At some point during his military career, a platoon sergeant started "throwing his weight around." He ordered Pvt. Mr. T to chop down trees on the base but failed to mention how many. Mr. T axed 70 trees in 3.5 hours before the company commander ordered him to stop.
A tall tale? The new Chuck Norris? A modern day Paul Bunyan? I sure don't know. But, reddit has already made the connection to other obscure Mr. T Tree lore (from Curbed Chicago):
Now, in honor of Curbed Outdoors Week, let's take a look back at one of the Chicago area's most infamous landscaping debacles: Mr. T's 1987 inexplicable destruction of more than 100 trees (actual tree counts vary) on the old Armour estate in Lake Forest...
...The home in question was built in 1910 for a banker named Orville Elias Babcock, and it was later occupied by meatpacking magnet[sic] Laurance Armour... In 1986, Mr. T (a Chicago native, by the way) bought the sprawling English Tudor estate for $1.7 million... Then, a year later, he went all Paul Bunyan on the hundreds of trees that filled his property. He even wiped out four 12-foot topiary trees that had been sculpted to represent birds in nests....
The papers called it the 'Lake Forest Chainsaw Massacre.' Arborists were stunned. And for his part, Mr. T never bothered to fully explain why he fired up a chainsaw and, alongside hired workmen, got busy clearcutting the oaks, elms and maples that populated his seven-acre estate...
So, I don't know, it seems that Mr. T hates trees. If we're looking to see if this can be added to the Mr. T Cinematic Universe, it maps to the S03E05 "A-Team" episode "Timber!" where the A-Team helps out a lumber company, but I don't know of any other connections.
Life is hectic and stressful. Take some time to slow down, get back to nature and visit with Indian Mr. T as he enjoys and commands the animals. Be at peace, friend.
So I was watching the cartoon "Mister T" (as you do) and in whatever particular episode I was watching they make a passing comment that Mr. T is scared of flying in airplanes. Alarm bells went off in my brain instantly. Being afraid of flying is a trait of the character B.A. Baracus in the fictional TV show "The A-Team," not the real person Mr. T. I wondered, "Why is the Mr. T character in "Mister T" (essentially a version of Mr. T) exhibiting the same traits as a fictional character played by Mr. T"?
Well that incident led me on a journey of discovery and although I don't think I've reached the end of the journey (will I ever?), I am here to release the fruits of my research. I am unveiling The Mr. T Cinematic Universe.
The Data
Figure 1.
Listed across the four columns of Figure 1 (above) are the specific traits that the Mr. T character displays in the MTCU. Each row represents one of the three major Mr. T television shows. Each row/column intersection cites the specific episode or episodes where each trait is expressed in that particular television series.
As you can see, and as the data shows, Mr. T hates flying, is accused of a crime he didn't commit, has a special connection with children and loves milk in ALL THREE TV series - except for one trait in one show. It's a very interesting exception and I will have to explore it in more detail some time. And... that time has come...
"Drink Your Milk, Billy"
Figure 2.
In the MTCU, Mr. T eschews alcohol and loves milk (Figure 2) and particularly in the 80's it was very important to convince kids to drink more milk (for some reason). So it would seem a foregone conclusion that one of the life lessons that "Mister T," a Saturday Morning Cartoon aimed at children, in the 1980's, that teaches life lessons, would evangelize would be "Be sure to drink your milk." It's so obvious that it requires no explanation - this was fated to be part of the very fabric of the show. Right?
It was even mocked on SNL in the famous "Stay in school, don't do drugs and drink your milk" skit.
This is what we remember: the "Mister T" told kids to drink milk, perhaps repeatedly - perhaps every episode?
But it's all a lie. It never happened. Somehow, Mr. T never endorses milk in "Mister T." Not once. Not ever. Question me if you like, watch any episode to prove me wrong, call it "The Mandela Effect" if you need to and you're of that persuasion, but it never happened.
