

Charlie LeDuff

The December issue of GQ is out, and it features its annual "men of the year" in various categories.

Rocker of the Year is Kurt Vile.

Auteur of the Year is Steve McQueen, director of "12 Years a Slave."

Wiseass of the Year is Andy Samberg.

#Hashtag of the Year is Justin Timberlake.

And Madman of the Year, not just in Detroit, but nationally, is Fox 2's Charlie LeDuff.

"Charlie got famous by basically reinventing local news reporting," writes GQ's Devin Friedman, who describes such LeDuff classics as canoeing the Rouge, golfing across Detroit and taking a bath and going to get carry-out burgers while waiting with a woman for police to investigate the burglary of her home,

"All of these videos had a life of their own outside the realm of broadcast journalism," Friedman writes. "All of them became, for lack of less annoying phraseology, viral videos illustrating something about Detroit."

He adds: When Detroit became the first big American city in modern times to file for bankruptcy, "It was LeDuff who reported on it in a way that made sense to people who aren't, like, super into Chapter 9 filings."

Other Friedman observations about LeDuff, who's pictured holding a cigarette:

* When you meet him, he might call you brother. "Like, I put the chances at 90 percent. It's an essential pivot he takes with everyone, viewers included. You and him, you're exhausted grunts in the war against the government, the capitalists, laziness, self-interest, vanity, greed, America, NAFTA, bullshit, rich people. But mostly bullshit."

* LeDuff believes Yvette Bing, the mayor's wife, is not bad looking.

* It can sometimes seem like LeDuff is in a movie: "This is Charlie's movie. It'd be great if you were in it, since you are his brother and this is a movie about you -- Detroit is America (Charlie's theory); it's the canary in the coal mine; it goes first. But either way, it's his movie. He sets the tone, he sets the agenda, he chooses he vests. Charlie's personality has a blast radius of about fifteen feet, and if you're inside it, you're in the movie."



LeDuff implies that Ficano has not been honest.

* People approach LeDuff on the street constantly and say things like "I love your shit.' Friedman writes that adoration happened less when he did a story on Timberlake.

* LeDuff compares Detroit to Chernobyl (like Anthony Bourdain would do later in the year), Pompeii and Selassie's Ethiopia.

* LeDuff's craziness and bunny costumes and falling into puddles are designed to serve a more important purpose. "It's my belief that Charlie LeDuff couldn't live with himself if he didn't think that it was all in service to to something bigger. That the enterprise is is essentially a serious one is what makes everything else okay," says Friedman.

Previously in Deadline Detroit: The longest story ever about Charlie LeDuff