Sure, he seems like something out of Weird Al Yankovic's "UHF." Sure, his sidekicks are a well-endowed B-movie queen and a guy who thinks he's a wizard. But beginning September 16, Thor the Barbarian will be riding rough-shod over your public access station. Already something of an underground hit in the Big Apple, Thor has been sounding his yawp over the rooftops of Manhattan since late 2000. Now, with his exploits about to be carried to 300 cities nationwide, he seems poised to become a geek phenomenon along the lines of "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
"I've always resonated with the archetype of barbarian hero, always saw myself as such internally," Thor says. "When I made the decision to 'go for it' without compromising my vision or desire, an episodic TV show seemed the perfect vehicle."
And what a TV show it is. "Thor the Barbarian" has to be seen to believed—a bi-weekly bonanza of bizarre behavior, bare breasts, and, well, barbarism. One episode, Thor will be romping merrily down Fifth Avenue, frightening the falafel vendors, in the next, he'll be beating the crap out of someone with a foam sword or cramming some hapless chick into a belly dancer's outfit. Intercut with the madness are promos for Troma Films, skits, and random bits of drunken idiocy. Indeed, alcohol seems to play a large part in the production process, which tends to make the viewing experience even more amusing than such public-access faves as "Roboshithead" and "Inebriated Kitchen."
So, who is this large, hairy guy who thinks that sword is an essential fashion accessory? A Human Services professional, Thor's day job is to, as he puts it, "fight monstrous social ills and bureaucratic tyrannies." In other words, he takes burnouts and welfare mothers, asks them what they, realistically, want to do with their lives, and helps them come up with a step-by-step guide for doing it. Thor's "figure out what you want to do, then do it," philosophy has proven remarkably effective in this, though it does run somewhat contrary to the "sit on your ass and whine until someone gives you a handout" method that has been so fashionable recently. At least, if his bosses disapprove of the way he does his job, they're too frightened of Thor to make hims wear suits.
Thor brings the same attitude to his TV show that he does to his everyday life. He's wanted to be a barbarian since he was a little kid, and so he became one. Now his mission in life is to inspire the rest of us to do the same.
He's big. He's bad. he's bold. He wears leather and doesn't take shit from the Man and does what he wants to do—and he encourages us to do the same. And that, my friends, makes him a Corporate Motherfucker.