Additional Data Points
We've already seen that Mr. T's three major Television series show a large amount of cohesion, but we can expand the data outward to various other works in the Mr.T oeuvre. Doing so, we sacrifice some cohesion but also expand the number of similarities and "coincidences". Here are a few examples. This list is not exhaustive.
Mr. T:
Is a Vietnam Vet: Mr. T plays a Vietnam Vet in "The A-Team" and the TV Movie "The Toughest Man in the World."
Is a Boxer:
"The Toughest Man in the World"
"Penitentiary 2"
"Rocky III"
"T&T" - Backstory
"Wrestlemania II"
"Out of This World" - S04E01
Has a Special Connection with Children (in addition to those in Figure 1):
"D.C. Cab"
"Diff'rent Strokes" - S06E01
"The Toughest Man in the World"
"Goldy 3: The Search for the Golden Bear"
"A Christmas Dream"
"Blossom" - S04E21
Has a Particularly Close Relationship with his Mom (in addition to Figure 1):
Is a Teetotaler/Loves Milk (in addition to Figure 1): Don Rickles jokes about the real Mr. T loving milk in "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Mr. T."
MTCU Heresies
Figure 3.
Though in the MTCU, Mr. T usually refuses alcohol and loves milk, in "The Toughest Man in the World" he mocks a man for drinking milk at a bar. It's uncanny.
Though Mr. T usually has a severe fear of flying, in the movie "Spy Hard," he plays a helicopter pilot (Figure 3).
Conclusion
So this is all the data but what does it all mean in the larger picture? Any two fictional characters can share any trait by coincidence but this number of coincidences over so many characters and media can not simply be dismissed.
I believe there are a few clues that point us toward a certain conclusion. The first clue is in the common Mr. T traits that I haven't bothered tracking. One could mention how often Mr. T plays a muscular person, has a mo-hawk hair style, wears gold chains, dresses distinctively, speaks gruffly, etc. but it seemed unnecessary. Obviously he can't completely change himself from character to character. Well, he can't change the muscles, but he could get a different hair style ("Martin" S05E05) and he could take off the chains... he could easily dress differently, in fact, we assume different fictional characters will.
The other clue is how many different levels of reality in which the characters exist. You may have noticed that most of the time the traits are exhibited in fictional characters, but I've snuck a few real life ones in there and there are some that are in a no-man's-land in between the two. In "Mister T," Mr. T is playing both a fictional character and himself - it's a fictional version of himself. When he boxes in "Wrestlemania II" it's really him but the outcome is pre-determined. When he shows up in "Blossom, he's entering a fictional world as himself. When Mr. T releases songs to teach kids lessons, can we say he's playing a role at least to some extent?
Mr. T being expressed in various levels of reality and the fact that we never bother to question his otherwise strange traits, it shows Mr. T's dual nature as real and imagined. Mr. T, the person, is such a larger than life "character," he blurs the line of reality. The real Mr. T is so interesting, the writers of fiction are forced to plagiarize just to keep up. The reason his characters love their mom is because he loves his mom. He plays a bodyguard in "Silver Spoons" and he was a bodyguard. He plays boxers, he was a boxer. In "T & T" he's a boxer turned lawyer - in real life his fighting got him sued over 200 times. He plays a wrestler, he was a wrestler. The "character" has a mo-hawk and chains because everybody knows Mr. T sports a mo-hawk and chains. How are you going to top that? In "Mister T" he plays a kids' gymnastics coach, he was at one point a gym teacher. He plays a veteran, he was in the military. He doesn't drink alcohol because he doesn't drink alcohol; he loves milk in the show, he loves milk for real (if Don Rickles is to be believed)...
