Chatting up Bryan Batt about his upcoming book and whether Sal will ever return to “Mad Men”

Bryan Batt flew into LA from New Orleans for a weekend of parties and award shows including the Golden Globes on Sunday where his show Mad Men was named outstanding drama for the third year running.

I caught up with Bryan the day before at the Bafta/LA Tea Party at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“It’s so much fun,” he said. “I get to see the cast together again and there’s fun parties and lotsa loot.”

For someone whose character disappeared mid-season, he’s an awfully busy guy. He’s got a furnishing design business in New Orleans and he has completed a memoir She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother that comes out in Msy.

“It’s about my mom, it’s about growing up in New Orleans and our wonderful relationship,” he explained. “She’s just this incredible, inspiring Steel Magnolia. It’s funny and it’s heartwarming and it’s basically true… I started this before Mad Men but I think Mad Men pushed the envelope.”

How was the process of writing a book for Bryan?

“Those nightmares of having a term paper due, they all came back in reality because I had deadlines and edits which is very difficult,” he said. “But I’m glad it all worked out.”

His Man Men character of Salvatore Romano, a closeted art director for the Sterling Cooper agency, was fired after he rejected the advances of a male client and was gone halfway through season three.

“It was a very sad situation because Sal did nothing wrong,” the actor said. “He played by the rules and he was punished for it.”

Is the character coming back?

“I don’t know, I really do not know,” he said. “I have been told that I’m not dead.”