Mr. T. loves to preach.
The ’80s icon becomes a personal Dear Abby for people in his new TV Land reality series, “I Pity the Fool.” Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud) is a Christian who practices what he preaches on the show, which premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
And he does preach during a recent interview. Maybe that’s from being a cancer survivor. Maybe it’s from growing up in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project on the South Side. Or maybe it’s from being a novelty who was plucked from obscurity into movies, pro wrestling and playing Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus in “The A-Team.”
Mr. T recently discussed Santa, his reality show and the ’80s.
“I Pity the Fool” has people writing letters to Mr. T, asking help with their families, careers and relationships.
Why write to Mr. T instead of, say, Santa Claus?
See, everybody knows Mr. T is real. Santa Claus ain’t. So you never know what you’re gettin’ in that Santa Claus outfit. You could have a pervert dressed up like Santa Claus. You could have a child molester. Also, Santa Claus can’t make them visits. Only God is omnipotent and omnipresent–being there at the same time everywhere. So parents are lyin’ about Santa Claus. One thing that my father taught us: We allow no Santa Claus in our house. ‘Cause if we believe in God, what is Santa Claus?
I tell people the reason why I never believed in Santa Claus is, No. 1, I lived in the projects. There was no chimney. And No. 2, if we catch a white man in a red suit in a black neighborhood, he’s in trouble!
The first couple of episodes, you help an unmotivated Nissan dealership in Jamaica and a family in Suffern, N.Y. Have the people you helped gone back to their old ways?
The guys in the car dealership, they got my home address and my home telephone number. Not my agent’s number. … Trish, the mom in Suffern, her father was sick. So they asked me would I go to the hospital to visit her father. I said I’d be more than happy. They said, “Mr. T, you got a three-hour lunch break.” So I went to the hospital [off-camera, privately]. I said, “Trish, this is what I do, this is who I am. God put me here to help.”
In the ’80s, there was a Mr. T action figure from Galoob.
That’s right, bro. We had three sizes. Two sizes didn’t speak, and the third size, you pull the string, guess what it said? “I pity the fool.” Then it says, “Stay in school.”
