GQ USA – May 2017

LOW CULTURAL SATURATION

HIGH CULTURAL SATURATION

54 GQ.COM MAY 2017

THE CULTURAL SATURATION CHART

Start at the top to learn about the things you won’t be able to escape this May.

Read lower for the weird stuff you can’t afford to miss

PHOTOGRAPHS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BOBBY BANK/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES; COLUMBIA PICTURES/COURTESY OF EVE

RETT COLLECTION;

COURTESY OF FX NETWORKS; CHRIS LARGE/FX (2); COURTESY OF PAUL SCHIRALDI/HBO; COURTESY OF TRAE PATTON/NBC. ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL

CHO.

Please describe your recurring nightmare.

If Janet Jackson were your mom, what would you give her for Mother’s Day?

Please list all the frequent buyer cards you have in your wallet.

What is your preferred brand of deodorant?

Please list all the frequent-buyer cards you have in your wallet.

You may remember Nicole Richie

from her early-2000s work as

herself, alongside friend/sworn

enemy Paris Hilton on The Simple

Life, a reality show that was Green

Acres turned catastrophically real.

Over five seasons of living and

laboring among their less wealthy

countrymen, Richie and Hilton

burnished their reputations as

spoiled brats with no particular

interests or skills—which is why

you may be surprised to learn

that the former has been cast in

the new NBC sitcom Great News,

produced by 30 Rock’s golden

trio of Robert Carlock, Tracey

Wigfield, and Tina Fey.

But take a closer look at

those vintage Simple Life scenes

and you’ll realize that Richie

was the Krazy Glue holding them

together. While Hilton could

never quite make her ahi-tuna-

out-of-water shtick believable

(like when she pretended not to

know you can’t buy Chanel at the

supermarket), Lionel’s daughter

was more daring, more intelligent,

and ever so slightly more a≠able,

careening through her scenes

opposite bewildered “regular”

Americans with the sharp-tongued

mischievousness of someone who

knew she would never see any

of those people again. Ten years

on, the canny unflappability Richie

demonstrated on The Simple Life

makes her Great News character,

cable-news anchor and social-

media savant Portia, a tart treat.

And just as with the real-life

Nicole, it’s unclear whether Portia

even needs this job or simply

enjoys showing up and basking

in chaos.—CAITY WEAVER

THE UNLIKELY

RECOMMENDATION

NICOLE

RICHIE

—a new-to-town indie-

film director explaining

her early-morning

marijuana imbibing to a

Marfa, Texas, neighbor

on Amazon’s I Love Dick

(5/12), starring Kevin

Bacon and Kathryn Hahn

LINE OF

THE MONTH

“I’m not a

wake-and-baker.

I just... Today

I woke

and wanted

to boke.”

THE GQ SURVEY

HANNIBAL BURESS

WAS BORN TO RUN...

...his weekly comedy podcast, Handsome

Rambler, as well as along the beach opposite

The Rock in the Baywatch reboot (5/26)

TWO ROLES FOR THE

PRICE OF ONE ACTOR

Ewan McGregor is but one man, yet he plays a pair of

brothers on FX’s third season of Fargo. Below, GQ honors

sibling duos portrayed by lone actors with too much

performance inside to limit themselves to a single role.

the winklevoss twins

Played by Armie Hammer in

The Social Network

sibling dynamic: United in

commitment to fitness and litigation

jack and jill sadelstein

Played by Adam Sandler in

Jack and Jill

sibling dynamic: Adam

Sandler/Adam Sandler in a wig

bette and dot tattler

Played by Sarah Paulson on

American Horror Story: Freak Sh

sibling dynamic: Horny/evil

emmit and ray stussy

Played by Ewan McGregor on Fargo

sibling dynamic: “Parking Lot King

of Minnesota”/standard Coen brothers

venal schnook

vincent and frankie martino

Played by James Franco on HBO’s

upcoming fall series The Deuce

sibling dynamic: Mustachioed

unwilling Mob ally/mustachioed

BURESS: (^) willing Mob ally
A self-portrait
no
s
d
o
how
THIS MONTH IN SUPERHEROISM
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 MAY 5
Who’re they?
A ragtag group of
former interplanetary
mercenaries,
including Star-Lord
(Chris Pratt), Rocket
the raccoon (Bradley
Cooper), and tiny
talking tree Baby
Groot (Vin Diesel).
Yeah, I saw the first
one. Everyone did!
It made $773 million!
This one also has
Kurt Russell as
Star-Lord’s dad and
Sylvester Stallone
playing someone who
sounds exactly like
Sylvester Stallone.
Is there an erudite
British-ish villain?
Elizabeth Debicki
plays Ayesha,
though director
James Gunn claims
she’s technically
less “villain” than
“not a woman to
be screwed with.”
At stake: The Galaxy
of which our heroes
are Guardians.
Vibe: Chris Pratt
being charming on a
late-night talk show +
Star Trek aliens + Friday-
at-rush-hour classic-
rock soundtrack.
THEPUNCHLIST