The mayor in last night’s Mad Men looked familiar, right? The man who mightily refrained from grilling Betty Draper re: the whereabouts of her pledge pin was character actor Mark Metcalf. He’s probably best known for playing The Maestro on Seinfeld. What I hadn’t realized, until my viewing partner who apparently rocks harder than I do pointed it out to me, is that Metcalf was also the disapproving father in Twisted Sister’s video for “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (pictured, left) and the sadistic teacher in their “I Wanna Rock” video. He also played Neidermeyer in Animal House, The Master in Buffy the Vampire Slayer…and a cursory glance at Metcalf’s IMDB page indicates he’s guested for at least one episode on every TV show ever.
I like to think that somewhere in the back of Metcalf’s noggin as he screamed “What do you want to do with your life?!?!?!” — possibly butting up against the thought, “Fix my weird teeth, maybe” — was “Play the the mayor on Mad Men.” Goals are important. This concludes our Relatively Useless IMDB Check of the Day. Cheers to Mark Metcalf! “Ohhhhh…Maestro….“
Read more: ‘Mad Men’ TV Watch: When in Rome…








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Bob Cobb? Hahaha! The Maestro and the Master. That’s fun, another TV staple cameo on Mad Men. I enjoyed Yeardley Smith’s appearance a few episodes ago.
He was also Teddy’s father in One Crazy Summer
“he also played Neidermeyer in ‘Animal House’”…you’ve got to be kidding! That role is more famouse than all the others you mentioned! (though I do love the Maestro; we were just talking about this ep yesterday!)
How could you not know him from “Animal House”? The pledge pin must have been a reference to a scene in Animal House when Netemeyer yells at the pledges about their pledge pins.
I’m a huge fan of his work on BtVS.