The John Fetterman, Paul Rudd Bromance You Didn’t Know About Is Here

What do Snooki, Dave Matthews, and Representative Bill Pascrell have in common? Not much—save for John Fetterman. The Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, who is running to represent his state as the Democratic nominee for US Senate, has turned to a motley crew of personalities in television, music, politics, and beyond to supercharge his campaign against Republican Mehmet Oz. But not everyone knows about the Hollywood celebrity who boosted Fetterman long before it was mainstream: Paul Rudd.

The Ant-Man and Clueless actor, who will appear alongside Fetterman at a Wednesday night fundraiser, initially reached out to the candidate last summer, according to his campaign, just after Fetterman inserted Rudd into a tweet mocking Republican state lawmaker Doug Mastriano for issuing an official letter requesting an audit of the 2020 presidential election. “In light of recent bizarre, unhinged requests on official letterhead from Pennsylvania electeds, my office formally requested Paul Rudd to re-enact scenes from ‘I Love You, Man’ with me,” wrote Fetterman, who used his own office’s letterhead to issue the request. (While his campaign operations have grown significantly this year, the post that prompted their relationship came at a time when Fetterman, a bona fide Rudd Head, was personally writing all of his tweets.)

The two then began regularly communicating, with Rudd and his wife, Julie Yaeger, becoming early supporters of Fetterman’s Senate ambitions. Last December, Rudd even attended a small primary fundraiser for the candidate in New York City.

The unlikely friendship will come full circle this Wednesday at another fundraiser, where Fetterman and Rudd will potentially—and finally—reenact scenes from the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man. “When I wrote that tweet back in [July] 2021, I was just mocking Pennsylvania Republicans—never in a million years did I imagine that it would actually end up happening,” Fetterman told Vanity Fair. “I’m a big fan of Paul Rudd in general and I Love You, Man in particular, plus we’re up against a lot of money in this race, so I am just so grateful for his help. To show my appreciation, I won’t hold it against him that he’s from New Jersey.”

Rudd isn’t the only big name to back Fetterman as of late. It’s been announced that Dave Matthews will be performing at a Fetterman rally in Pittsburgh next week. Meanwhile, the Fetterman campaign touted the endorsement of Kurt Vile, a Philadelphia singer-songwriter, in an email blast on Tuesday. But while all the celebrity brouhaha may be helping—FiveThirtyEight has Fetterman leading Oz by 5.2 points—the race does appear to be tightening in its final stretch, according to a new AARP poll, which found Oz at a two-point deficit.