Sound the alarm and toot all the horns, because Paul Rudd has been officially crowned the Sexist Man Alive. And about time!
The eternally youthful Paul is finally getting the recognition he deserves in the hot stakes - yes, hotness is subjective, but when someone is an all round nice person, what could be sexier? Nothing! Plus everyone’s still harbouring that crush on him since his Clueless days in 1995. Truly, Josh 4 EVA.
The accolade was bestowed upon Paul by US magazine People, who annually declare the sexiest people of the last 12 months. And at number one this year was Paul. Toot toot!
“I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I’d be picked for this, they would say, ‘What?’ This is not false humility,” he told People. “There are so many people that should get this before me.”
He joked that his wife of 18 years, Julie - who he has two children, Jack (17) and Darby (12), with - was ‘stupefied’ by the announcement - and added that and that his friends were going to have him endlessly ribbed for it all.
"As they should. I would," he continued to People. "I mean I'm going to lean into it hard. I'm going to own this. I'm not going to try to be like 'Oh, I'm so modest.' I'm getting business cards made. But all of my friends will destroy me and I expect them to. And that's why they're my friends."
Michael B Jordan previously held the title, and other winners include Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Idris Elba, so it’s nice to see Paul being commended for services to hotness.
"I'm hoping now that I'll finally be invited to some of those sexy dinners with Clooney and Pitt and B Jordan," he said. "And I figure I'll be on a lot more yachts. I'm excited to expand my yachting life. And I'll probably try to get better at brooding in really soft light.
“I like to ponder. I think this is going to help me become more inward and mysterious. And I'm looking forward to that."
Ugh, same.
In case you’re unmoved by People’s decision, here is a brief rundown of why we (and the world) love Paul:
He’s played some of the best characters in film and TV; the hapless Bobby Newport in Parks & Rec, Brian Fantana in Anchorman, and Phoebe Buffet’s love interest Mike Hannigan in Friends.
His down-to-earth-ness. When he told his son he was going to be a superhero, and that it was Ant Man, “He said, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to see how stupid that is going to be’”.
The “It’s been xx years since Clueless, but that’s only xx months in Paul Rudd time” meme with pictures of him side by side in 1995 and now. And there is ZERO change.
Someone on Twitter summed it up when they said: “Paul Rudd is the human version of that feeling when scissors glide through wrapping paper”
The Paul Rudd ‘Who would’ve thought’ meme, applicable to many things.
Paul: “Look at us. Hey! Look at us.”
Other person: “Who would’ve thought?”
Paul: “Not me.”
Paul in Living With Yourself on Netflix. Double the Rudd, double the fun!