Mr. T is such a unique character, the entertainment industry simply starts with the real person and uses that as a "jumping off point" to go from there to flights of fancy. He is typecast as himself. They can't create anything more interesting, how could they? And who can blame them? And at some point in the past, on some show or other, some executive said of a fictional character, "It's Mr. T so he's afraid of flying" and the character and the actor have become conflated in a new way, a mythology has been created. And what does the mythology do, what can it do, except build upon itself and evolve over time. But if the commonalities of the Mr. T Cinematic Universe can be explained by a Mr. T character mythology and if the basis of the mythology is actually the real person living among us, then the universe which we now know as "The Mr. T Cinematic Universe" is really our own.
Mr. T on Mr. B?! How did I not see this sooner?! Well...
You may remember that one of the things I've complained about int the past is the confusion caused by imdb's categories for a person's credits. All the sitcoms and other fictional works are listed under the "Actor" category but Mr. T apparently plays himself on "Mr. Belvedere" so it's under the "Self" section. And that's where it got lost in the shuffle.
Mr. T is listed as being in the sixth episode of the sixth season, "Paper Mill." Wesley starts writing reports for other kids in return for money and favors but eventually learns a valuable lesson. Meanwhile, Mr. Belvedere has a stomach ulcer and struggles to modify his diet accordingly.
So I watched it... and it was a fairly interesting event for me because it just so happens I remembered this episode! I apparently was watching, and remember watching, it on November 11, 1989. Wow.
Hey, remember that other thing I've complained about is imdb's listings being inaccurate? Yeah, well here's Mr. T's "appearance" on the show.
The image quality ruins the obviousness a bit but in case you can't tell, it's Bob Uecker in a dream sequence. According to imdb this is the actual Mr. T, and don't you question it!
In 1984 Ronald Reagan was re-elected as president and in 1985 there was a Presidential Inaugural Gala broadcast on TV and Mr. T was there.
The program was organized by Frank Sinatra and featured a diverse group of entertainment. Not only did Sinatra organize the event, he also introduced Mr. T. At this point Mr. T takes over:
Thank you, Mr. S.
It's a thrill for me to be back in the nation's capitol. Last time I was here I played Santa Claus at the White House. Where else but in America can a black man from the ghetto play a white man from the North Pole and live to tell about it? Now I'd like to introduce another performer who is used to playing many parts including the President of the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Rich Little...
So it all comes full circle, Mr. T hung out with Dean Martin, now he's with Sinatra... I was just talking about Rich Little, now Mr. T is introducing him. It's all part of God's plan.
I mentioned the diversity of the entertainment... Mr. T is introduced by Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles is introduced by Emmanuel Lewis (14 years old at this point)... but my favorite is when Jimmy Stewart introduces a breakdancing troupe - The New York City Breakers.
The New York City Breakers, a group of 8, come out and dance to - what else - "Apache." One of my favorite memories is one time when I was watching TV with a friend and "Apache" comes on and I spontaneously stand up and do the hip-thrusting Apache Dance. It was so unexpected, he couldn't stop laughing. But as the Breakers were dancing I thought to myself, "'Apache' is by Sugarhill Gang, right?" Well it's interesting.
Amazingly, "Apache" is a British song and was released as a rock instrumental in 1960!
The song was then covered in 1973 by the Incredible Bongo Band to make a hip-hop classic. And this is the version danced to by the New York City Breakers.
But I was not wrong about it being a Sugarhill Gang song because they then covered the Incredible Bongo Band version and added lyrics:
And that's the version I remember.
Oh, and by the way, after the New York City Breakers the next entertainer was an opera singer. Seriously.
Dean Martin and Mr. T. Mr. T is the one on the right.
"Mr. T, Man of the Year" sounds like a pretty bold statement, it sounds made up. But it's real and I can explain.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts started as a replacement for the Dean Martin Show. Coming out weekly, the roasted person was labeled "Man of the Week." As time went on, broadcasts became more infrequent and the roastee was "Man of the Hour", etc. By 1984, when they decided to roast Mr. T, the title had become "Man of the Year" and so it is.
