Mr. T was an icon of the 1980's who starred in The A-Team and D.C. Cab. He wore gold chains and sported a Mandinka hairstyle. He once guest starred on Diff'rent Strokes. There are a large number of websites created in honor of Mr. T. I pity the fool who don't like Mr. T. He is Helluva Tough.

In addition to eating balls and pitying fools, Mr. T now does Title Loan commercials for local central Illinois businesses. I don't know how or why, but there you have it. I recently saw a commercial which involved, and although my memory on it may be a little fuzzy I swear I am not making this up, some white guy walking around at a small, suburban party. He then comes upon Mr. T, who is sitting on a couch, and I think he's eating hors d'oeuvres. Mr. T then proceeds to yell at the guy about title loans for some reason. Really.

I feel pity for my childhood hero. How sad.

In case you wondered, ApoxyButt is not making this up, I've seen the commercial in question. It goes a little something like this:

Mr. T is at a party and sees a guy digging in the couch. We see him removeing quarters from beneath the cushions. T approaches the guy and asks what he's doing, fool, and it turns out he's a little short on cash this month. Mr. T tells him about Illinois Title Loans. {They tell us where to call and/or go to for more info) The guy digs out a Tostito style chip from the couch and is about to eat it when Mr. T warns, "Don't eat that, fool!"


DJuxtaposition:
That sounds like a completly different commercial, I'm sure it was a chip and he says "Don't eat that, fool." Very strange- perhaps they figure that the commercial was so successful in Illinois that the Mississippi version might as well use the same premise.

Mr. T appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during early-mid summer 2000. He was mainly on promoting a contest on TV Land (The Ultimate Fan Search, to be precise), which he is involved in now that The A-Team episodes are being run on the station. He was really pumped up about the whole thing, and seemed to be just as frightening a fellow as ever. He and Conan went back and forth saying that lovable catch phrase "I pity the foo'!" for about two solid minutes. Conan even brought out a Mr. T action figure from back during the height of The A-Team. Mr. T's appearance was definately a high point of the show.

Along the lines of that Illinois Title and Loan Commercial, Mr. T was in a more recent Mississippi Title and Loan Commercial that I saw just a few weeks ago. The guy was eating a pretzel, rather than a chip, but this was what I originally posted about it, on blackrage.

Mr. T, former star of The A-Team, has had less luck than possibly the worst casualties of the entertainment industry. We know George Foreman, with his damn grill. We've had wind of Dione Warwick, who does psychic type stuff. In her boat is Billy D. Williams, who went from Colt commercials, to semi-stardom, to the psychic network... And now, today, I see Mr. T. It's almost sad to see a former badass reduced to yelling, "I pity the foo' that don't use Mississippi Title and Loan!" and... get this, with absolutely no forethought for the advertisement whatsoever, there's a guy who's featured, eating a pretzel. Mr. T reprimands him thusly, "Foo'. Get that pretzel outta yo' mouth." I'm not sure what was going on, but it was funny.

Mr. T, Mohawked philosopher? Who knew? Everything talks to the 1-800-COLLECT pitchman about God, Mom, and the big C by Scott Brown



Pity the fool who interviews Mr. T. The former ''A-Team''er, current 1-800-COLLECT caller, cancer survivor, and born-again star of the Christian thriller "Judgment" called for a round of 10 stupid questions. But, strangely, all we got was one long answer.

• Thanks for calling --
I never met a microphone I didn't like. I can't teach what I don't know. I can't lead where I don't go.

• Um, what --
I tell people, ''The only people that don't like a test is the ones that didn't study.'' My test came in 1995 when I was diagnosed with cancer. That's where my faith comes from.

• Uh --
I needed something to test my faith. I needed that fear, because I wasn't afraid of nothin', the livin', the dead, nor the unborn. I been in gunfights, I been in fistfights at disco bars. I'm tough, I'm bad. I needed something to test my faith, so here comes cancer. Boom!

• Boom?
Cancer knocked me to my knees. But Scott, let me explain something to you. That was a great position for me to be knocked to, so while I was on my knees, I just kept prayin' and I got my swagger back.

• Right.
And that's important for a black man, to have his swagger back. That means I ain't afraid of nothin', you know.

•So, um --
When I was 9, I was living in the projects on the south side of Chicago. Drugs and crime was over me, under me, and around me, but drugs and crime was never in me. Why? Because I loved and respected my mother too much. You ain't gonna get me into disrespectin' my mother.

•Absolu --
I'm nothin' but a big 48 year old mama's boy. And I tell 'em, that's a problem in society. We don't have enough mama's boys. If we had more mama's boys, we wouldn't have to rape our women, you know.

•Guess that makes sense --
Like David said in the 23rd Psalm, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." See, nobody say, "Hey, man, let's go shoppin' in the valley of the shadow of death! Let's go buy a condo in the valley of the shadow of death!"

•True, true.
I had to have a setback in order to have a comeback. So that means God.... You might hear somebody say Michael Jordan might come back. Like Mario Lemieux, he came back. But Shaquille O'Neal can't come back, see what I mean?

•Possibly.
Because he's playin' already. Me, I just always keep my feet on the ground, my head towards heaven, just help the less fortunate. That's the type of guy I am. I'm a man for the people. Short pause

•Well… thank you. And I pity the fool who tries to tell you otherwise.
You know it, brother. Here's my last little rap. I say, he's big, he's bad, he's black, and he's back: Mr. T.

•You said a mouthful, Mr. T.
Okay, Brother Scott.

Mr. T is also the unofficial sponsor of "The T'inator", a creative CGI script that dissects web pages and inserts random Mr. T sayings and pictures all over the page. It's quite hilarious, and you can dissect just about any webpage. You can find "The T'inator" here:

http://firefly.sparse.org/~mrt/

Some classic Mr. T sayings, spawned by the T'inator:


He's gonna be a package of cream cheese in a minute!
Murdock....Is this your chicken?
Crazy Murdock gonna get us all killed!
You better make sure nothin' happens to my gold.
I ain't goin' to no airport. I ain't flyin' with that crazy fool Murdock.
I ain't afraid to fly, and I ain't afraid of no monkeys either.

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