Mr. T on Malcolm and Eddie (1999)

 

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:

Ouch. That's hot.