Mr. T is a great sport, his giggling fits are in stark contrast to his tough guy persona. On the dais, and one of the roasters is George Peppard. The word on the street is that Mr. T and George Pepard hated each other, though Mr. T has tended to dismiss those rumors. Peppard's "roast" of Mr. T is one of the strangest "roasts" I've ever seen - he just talks about how great Mr. T is. No jokes, no humor, just earnest sainthood. To some extent this kind of praise is part of the "roast" genre but even so, it's weird.
It's a star-packed show with some oddities... On the dais are Bob Hope, Ann Jillian, Gary Coleman, Nell Carter, Gavin MacLeod, Howard Cosell and Ricky Shroder.
Some highlights from the roast (from people other than George Peppard):
Dean Martin: His mother had 11 children - he was 4 of ‘em.
Red Buttons: The doctor who delivered Mr. T said, “He slapped me!”
Don Rickles: “We’re honoring this man… WHY?!”
Don Rickles: “And Howard Cosell, I say from the bottom of my heart, you’re annoying and you should go away.”
In a previous episode, I discovered that imdb mistakenly credited Mr. T as being in a show that he wasn't actually in. It seemed like a fluke, it seemed to be the first and last time that I'd see anything like that. But now there are more.
The vast majority of Mr. T's roles are small cameos in TV shows. He's been a regular cast member in just three series: "The A-Team," "Mister T" and "T and T." But, as of 2001, imdb (and much of the internet) lists a fourth: "Pecola." "Pecola" is a Japanese 3D animated show for kids that has been dubbed in English for a North American audience; it lasted for two seasons from 2001-2002 and supposedly Mr. T was in the cast for every episode. But he appears nowhere in the series. Don't believe me? Here are the actual credits:
In 2010, Mr. T is listed as playing a gambler in the series "Finders Keepers" - the episode "Casino Night." "Finders Keepers" was a bargain basement youtube "series" filmed out of Philadelphia. It has no budget or acting and as you've probably guessed by now, Mr. T appears nowhere in the episode he's purported to be in. And good thing too, this show is so bad, I would have lost respect for him if he got anywhere close to it. However, interestingly and unlike the other shows, his absence can not be proven simply by looking at the credits - the episode credits do list a "Mr. T." So imdb is not entirely wrong but just confused about which Mr. T. I can assure you Mr. T is not in this show - I assume some random jabronie from Philly is calling himself "Mr. T" and wasting my time as a consequence.
Finally, we come to "The Comeback Kids" a "tv series" from 2014 - sadly Mr. T's most recent credit, according to imdb. The premise of this show is actually not bad - it's about former child stars trying to claw their way back into the limelight or at least cling to their fame. You can imagine the show has a built in gimmick - namely, they can have loads of cameos from former stars in every episode. Here's how imdb lists Mr. T in this show:
That's another first. I've never seen a credit for someone who's rumored to be in a show. The credit really is only a rumor. As far as I can tell, they made a pilot episode and then never made a single episode after that... even though there's an entire season of plot summaries on imdb. Well it's been seven years, I'm pretty sure the rumors aren't true.
But "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"- the movie - has very little to do with the book. I suppose that's to be expected; the book's plot is minimal and could never fill up a feature-length film (though I would like to see an attempt). Nevertheless, just in case you were wondering, "I wonder how faithful the movie is to the book," the answer is: not much at all.
Book aside, if we judge the movie on its own terms, it's an excellent kids' movie. It's sharp, it's inventive, it's very funny. The visual gags are constant and the characterization is top-notch. And, no surprise, it was written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The main character is voiced by Bill Hader and I need to note that Bill Hader has a perfect voice for animation.
My one complaint about the movie is the way it turns into an action movie towards the end - I'm fully on board for most of the movie but that's the only part where I start to lose interest. But that had me thinking: is there any animated movie made nowadays that doesn't devolve into an action film? Sad, but I can't think of a single example.
Mr. T voices Earl Devereaux, a balls-to-the-wall policeman who prioritizes his wife and kid above everything. Here, the usual Mr. T persona is given a new physicality - it's a nice blend of new and familiar. It's an excellent performance and a fun character.
