One of the funniest 2024 movies that has come out lately is Sweethearts, which has Kiernan Shipka going on some hilarious college debauchery with co-stars Nico Hiraga and Caleb Hearon. When CinemaBlend spoke to the 25-year-old about her history with being funny, she sweetly recalled how being part of the Mad Men cast was a huge influence on her.
While it’ll be a decade next year since the Mad Men ending wrapped up the award-winning drama after seven seasons, Kiernan Shipka isn’t soon forgetting her experience on the AMC series. As the actress shared in our interview:
I could go on a tangent because I think that for me, I grew up doing Second City and I loved it. I was obviously on a very serious show, which was Mad Men. But, I loved improv and I learned so much from my teachers and from my fellow troop members who were just being silly and being funny and not being afraid to fail. Comedic timing-wise, I mean, I think Jon Hamm is so funny and obviously I grew up being around him all the time.
Few actors can say they literally grew up with Jon Hamm, but considering Kiernan Shipka started working with the actor when she was seven, she has the honor. While the series tackled some serious topics from the 1960s, fans of the actor know he’s a rather hilarious talent and Shipka feels like she learned from him over the years. As she continued:
And honestly, everyone in Mad Man was very funny. It was a very funny set outside of the actual show. I mean, I remember like being at table reads and John Slattery would say something and everyone was doubled over and laughter, like, there's a lot of funny moments in it too. So I think I picked up a lot of stuff from that.
While Mad Men was always racking up the Emmys for being a drama series, Shipka said that behind the scenes, there was a lot of levity on set. Throughout the show, the actress played Sally Draper, the eldest child of Jon Hamm’s Don Draper. While she started off having a rather small role, from Season 3 onward Kiernan Shipka held her own alongside her co-stars. Sally dealt with quite a lot as Don and Betty went through a divorce, and and she stepped up as a maternal figure for her younger siblings when her mom was diagnosed with cancer later in the show.
Given her words about the Mad Men cast, is it any wonder that Kiernan Shipka is hilarious in Sweethearts? The actress also shared that she was involved in improv in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois, which helped in growing her funny bone as well. In the new comedy, which is currently streaming for those with a Max subscription, Shipka plays a college freshman who plots alongside her best friend (Hiraga) to break up with their long distance high school partners in order to fully enjoy their new era of freedom.
As they return to their hometown to hatch their joint plan, their other friend Palmer experiences a powerful coming out message that Caleb Hearon talked to us about. Funny enough, the movie includes the song “Unwritten” after it was also featured in Anyone But You, but don’t worry – the filmmakers told us the story behind it. Check out Kiernan Shipka in Sweethearts now!
