Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) talks Mad Men

Friday, July 23, 2010

Vincent Kartheiser wants to put something to rest: He does own a toilet.

Kartheiser, who plays oily ad man Pete Campbell on AMC’s “Mad Men” (Sunday at 10 p.m. on AMC), recently invited a writer into his home. The upshot of the ensuing interview was that the 31-year-old, Minnesota-raised actor rides the bus to work and got rid of his commode. The report was off a bit, but the story proved just strange enough to take hold and spread.



“I need to stop this,” Kartheiser told the Herald in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. “I’ll be 80 years old and people will still be wondering this. Yes, yes, my God, I have a toilet. I do have a toilet and I don’t have a car.”

Water Closet-Gate is just one of the oddities Kartheiser has had to deal with since “Mad Men” went white-hot. As season four opens, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) stumbles and Kartheiser’s Pete does what he can, as always, to make the most of it.

The Draper/Campbell relationship is just one of the things viewers can expect to see evolve this season. While remaining purposefully vague, Kartheiser said it’s inevitable that the two continue their dance.

“Things are always happening at the office, but especially everybody’s relationship with Don Draper,” he said. “He’s our protagonist, and it’s really his relationship with everyone that’s under the spotlight. I feel like that relationship is constantly being tested and adjusted.”

Kartheiser calls it a study in pack mentality.

“That’s always true with men,” he said. “There will be two men on a ski lift, and by the time they get to the top of the mountain, they’ve already compared things about each other, arm-wrestled in a way. We’re still animals, and we’re still sniffing around each other. And Don (Draper) draws a lot of noses because of his strong status.”

Pete got Peggy pregnant, married Trudy and bedded a young nanny in his building, despite her less-than-enthusiastic participation. One might think that with such personality traits, the actor might want to distance himself from Pete. Not so. Kartheiser said there’s a lot he likes about the sometimes petty, sometimes selfish young executive.

“He has this very formal kind of mask he puts on when he’s at the office,” he said. “I like that. I like that it’s kind of obvious. Everyone wears these masks in life. We’re all kind of playing a role, trying to be someone to everyone or to ourselves, and I just like that Pete’s so obvious about it. It’s kind of refreshing. There’s something really honest about how he can’t hide his bad thoughts or indiscretions, and I can appreciate that.”

Has Pete tunneled his way into the young actor’s subconscious? Is there a lot of Pete in Vincent?

“There’s more of me in Pete,” Kartheiser said. “I’m a beta male. I can be jealous and trivial. I definitely say the wrong things and don’t even know what I’m saying most of the time. But I can be loyal.

“Most females find me creepy and off-putting, and that’s Pete Campbell.”