compliments for men call him the man
The perfect compliment for men:
Call him "the man"
Men love being called the man
You've got a friend who needs a pick me up? Call that man "the man", you won't need to explain
And it's a good compliment but also it's kind of sad. Men get so few compliments that you can make him feel good with just 3 words.
And if you want to keep it going — now you will always introduce him as "the man". "This is Doug. He's the man."
It's like making him the pope of the friend group
"Listen man, we've decided to vote you in as the man. Here's a cool hat, and what you say goes, even if you decided god doesn't hate homos, we'll support you"