah must have been quite the woman to stir up this kind of rivalry between two future heartthrobs!
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Luckily, they moved past it and grew to love each other
Fortunately, friendship prevailed in the end because Paul Rudd and Jon Hamm eventually overcame their differences and became great friends. In fact, according to Oh No They Didn’t, the two of them formed a small “trio of buddies” with Adam Scott (of Parks and Rec fame) back then and supported each other both before any of them made it big as actors and after. It’s crazy to think that three guys with such humble midwestern roots could have all grown up to achieve unfathomable success in their own rights.
Rudd and Hamm have crossed paths in Hollywood a few times
Given that Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd have been friends for more than 30 years now, their paths have crossed a few times at work. For instance, while Rudd’s scenes were ultimately cut from the movie, both appeared as love interests for Kristen Wiig’s character in Bridesmaids. They also both appeared in films like The Ten, Howl, and Between Two Ferns: The Movie together. Still, you’d think that if the two truly are the best of buddies, we’d have seen them collaborate more than just a handful of times.
It sort of makes you hope that the two of them will bring Scott into the mix and write the ultimate buddy film for the trio to star in together. No such project is in the works, but hey, they came together for Adult Swim’s The Greatest Event in Television History a while back, so maybe it will happen again. As long as no one busts out a game of Trivial Pursuit, it seems like these three could truly make magic together.