This is a double recommendation. If you're looking for a kid's book, get it. If you're looking for a good family movie, this is a must-see.
What can one say about "The Simpsons?" It was one of the best shows ever made but then it jumped the shark ... and then it made another 20 seasons... and then it was never cancelled... and kept getting worse for eternity.
I have not made a full forensic audit of the show but judging by a single episode, it appears it was on the down slope in 2003. On the one hand, the episode has a never-ending string of gags and goofs and it's seeming smooth and effortless. And on the other hand, it's only jokes - the phenomenon of liking and caring about these characters is gone. It all seems soulless and empty.
Mr. T guests in the episode "Today, I am a Clown." In the episode, Krusty has never had a bar mitzvah so he gives himself one, turning the event into a TV special. Mr. T is one of the participants. Why Mr. T? Because jokes. Mr. T makes a bunch of Jewish jokes. Example: “I pity the fool who didn’t bring an envelope to this bar mitzvah.”
Still, it is two pop culture icons meeting each other and I am a sucker for Mr. T in cartoon form.
So I watched it - or, started watching it. It was clear as soon as the character of Mr. Gruff speaks that it's not Mr. T but someone doing a Mr. T-like voice. However, the plot of the episode involves a Batman-like scheme where Mr. Gruff's voice is stolen and put into the water supply such that all of the citizens in the city start talking exactly like Mr. Gruff. It seemed possible, then, that among all the Mr. Gruffs, they might sneak in Mr. T as someone sort of like an Easter egg.
But the show sucks and I lost patience and just skipped to the credits. I confirmed that Mr. T is not in the episode.
Disney has a slight conundrum where their most famous mascot is increasingly irrelevant to more and more generations of kids. Perhaps to counteract this trend, they gave Mickey his own show in 2002.
Mr. T made an appearance on the show. It was a quick appearance, just a quick gag, but it was nice to see Mr. T in cartoon form again.
So, yeah, Mr. T is in this music video and it's the standard disposable pop trash that's only popular for a few weeks. I wouldn't even be mentioning this except for one thing...
As you can see, Mr. T is wearing a giant gold plate. When I saw him wearing this in "Suddenly Susan" I blamed the writers but this appearance shows that I was wrong, this is his "look" in this era. My apologies to the writers of "Suddenly Susan". This is not a good fashion choice.
"Not Another Teen Movie" is an over-the-top parody movie of the Teen movies of the 80s and 90s. It's extreme, it's stupid and it's offensive - and I mean that in the best way possible. I am a sucker for these spoof movies, granted, but I put this in the "best of the best" category within the genre.
Why is this not considered a classic? My best guess is: it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. It would be around this time or a little later that all the horrible "Scary Movie" cash grabs would start up and I suppose this might have been lumped into the same category and forgotten.
Regarding Mr. T, this is a strange role for the T man. Or actually, it's a standard role but within a strange genre for him. Raunchy sex movies are not Mr. T's style but yet here he is. When he did "D.C. Cab" he was almost apologetic about its R rating and how it didn't agree with his values. With "D.C. Cab" you could make the case that he was just starting out and desperate for roles. But that isn't the case here.
As in "Spy Hard," it's a very small role - Mr. T plays the Wise Janitor Here to Impart Knowledge. And he also is dressed as a rather random homage to "I Know What You Did Last Summer".
Mr. T coaches Captain America
The joke that stood out to me most, watching it this time around, is the football coach. That actor commits to the bit. He acts with the fire of a thousand suns. The other joke - that got me this time but always gets me - is "Do it for Marty's torso!" Classic. The "cheertator" speech is great too. I could go on and on.
