Paul Rudd is just as shocked as the New York Post about his Sexiest Man Alive title.
Following the official announcement last week on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that Rudd had been awarded the annual title by People magazine, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Shrink Next Door star returned to the late night show Monday to expound on his experience and reactions to the news.
While chatting, host Colbert offered up two very different headline responses to Rudd’s celebrity sexiness, including a New York Post headline that questioned whether Rudd should have gotten the title.
“Look at this. This is The Guardian. ‘Do you fancy Paul Rudd? You’re either a sociopath or a liar if you say no,'” Colbert read aloud, before a bashful Rudd jokingly thanked the publication “for hiring my mom.”
Related Stories
“If you ever read an article by The Guardian, at the end — I know because I’ve read them online — it says if you’d like to contribute to help journalism for The Guardian, we would appreciate it, so I think everybody should,” Rudd followed up.
Colbert then shared the New York Post headline responding to Rudd’s honor, with the Late Show host pointing out that the outlet had published a piece citing unnamed sources who claimed Chris Evans would be this year’s winner.
Colbert called the outlet “bitter” over being wrong, but Rudd allowed that fellow Avengers star Chris Evans getting the title “certainly makes sense.”
After seeing the Post‘s negative reaction to People‘s actual selection, Rudd said, “That might be the first thing I ever read in the New York Post that I agree with.”
Either way, Rudd said, he was “honored to be recognized for something besides my talent and humility,” and detailed how he learned he had been dubbed 2021’s Sexiest Man Alive.
“Well, I found out — I got an email about it,” Rudd said of receiving the annual title “out of the blue.” “It was shocking. I had to read it. I said, ‘What?'”
When asked by Colbert what the email said, Rudd joked, “It says ‘Well, congratulations. There’s been an error in the judging.'”
The Late Show guest also addressed the surprise massage he gave fellow comedic actor Seth Rogen in Las Vegas, which Rogen first revealed on Twitter in July.
“I think we were filming a scene from Knocked Up and we had to shoot it in Las Vegas,” Rudd recalled. “We were in the gym/spa — like it was an hour before shooting and I knew he was getting a massage, or went to get a massage — and I just said to them, ‘Can I go in?'”
After he was given the OK and tapped in, Rudd began to massage Rogen’s shoulders and arms, with the actor only becoming aware of Rudd’s presence after turning over and opening his eyes.
“It was like Indiana Jones, you know, when he takes the idol away and he puts the bag of sand. And I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just keep this going,'” Rudd said, admitting that Rogen was lying face down and jokingly conceded to Colbert that Rogen was stoned out of his mind.” “I was doing his shoulders and his arms and then I [thought], ‘He is not opening his eyes,’ and then I just started massaging his face.”
Once Rudd moved to Rogen’s face, the reveal happened in short order. “But, I mean, I must have massaged him for like at least 40 minutes,” Rudd added to laughs, before moving on to give Colbert a massage onstage.
