Expect some audience participation at ‘Mythbusters’ show

A kind of science class on steroids, “Mythbusters” debuted on the Discovery Channel in 2006 and developed into one of its longest-running shows. It’s built around hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman using a television-friendly version of the scientific method to test rumors, urban legends, movie plots, cliches and other bits of accepted wisdom.

It doesn’t hurt the show’s popularity that these experiments often involve explosions and other controlled mayhem.

A live version of “Mythbusters,” also starring Savage and Hyneman, comes to Century II on Tuesday. The Eagle caught up with Savage this week in Syracuse, N.Y., where the tour stopped before heading to the Midwest. A former artist and special effects designer, Savage comes across as engaging on the telephone as he is on the tube. In case you’re harboring any untested theories yourself about “Mythbusters,” here’s what he has to say about:

▪ His worst day on “Mythbusters”: “We did an episode where we had to bungee jump off a gondola into a swimming pool to bob for apples. I’m not an adrenaline junkie. I do not crave it, and it makes me physically ill.”

▪ His favorite episodes: “Ones that were incredibly fun, like the Indiana Jones special, which was last year. Flying in the back of a spy plane was amazing. But I also loved some of the quieter episodes, like when we built a balloon out of 28 pounds of rolled lead.”

▪ His favorite type of experiment. (It’s gotta involve an explosion, right?): “Actually, my favorite category is the driving stories. I love driving, I love the process of trying to solve the problems under the most extreme duress and also being safe and not endangering my crew. It’s also really fun from a storytelling aspect.”

▪ The difference between the show’s co-stars: “I will start with our similarities. Both of us are voracious readers and really enjoy the process of research. We also both build in our minds before we make it. Jamie’s methodology is to carefully plot every move before he makes it. He’s slow and steady. I tend to try to get my hands dirty as fast as possible. I will build it four times in the same time that he builds it once. But we both end up in the same place.”

▪ His plans for the future: “Lots of things. I actually just spent all day in a friend’s shop learning from him how to build a really cool thing. I can’t say what it is because it’s going to be on tested (tested.com, his website). I intend to travel a lot and collaborate with great people on building stuff and learning stuff. Tested is going to play a major role in that. And Jamie and I just sold a scripted show to CBS a few weeks ago.”

▪ What to expect from the live show (promos suggest that audience members will serve as “crash test dummies”): “It’s not quite (watermelon-smashing comedian) Gallagher. I liken it to a magic show, but instead of ending in tricks, each thing ends in a bit of scientific understanding. We utilize a tremendous amount of audience participation. It keeps it really fresh for us.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Expect some audience participation at ‘Mythbusters’ show."