I'm watching all these old sitcoms and having a bit of an existential crisis. I go in thinking, "This is going to be mediocre" and am constantly (pleasantly) surprised. Case in point: "Malcolm & Eddie" - this is considered to be scraping the bottom of the barrel of television entertainment, and yet I basically enjoyed it. I'm trying to explain why this is the case. Perhaps it's just nostalgia, maybe it's just going in with such low expectations, perhaps TV has degraded so much over the years that "bad" sitcoms then would be "good" today. It may be that the saving grace is that I'm only watching one episode and can't get too sick of it in that time.
Whatever the case, "Malcolm & Eddie" starred Eddie Griffin and Malcolm Jamal-Warner as two average guys who own a restaurant in Kansas City while also sharing an apartment.
In this episode, a star for the Kansas City Chiefs visits the bar and when Eddie accidentally injures him, Malcolm and Eddie become the #1 enemy of the entire city's fanbase. It's not a bad storyline. And, bonus: the football star is played by Reginald Ballard who you might remember as Brother Man.
In the episode, Mr. T plays a Chiefs superfan:
His Chiefs face-paint faintly recalls his world-famous role in "Goldy 3."
Mr. T's character is just the standard Mr. T persona done for comedy. You probably know how it goes... For instance he wants the fans to cheer on the team but the fans aren't into it, Mr. T adopts a threatening tone and the entire section immediately stands to their feet, cheering with great enthusiasm. That kind of stuff.
Later, Mr. T unluckily shows up at the same restaurant as Malcolm and Eddie with his girlfriend/wife:
If you look up "average sitcom" in the dictionary, it's just a picture of "Suddenly Susan". No one remembers it, no one cares about it, but at the time, it was mildly successful. What I recall of it is that it has a conflict, the conflict is resolved and there are jokes.
Mr. T appears in two episodes, both in the first season - and plays two different characters. No one cares about any of this, so let's get to it...
In the first episode ("Hoop Dreams"), Susan joins a basketball team and is so successful that she forgets her friends and has to learn the value of teamwork or how not to be an awful person or something like that. What does this have to do with Mr. T? Nothing. Mr. T has nothing to do with the plot.
In a cutaway scene, Jack Richmond (Judd Nelson) - who is feuding with his mother in law - goes to get a massage. Instead of the normal masseuse, in walks Mr. T (courtesy of said mother in law) and we can tell by his demeanor that it will not be a soothing session.
It's a funny gag but that's all it is - it has nothing to do with the story and it's a scene that lasts a few seconds. And despite the mohawk and gold jewelry, Mr. T is not playing himself, he's playing the character of "Arnie".
In the second episode, Jack attends a high-stakes poker game with some high rollers. The other people at the game include Willie Brown (then Mayor of San Francisco), John McEnroe, President Donald Trump and Mr. T. These are all the real celebrities playing themselves.
Mr. T wearing a giant plate is unsettling. As far as I can tell, it's invented by the writers in order to set up a joke about looking at Mr. T's cards by reflection. It makes no sense and I can't figure it out. But more than that, he's barely recognizable with no hair or beard. This would be a complaint except we can deduce he probably lost all his hair in chemo treatments at this point. So, fair enough.
The star-studded table makes for some good gags. At one point someone makes a "I pity the fool!" joke and Mr. T barks, "That's not funny, that's old and hackneyed!"
The main oddity that gets me is that Mr. T has two appearances on "Suddenly Susan" and the one where he looks exactly Mr. T, he's Arnie and the one where he looks nothing like Mr. T, he's playing Mr. T.
But there is an even greater oddity in this second episode.
It's Halloween and Martin comes home excited that he's found a house to buy. Gina is cautious but Martin is sure she'll love it because it's a giant mansion that's selling for only $50,000. There's no time to waste so the two, and all their friends, dressed in their Halloween costumes, ditch the Halloween party they were going to go to and check out the house instead.
The seller of the house is Mr. Jenkins.
And holy crap, it's Mr. T with a normal haircut and a long beard! It took 16 years but we've finally reached his first role playing an average person with a normal haircut! "Normal" - but not for long.
