When you have a movie coming out, it makes sense to stop by all of the late-night spots and talk about said movie. When you have a Marvel movie coming out, your face will quite literally be plastered everywhere for upwards of two weeks, with every other interviewer asking about 1) when the next movie will come out and 2) what is Chris Evans like in person? These press cycles have been going on for years at this point.
Paul Rudd, who is not the conventional MCU actor thanks to the fact that he’s just a Goofy Guy, has been making the rounds in support of the latest Ant-Man installment and recently stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers for more superhero talk. Though he didn’t really get to that part.
As a favor to Rudd, Meyers said that he would love for the actor to improvise a fake story on the spot, as a nice way to give him a little break from talking about Jonathan Majors’ jacked villain. Instead, Meyers tasked Rudd with telling him all about his scary skiing incident:
I’m nervous about heights anyway. And the few times I’ve taken the two-seater ski [lift] I hate it, but the good thing about skiing in Switzerland is that they have gondolas. Nice and warm, protected from the elements. The thing is, when you re in there with all of those people, and it stops, they are all from different parts of the world. I was the only one who spoke English. And the power goes out, everything shut down, and there was no way we were gonna get down. I panicked, I started asking people ‘what do we do,’ and no one could talk to me. There was one person who did recognize me but they were ultimately disappointed because they pegged me for being a writer on your show.
The last line was, of course, referencing the fact that Lizzo thought that Rudd was a late-night writer. Look, it happens. Of course, Rudd was so impressed by his own improv skills, he did it again with a different fake story:
“I’m new to scuba diving, and you’re not supposed to fly the next day,” He started. “I came this close to getting an early flight out, and I know I would’ve died. I know I would have died.” Rudd said, adding that a plane mix-up saved his life, which was never actually in danger because this didn’t really happen.
And this is why Rudd is in the elite group of Saturday Night Live hosts who can improv things that don’t advance the plot at all. But it makes for a great story.