At a recent f�te for NBC's 75th anniversary, all manner of stars from past and present Peacock shows turned out but no A-lister could compete with the popularity of The A-Team alum Mr. T. (Mostly) unintimidated by the famed 250-lb. bruiser, I fought through his swarm of admirers to go toe-to-toe with my childhood idol. TV Guide Online pities the fool who misses our bizarre, though strangely touching, exchange. Daniel R. Coleridge

TVGO: In the '80s, I enjoyed your Saturday morning cartoon, Mister T. But one eerie episode about these child kidnappers in a blue van just traumatized me. I'm still afraid of vans to this day, and I need to confront you!

Mr. T: (Taken aback) Don't worry about it, it was just acting! I hope you're alright now. Mr.T's good and always getting the bad people.

TVGO: You're forgiven. How much do all your famous gold chains weigh?

Mr. T: I'm usually wearing about 40 lbs., and I think today I got 25.

TVGO: We last saw you playing a janitor in Not Another Teen Movie. What are you doing nowadays?

Mr. T: (Grinning mischievously) I'm doing 1-800-COLLECT. I love it.

TVGO: A shameless plug. Will you ever go back to the WWF? Wrestling's still very popular.

Mr. T: Well, I've been there, done that. No, no, no. I gotta move on, do other things. I'm 50 years old this year.

TVGO: Really? You don't look it.

Mr. T: It's a blessing from God. Thank you.

TVGO: You're the most popular star at this party. Why the enduring love of Mr. T?

Mr. T: (Clearly on a roll) That's a blessing from God, too. See, God blessed me to give my blessing to someone else, just by being myself. Over 20 years, people got to know what I'm about under the tough, gruff, "I pity the fool" whatever. They know I love kids, they know I love my mother, they know I try to do the right thing. I'm not just here to grab money. My mother taught me there are some things money can't buy. I go to the hospital when a kid is sick, and he don't ask for the richest man in the world. If he did, he wouldn't call for Mr. T. So therefore, my pastor says the kids see the God qualities in me that I didn't see in myself. So I try to give back.

TVGO: You rule. How is your health these days?

Mr. T: I was diagnosed with cancer in 1995. I have a rare form I been fighting for seven years. So that's what I mean, I try to use my celebrity status to give hope to people. A lot of people will be diagnosed with cancer and they're gonna get frightened. So if they get a message from Mr. T, they see he didn't quit, he didn't commit suicide, so they shouldn't quit.