Pete Campbell's 'Punchability': Vincent Kartheiser On His 'Mad Men' Character's Knuckle-Magnet Face

"Mad Men" fans love to hate Pete Campbell, and with good reason. But as actor Vincent Kartheiser recently admitted, there's an X factor to Pete's infamy -- his face.

"I just have one of those faces you just wanna rip to pieces," Kartheiser, who plays Pete, said in an interview with the Vulture.

Campbell dodged fan speculation of suicide only to become Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's official punching bag, getting hit in the face numerous times in "Mad Men" Season 5.

While Kartheiser has apparently had to deal with the inherent "punchability" of his mug since he was a kid, he rightfully credits the the "Mad Men" writers with carefully sculpting animosity towards his character over the seasons. Pete has impregnated Peggy, blackmailed Don and "pimped out" Joan. But as hard-to-swallow as those actions may be, they probably wouldn't sting as much if they weren't perpetrated by the cast's most eager weasel.

Ire towards Pete has only grown with his rise in prominence. In the beginning of "Mad Men," Pete was just a conniving little snot, but now that he's found success, audiences hate him more.

Still, it's a testament to Kartheiser's ability that he's able to play Pete with such bile-inspiring gusto, and his face -- all Cheshire cat smiles and shit-eating grins -- is an ace up his sleeve.

"I play a really despicable, ugly character," Kartheiser said in a HuffPost interview earlier this month. "I think there's plenty of me in Pete Campbell."

In the backhanded world of the Internet, memes can be a mark of notoriety, and Pete's face has a few. There's a tumblr called "Pete Campbell's Bitchface," and there's a bizarre Imogen Heap mash-up tribute (below) to Lane Pryce's magnificent Campbell K.O.

WATCH: