Paul Rudd says he questioned his Chiefs fandom at one point during Texans playoff game
There was a point during the Chiefs’ playoff game in January against the Houston Texans when actor Paul Rudd wondered if being a fan was worth it.
Rudd, who has starred in “Ant-Man,” “Clueless” and “Anchorman,” was a guest on The Ringer’s podcast, “10 Questions With Kyle Brandt,” and discussed the Chiefs, his movies, drinking Boulevard instead of Budweiser and why he stays off social media.
When the Chiefs fell behind 24-0 early in the second quarter of the AFC Divisional playoff game, Rudd suffered crisis of faith (in the Chiefs).
“I had a moment during the run of the playoffs ... going up against the Texans, and we were down 24-nothing, that ‘why do I do this?’” Rudd said on the podcast. “I mean like a real honest kind of, I was mad and I thought every year I have to just explain to my kid who’s been a Chiefs diehard fan since he could talk ... and I just thought, like, ‘What’s the point of putting myself and him through this?’ All I want is for my son to experience (success). I got to experience (success) when I was really little with the Steelers when they won. And so I thought why do I do this?
“And I just had that feeling kind throughout the postseason, but when they came back and won. I’m like, well, this is why (I’m a fan), because this is the greatest.”
Rudd, who became a Steelers fan when his family made frequent trips to Pittsburgh, then sought to explain why he is emotionally invested in sports teams.
”It’s a really interesting psychological study,” Rudd said. “I’ve sometimes wondered why this is and when I was growing up, I loved movies and I loved sports as a kid too, but I loved entertainment and then I made my career in it. And all of a sudden because it became my job, my need for drama and that thing that movies seem to satiate was diminished a little bit because I kind of know how things are going to end or it’s just the world I live in now. And some of that need I think transferred over to sports. It kind of appeases a need for drama, a need for cheering for something and the best part about it, unlike most movies or television shows, you have no idea how it’s going to end, which kind of heightens the stakes.
“And it’s also one of the only things, if not the only thing, that seems to kind of conquer any sort of wall that exists between people. During that Super Bowl, I know there are Chiefs fans whose political beliefs I don’t agree with, everyone was so excited and you think in that moment, this proves people can celebrate and they can get along and it can be a happy place.
“And then I just felt bad for 49ers fans. I reached out to my friends who were Niners fans and said, ‘Man, I I feel bad I’m cheering so much because your team is incredible,’ but that’s the way sports is.”
Here are a few other highlights from the podcast.
Favorite scene from “Anchorman:” “I really laugh when Will Ferrell says, ‘Milk was a bad choice.’ Because I remember when he did it and it was so surprising. Because we all left the shot as the group, we’re all leaving, and we all walk right past camera, but Will is standing there and he’s supposed to be yelling at us down the street. And I remember Steve Carell and I are standing right there. And Will is right here yelling things out. He’s just making things up. And he just took a swig of milk and said, ‘Milk was a bad choice.’ And I just remember looking at Steve Carell and he and I looked at each other, trying not to ruin the take, to laugh, because that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Why he’s not on social media: “Well, a few different reasons. I think I’d probably get sucked into it and I don’t want more things that take me out of my own life. I try and make my world a little bit smaller rather than more expansive and I’m a fairly private person anyway. I think it’d be a time suck for me, I’d probably get into it. I don’t quite get the living in public so much. I mean, it’s part of the job, I understand. I’ve never felt compelled. I feel like the upsides would outweigh the downsides for me. There have been times when I thought like, ‘Oh wow, if I had it, I would say something, I would probably tweet out something or share some kind of picture or something.’ But no, I try and make my life and my world a bit more small.”
On not being a social person: “It’s expected by the studios that you’re going to promote it. If it was really up to me, I would never do anything. I would never do a show. I would never do an interview. I’d never do anything. It’s not really my favorite thing. Unless it’s like you and I are friends and like, that is fun. I’m not promoting anything. I just do it because I want to. I love you and I love your show. But it’s kind of part of the game and I just don’t fight it. ...
“I think for my own sanity, I want to hold on to my own world, my own life. It’s my own world and my own life and my own circle is not so huge. I’m not so social. And it’s gotten more and more so as I’ve gotten more and more well known. It’s shrunk, and so social media falls into that, for me. This is not by design. ... When there’s a new thing or there’s something that the world is doing that I don’t take part in it, It’s not a conscious thing. It’s just it’s an inability. And as a result, over time I feel less and less equipped to kind of function through the way the rest of the world works. There is a there’s an entire way that like, pop culturally, or the way people talk, the way they interact with one another, the way the world functions, and I literally, I could be like a 90-year-old man, I don’t know. It’s the definition of just, old guy. A Luddite. But I mean, I was this way when I was 20. People say like, ‘Hey, you know, check out MySpace. Friendster,’ I remember. I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to talk to people I know, why do I want to talk to people I don’t know?”
That’s just a sliver of the 80-minute conversation, which you can listen to here:
