Celebrating Labor Day … With Hot Laborers

For most of us in the U.S., Labor Day is an excuse to drink on a Sunday night, have a picnic with family and friends and maybe see some fireworks before we sleep in on Monday. Then pack up all of our summer clothes and feel sorry for ourselves.

I decided this wasn’t enough for me this year and that it was vital to educate myself about what is clearly an important and fascinating holiday. And to then share this captivating history with all you lucky AfterElton.com readers.

Turns out, Labor Day? Not so interesting. After spending a full eight minutes reading the Wikipedia article about this particular holiday, it's obvious that it was just created by some politicians trying to keep workers from murdering the crap out of some soldiers or something.

So since my good intentions were thwarted, I figured that I could just show you some pictures of some of the hottest laborers that TV and movies have had to offer. What? It's a holiday! You were expecting some hard-hitting analytical article?

And hey, maybe President Obama can take a lesson from Grover Cleveland and create some sort of National Tea Party Day. It would get some of those crazy people off his back and get me another day off of work.

Anyway, let's get this started.

Gladiators

While I doubt that Ancient Rome celebrated Labor Day, per se, that doesn't mean that we can't pay a little respect to the buff, oiled up bodies of the casts of Gladiator or of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. To be fair, they do a lot of laboring, what with all the fighting, lifting giant weights, and coerced sex, so I think they have earned a spot on the list.

Example Hotties: Andy Whitfield, Manu Bennett, Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand), Russell Crowe (Gladiator)

Firefighters

These men work in what is one of the more widely acknowledged hot occupations. Indeed, Rescue Me is an entire TV show based partly on the idea that firefighters are hot and therefore entertaining to watch (even when they often act like jerkwads), while shows like Modern Family are able to joke about the stereotype. Either way, it certainly makes for some nice eye candy.

Example Hotties:  Daniel Sunjata, Michael Lombardi  (Rescue Me), Kurt Russell, William Baldwin (Backdraft)

Cops

Policemen are so ubiquitous on TV and in the movies that it's difficult to choose just a couple of men in blue, but I'm willing to take on this challenge. Timothy Olyphant is quite yummy in his role on the FX series Justified, where he plays a totally badass U.S. Marshall. And of course, from the TV show Southland there are Officer John Cooper and Officer Ben Sherman, otherwise known around here as Officer Cuddlybear and Rookieboy.

No doubt AE readers can come up with a zillion more examples of hotties patrolling our streets.

Example Hotties: Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Michael Cudlitz and Ben McKenzie (Southland), Ryan Phillippe (Crash)