So, they give Mr. Jenkins the down payment and he gives them the keys. It's an interesting transaction - what about the inspection, what about the realtors, what about signing legal documents for 8 hours straight? No? Just cash for a key, huh? What about all the furniture, paintings and decorations in the house? I guess they come with it? Okay, well that's convenient because they can hang out in the mansion for Halloween night. And wouldn't you know it, haunted happenings are afoot and Martin's friends start disappearing one-by-one.... by a mummy!
Eventually the haunted mummy comes after Martin but Martin defeats him and is able to free his friends. When they unmask the mummy, it turns out to be Mr. Jenkins who has been selling this house "for over a year. He takes people's down payments and then scares them off." Except what about the part where he scares people by kidnapping them and locking them in a secret passage? The police knew about that but let it continue? Are the victims dead? The police just let them die?
I still like "Martin." It is mostly a basic run-of-the-mill sitcom but Martin Lawrence's physical comedy and wacky other characters do elevate the material, raising it above the vast wasteland of average sitcoms.
I watched "Spy Hard" because Mr. T is in it. That's obviously my purpose. And Mr. T literally dies within the first minute of the movie. He doesn't even make it to the opening credits.
Mr. T plays a helicopter pilot and that's somewhat ironic given that T is known for playing characters who are afraid to fly. His phobia may be well founded because the helicopter blows up with him inside.
So it's an 81 minute movie and T is gone and there are still 80 minutes left to go. "Spy Hard" is a Leslie Nielson spoof movie that sends up James Bond-type spy "thrillers." But then it also goes to weird extremes to also spoof movies like "Home Alone", "Jurassic Park" and "Sister Act." I mean "Sister Act?!"
I really have a soft spot for these cheap spoofs but this one is not quite up to par. Especially since the spy genre was so well covered "Get Smart" and later by "Austin Powers." There will be another spoof movie that WILL be up to par, and in fact be exceedingly good, but that's for another time...
"Battlecade Extreme Fighting" is an early "Extreme Fighting", MMA event that struggled to make money and went out of business. It is responsible for coining the term "mixed martial arts".
I personally could not be less interested in Mixed Martial Arts but this has T in it so I've watched it.
Mr. T acts as the sideline reporter - each time a match is won, he interviews the winner in the locker room. In the first interview he asks, "What kind of maneuver did you use?" and then "How long have you been fighting?" and then that's it. In the second interview he asks, "What kind of maneuver did you use?" and then "How long have you been fighting?" and then that's it.
T is clearly not a great interviewer at first - not only is he dealing with live television and trying to think on his feet, this is his first time doing it. He does improve and gets more comfortable as the event goes along, in fact in some of the later interviews, there is a genuinely interesting exchange. It's an impressive improvement over a short period of time. It should be noted also that the position of the sideline reporter is one of the most useless jobs in the world. Athletes who have just come out from the field or floor can't speak and have nothing to say, usually. But Mr. T can be my sideline reporter any time.
The most important, most interesting fight will not be shown or even alluded to in the broadcast. Two months before this appearance, Mr. T was diagnosed with cancer.
Diagnosed in September 1995 of T-Cell Lymphoma ("Can you imagine that?! Cancer with my name on it -- personalized cancer.") in his ear, he would undergo a month of successful treatment. 11 months later, the cancer would return, popping up "like popcorn" all over his body. The fight would go on for several years.
"I pity the fool who just gives up. We all gonna die eventually from something or other, but don't be a wimp. Put up a good fight. Don't sit around waiting on death. We can be tough. We can be determined. Go out and have some fun and make death find you! We can be living with cancer, not dying from it. We can be cancer survivors."
"One more thing," adds Mr. T. "If you don't remind me that I have cancer then I won't remember either, because I am too busy living. If you see me, please come by and shake my hand; give me a hug, a thumbs-up or a high five; take a photo with me, or let's do lunch, because cancer ain't contagious. That would really make my day."
