‘Ghosts’: How ruffles ignited feud between Higgintoot and Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton: founding father, prolific writer, super invested in the U.S. currency … ruffle thief?

If Thursday’s episode of the CBS comedy “Ghosts” is to be believed, history’s true rivalry wasn’t between Hamilton and his dueling partner, Aaron Burr. It was between Hamilton and an otherwise forgotten fighter for the American Revolution: Isaac Higgintoot (Brandon Scott Jones), who is one of the titular ghosts now “living” in an upstate New York manor, where the show is set.

The offense? Hamilton (played by Nat Faxon) took the stylish new shirt ruffle that Isaac had ordered from the haberdashery. And Isaac’s lack of an appropriate neck accessory made him the laughingstock of a dinner party at John Jay’s house the night they were meant to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Isaac’s perhaps one-sided feud with the man who became the face of the $10 bill has been part of “Ghosts” lore for all of the show’s four seasons. And it’s not super surprising that he holds a grudge; being a paranormal confined to the same acreage for more than 200 years gives you a lot of time to ruminate. But the impetus for the disagreement wasn’t made clear until this episode, aptly titled “Alexander Hamilton and the Ruffle Kerfuffle,” which is written by John Blickstead and Trey Kollmer and directed by Richie Keen.

To get to the bottom of this ghost’s story, The Times spoke with Jones, Faxon and “Ghosts” showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman.

Shots fired

“Ghosts” has toyed with depicting actual people from history before — Neil Crone, who played Benjamin Franklin in an earlier episode, also appears here — but this is the first time the show has given a real person from history a major storyline. Because the public perception of Hamilton is so positive, especially after Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster biographical musical, Port and Wiseman say that if they were going to do this story, they had to dirty him up a little bit.

Although there’s one small “Hamilton” reference for the Hamilfans, Port says that the “idea with this episode was to do a ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ version of a founding-father story.”

Port says that he usually agreed with Larry David’s blunt and combative alter ego on that HBO show. In this case, he says, “Isaac didn’t handle the situation well with Hamilton, but he had a leg to stand on. So the story was helped by Hamilton being a bit of a jerk.”

Plus, Wiseman says, “comedy comes from people making mistakes or having hubris or letting their egos get in the way. Rarely is perfection funny.”

The (not so) perfect foe

Unlike Matt Walsh’s recurring presence on the show as an evil, troublemaking ghost who just won’t stay put in Hell, the Hamilton character is not an obvious villain. It’s not just that Isaac is still upset over a petty grievance; it’s that all their mutual friends revered his nemesis and he’s the one with the lasting legacy. So the “Ghosts” team went about casting a comedic actor with a reputation for playing likable characters.

“We wanted someone really funny who we thought was worthy of playing this character that we’ve hyped up for four seasons,” Port says.

Nat Faxon on playing Alexander Hamilton: “The only concern for me was just not wanting it to come too broad or sketchy. You have to find that balance of playing the comedy while also being believable.”

(Bertrand Calmeau / CBS)

Faxon was perfect for the role. The actor is from New England, where he says class field trips to pivotal American landmarks like Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the Freedom Trail were “sort of jammed down your throat, just because it’s all right at your fingertips.” He also graduated from (where else?) Hamilton College, where he played the ghost of the school’s namesake once in a scene with his sketch comedy troupe.

“The only concern for me was just not wanting it to come too broad or sketchy. You have to find that balance of playing the comedy while also being believable,” he says about playing Hamilton.

Faxon says he put a lot of trust in the script and in Keen, whom he already knew.

He also came equipped with some personal features that fit the time period: Faxon is known for his toothy grin, which he was not asked to enhance or change.

“Nobody ever contacted me and was like, ‘Please go to the library and try to mimic his looks and all the things that you would normally do,’” he says. “It was really just about playing the comedy and playing the moment. And that’s probably more important than trying to be an exact replica of the man himself. So my teeth played as my teeth.”

The unreliable narrator?

This story is all told in flashback as a means to inspire Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who is feuding with a fellow chef. But how true is it?

Jones’ takeaway was that despite the inevitable lulls in conversation that can happen when you’re stuck with the same group of people for centuries, it’s curious that this is the first time his character has told this story to any of his friends.

Also, he says, “It’s unusual for Isaac to tell the story where he also looks bad … [and] I wonder if every single detail that he’s saying is still true. I think the beats of it are true. To me, it feels like there is a world where Alexander Hamilton did really steal his ruffle. But, because he’s trying to tell the story to goad Jay on … I could see him adjusting some details here and there.”

Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), left, accuses Alexander Hamilton (Nat Faxon) of stealing his collar.

(Bertrand Calmeau / CBS)

It goes back to the general premise of the show: These ghosts don’t know why they’re stuck in this purgatory, and they also don’t know exactly what they need to do to get out of it.

“Isaac made this promise at the beginning of the season to be a better person, and I think he has really struggled to find avenues where that can be the case,” Jones says. “In this avenue, telling the story where he looks bad to all of his friends feels like growth, at least in humility.”

The episode also tried to impart another message: Don’t ignore something great just because you weren’t allowed to be part of it. Isaac was so upset over the disastrous dinner party that he never read the document that emerged because of it.

“We’ve been doing this job for a long time, and we’ve worked on a lot of sitcoms and interviewed for jobs on ones that we really liked,” Port says. “When you don’t get a job on one that you really like, it tends to fill you with bitterness and make you cut off your nose to spite your face and not watch something good that you would enjoy watching.”

Unlike neck ruffles, scorned writers never go out of style.