2005-08-24 06:00 ☼ post
The Sneeze has a great interview with Adam Savage from the Discovery Channel’s hit show Mythbusters.
Adam, why is it so entertaining to watch you get hurt?
(LAUGHING) Well, I think it’s a function of exactly why the show is entertaining. Jamie and I are not scientists. We’re not experts in any field. But we have a lot of curiosity, and an uncommon ability to really throw ourselves in just about any corner of science, and really seek out what’s going on. And when I get hurt, I think people like to watch it because they identify with us. We’re not white lab coats, we’re not, you know, boring doctors, we’re just like anybody else, maybe with a few more skills. And everyone get hurts when they’re building stuff1. Even Jamie occasionally. Although, that never ends up on camera.
I still can’t believe that Adam pierced his tongue for one of the shows that I saw recently simply for the sake of an experiment on the effects of piercings on lightning strikes. It would have been one thing if he had actually wanted to have his tongue pierced, but based on the fact that he took it out at the end of the show (and he was happy to finally be able to remove it) it seemed like a pretty drastic thing to do in the name of science and television. Then again maybe that’s the kind of thing that makes me enjoy the show as much as I do.
As the scars on my lefthand demonstrate, that statement definitely held true for me over the course of building my kayak.↩