Here’s a brief history for you all, explaining what the hell it is you just watched (or the still with the big YouTube play button in the middle of it you’re seeing). In 2007, The Champions recorded this as an audio play in Joe Gonzales’ basement somewhere in Montgomery County, MD. The Champions staged “THOR!!!” for the first time (and only time in that incarnation) at Jake Young’s ‘Awesome Room’ Show in Silver Spring on March 27, 2008. Evan Valentine (Thor) wore a mullet wig, a Hanes white undershirt that had “Wenches and Money” sharpie’d onto it, and held a standard hardware store hammer.

In 2010, Evan, Duke (Chris Brooks) and I had the idea to bring this back to the stage this as part of a two-night variety showcase called Ragna-ROCK. We held it at the DC Arts Center in January 2011, and we still stand behind it as one of the biggest accomplishments of our collective time in DC. We staged “THOR!!!” for the final time (for now) here in Baltimore as part of the Chucklestorm! Showcase in March 2011. For this brief resurrection of the musical, the cast was Thor (Evan), Odin/Reginald Greene (Duke), Tony (Jake, though I filled in for the part in Baltimore), and a little kid who shows up at the Burger Hut and disturbs Thor’s grilling (Kelly Curtin).

It wasn’t long after this that the first Thor movie by Marvel hit theaters and made our production seem redundant, despite the fact that Evan, Duke, and the rest of the Original Champions came up with their own story line four years before Thor became the Hollywood rage. These things happen.

Anyway, Evan and I are still best friends, and he’s coming up for the Scruffy City Comedy Festival this weekend, so THE UNITY LIVES ON. Do you have your tickets? Don’t miss his stand-up, and I’m sure he’ll start talking in the Thor voice and vocabulary if you buy him a drink.