Culture

Paul Rudd Happily Yelling ‘Not Me!’ Has Become The World’s Most Relatable Meme

Thanks to the internet, Paul Rudd has been morphed into the poster boy for anybody who has surprised themselves.

by Joseph Earp  25 October 2019
Paul Rudd on Hot Ones

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Paul Rudd is an internet icon for a reason: the man’s an aspirational figure.

He never ages, remains constantly chipper and upbeat, and walks a fine line between being kind and defiantly cheeky. He’s like your average uncle, stripped of all creepiness, imbued with immortality, and made about twenty times funnier.

Don’t believe me? Just check out his appearance on internet talk show Hot Ones, where guests must consume a line of super-spicy wings (or cauliflower bites, in Rudd’s case) while fielding increasingly tricky questions.

Everyone acquits themselves well on Hot Ones. But Rudd did a particularly good job. He taught host Sean Evans how to take trick photos that make it appear as though your subject is standing in front of a naked person. He played with his food like the world’s most charismatic four year old. He asked questions, and complimented Evans, and basically made everyone in the room — and those watching at home — fall madly in love with him.

He also, at the very end of the interview, dropped a little aside to Evans. “Look at us,” he said. “Hey. Look at us.”

“Who would have thought?” Evans shot back.

“Not me!” Replied Rudd.

It was a tiny moment — a snatched joke between interviewer and interviewee. But thanks to the charm of Rudd, within minutes, the exchange became the most relatable meme on the internet.

Those geniuses on Twitter, for instance, turned the moment into everything from a back-and-forth between two hungover friends, to a spat between exes, to a love-in with drunks, to the rueful chortle of lapsed teetotallers.

The internet shows no sign of slowing down, either, with more memes getting spat out every minute. Seems like more proof, if any needed, that Paul Rudd really is the celebrity that every single person on the planet wishes that they could age gracefully into.