popular thinking

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE: Had an amusing lunch last week with Brian Worth, the runner-up from NBC's Average Joe: Hawaii. One of my favorite pop culture topics to explore is how television inherently changes the way people live -- whether by simply watching more of it, or by becoming part of it. So we revisit Mr. Worth today...

Nobody would accuse Brian Worth of being average.
After finishing as runner-up last year in NBC's dating tragicomedy Average Joe: Hawaii, the 33-year-old Eastie resident returns to TV tonight (Ch. 7, 8 p.m.) in the debut of Average Joe 4: The Joes Strike Back.
Worth leads boot camp for the guys vying for this season's beauty. In tonight's episode, he rallies the new Joes by telling them: "There is honor in being called an Average Joe.''
And Worth means it. He introduces himself on the phone as "the consummate Average Joe.''
The federal auditor who met and dated a beauty queen on national TV, only to lose her to a pretty boy, Brian Worth has returned to Boston and still works for the Treasury Department.
"I'm used to being Average Joe now,'' Worth said over a beer and lunch at the Office Bar and Grill.
And yet, he ain't quite as average as he used to be.
The show led to appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Wayne Brady Show and movie premieres such as last year's comedy Dodgeball. Worth has those clips on a Web site he launched (www.brianworth.com) to get feedback from the show. He has gotten that, along with plenty of new female fans.
A Swedish woman named Johanna flew over to spend Memorial Day weekend with him. "We had a blast,'' is all he'd say.
Worth, who began reality show life with messy hair, now visits the Sizzlin salon in East Boston and even had his eyebrows waxed. "These beautiful women talked me into it,'' he said.
He also got talked into becoming a reality TV star.
"This whole thing happened just from drinking beers,'' Worth said. "Don't let anybody tell you nothing good comes from going out drinking.''
He had never even seen a reality show when NBC casting agents approached him one night at The Place.
Watching Average Joe: Hawaii unfold last year made Worth uncomfortable, not only because he knew what happened but also because he didn't enjoy seeing himself on TV. He has become much more at ease with his fame, getting recognized by his face and his wicked pissah accent.
"People say, 'I'm sure you've heard this a million times,' and I have. But I don't mind going through the whole deal,'' he said.
"I joke that my job is getting in the way of being a celebrity.''
But he wouldn't mind making a second career out of jokes. He has begun taking bookings for public speaking appearances and tried his hand at stand-up comedy. "I've learned I want to make people laugh on a wide scale,'' he said.
Worth certainly has accomplished that already through Average Joe. He'll be on hand at The Rack tonight with other local Average Joes for a viewing party.
He also has more reality show opportunities in his future, including Bravo's Battle of the Network Reality Stars.
"I was looking at it as a vacation,'' Worth said. "Basically, what happened was a fairy tale.''

Read today's Boston Herald: On `Average,' a good life