Paul Rudd is People‘s Sexiest Man Alive of 2021, and the star swung by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night to kick off his reign.
As an “official sexiness adjudicator” of the LSSC Sexiness Research Institute, Stephen Colbert made the actor audition for the title, grilling him with hilariously serious questions. “When was the first time that you knew that you were sexy,” the host asked.
“I just think when I was…when I was a baby; I think a baby,” Rudd answered. “But I was a baby, I didn’t know what sexy was. I just felt different… I wore a thong diaper. My diaper was a thong. And I knew the other kids didn’t do that, but looking back obviously that’s very sexy. But I just thought it was French.”
Colbert went on to interrogate the Ant-Man star about everything from his greatest sexiness weakness (he has a “weird foot”), his sexy work experience (being the step-brother/love interest in 1995’s Clueless), and whether he’s lactose intolerant (he’s not, but he’s “willing to try”).
Ultimately, Rudd clinched the title by mimicking the “sexy slump” of previous Sexiest Man Alive honorees Ryan Reynolds, Matthew McConaughey, and Idris Elba in their respective People covers and enduring an intense physical examination by Colbert and a team of researchers of his sexiness. Watch the hilarious clips below.
Rudd appears opposite Will Ferrell in the new limited series The Shrink Next Door, which premieres on Apple TV+ this Friday, November 12th. He’s also starring in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which comes to theaters next week on November 19th.
