transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hey guys, if you're not a fan of ads, we do have a subscription platform. It is the cost of like less than a cup of coffee, and then you don't have to listen to any ads. There's bonus content. Go to mythfitspodcast.com and join the Band of Mythfits.

Speaker 2:
[00:14] Do yourself a favor. Get weird with us.

Speaker 1:
[00:16] We also take video questions through the Band of Mythfits. So if you want to be on the show, at the end of every show, we answer questions. So please join the Band of Mythfits. Come be one of us.

Speaker 3:
[00:27] The main note that the network handed me when I was there was, make Adam and Jamie fight more. That's what the network wanted. I said, Welcome Mythfits.

Speaker 2:
[00:59] All right, welcome back MythBits. Kari, how are you?

Speaker 1:
[01:03] I'm good, especially because, okay, Tory and I have been on the phone all morning. We've been having a fun little text chain going on. I feel like, do I have your permission? I feel like we should share this text chain.

Speaker 2:
[01:16] We started sending prom pictures to each other for some reason. We were on a text thread with our agent, and Kari said something about, no, I'm like a boy at prom waiting for the music to stop.

Speaker 1:
[01:30] Meaning I'm eager.

Speaker 2:
[01:34] So he sent a picture of him when he was at prom and became prom king. And so then Kari started sending her prom pictures, I started sending mine. Yeah, throw them up. But I just want to blur her face just because I don't want to embarrass anybody.

Speaker 1:
[01:49] Okay, first off, I feel like, oh, Dory, Dory, look at baby Belleci.

Speaker 2:
[01:58] What a door. Oh my God.

Speaker 1:
[02:00] You're in full tuxedo. She's got like one, look at her strapless sequin dress and that hair.

Speaker 2:
[02:07] Look at my hair, it all slicked back.

Speaker 1:
[02:08] Awesome.

Speaker 2:
[02:09] Wait, let's see your prom pictures.

Speaker 1:
[02:11] Let's start with the junior year prom. So, okay, so here's my junior year prom.

Speaker 2:
[02:15] Oh my God, Kari, you're wearing the sleeves.

Speaker 1:
[02:19] I know, I love fingerless gloves. I've always liked fingerless gloves, it's a thing.

Speaker 2:
[02:24] I didn't know it went that far back, that's amazing. I thought it was just a MythBusters look.

Speaker 1:
[02:28] No, straight deep cut, straight deep cut. And if you'll notice, me and my best friend, Brittany, are sharing a date.

Speaker 2:
[02:37] Oh, wow. So that guy, he rolled in for prom with two dates.

Speaker 1:
[02:43] Oh, yeah, we rolled in in his old ranchero, like a cream kind of colored ranchero. It was hot stuff.

Speaker 2:
[02:50] Oh, my God.

Speaker 1:
[02:52] I mean, in this era, we didn't spend a lot of money on prom dresses necessarily. I got my little scandalous green dress there from the wet seal at the mall. And if you grew up in the 90s and you remember the wet seal.

Speaker 2:
[03:09] The wet seal?

Speaker 1:
[03:10] It was like where you would get the more like promiscuous clothes, but it was at the mall. So that dress was really scandalous. By today's standards, that is so conservative. Like girls now are wearing things that just shock me. Like this seems really conservative.

Speaker 2:
[03:25] Hey, look, you're wearing the same hairstyle too. That's amazing.

Speaker 1:
[03:28] I know. Look at that.

Speaker 2:
[03:29] I haven't changed a bit. I just love the pouty look. Like you have like a little pouty face. You're like, hmm. I'm Kari Byron.

Speaker 1:
[03:39] I don't know if that was on purpose. I think I look like I'm in a daze.

Speaker 2:
[03:42] Of course it was, Kari. Nothing you do is by accident.

Speaker 1:
[03:46] Not true. You know what I want to do though? I've been having so much fun with this. I would love it if you guys out there happen to have your prom picture. Would you mind putting it on social or sending it to us? If you put it on Instagram, tag us. And then if you can, put the background music as the music you were listening to when the prom was happening. And we will do the same. So just add us at Mythfits Podcast. I want to see everybody's prom pictures because they are so heinous.

Speaker 2:
[04:22] We're gonna start a trend, Kari. See my shirt, Kari? Do you see this?

Speaker 1:
[04:28] Happy Camper.

Speaker 2:
[04:29] I'm a happy camper. You know why I'm a happy camper?

Speaker 1:
[04:32] Why are you happy?

Speaker 2:
[04:32] We have an awesome guest today. And I'm so excited to catch up with him. I haven't talked to him in years. Like I haven't seen him face to face in years. He is an old producer of MythBusters. He was our show runner kind of midway through the show. And I feel like him coming on took the show to the next level. Like he was pitching ideas that we were like, is that possible? Can we do that? And so I'm really excited to get him on and just hear some of the behind the scenes stories from his perspective while we were filming the show.

Speaker 1:
[05:13] It's so fun to talk to people who worked with us now with all of the hindsight and all of the stories that maybe we didn't even know. I mean, there have been a couple of shows that Mythfits that we've done where I'm learning stuff about the times that we were together. And it's crazy. The insights are crazy. So who do you have on today, Tory?

Speaker 2:
[05:34] So we have on Tod Mesirow and he was not only a showrunner on our show, but he worked on a million shows like Monster Garage, which was one of my favorite shows. He did Overhauling. He did a show with Richard Hammond called Crash Course. He's got this incredible resume and he's just worked with so many interesting people. So stick around you guys. He's awesome.

Speaker 1:
[06:02] I am so excited, Tod. I haven't seen you in so freaking long.

Speaker 3:
[06:07] Too many years.

Speaker 1:
[06:10] My heart swells.

Speaker 3:
[06:11] But I follow all of your great work that you're doing with STEM, with STEAM. Science is going to have to save us because science has helped us make a giant mess out of the planet.

Speaker 1:
[06:25] That's a longer conversation.

Speaker 3:
[06:27] Yeah, a whole different thing. But I just wanted to acknowledge all the great work that it seems like you're doing.

Speaker 2:
[06:34] Dude, welcome Tod Mesirow. I just have to let everybody know you were by far my favorite showrunner on MythBusters. It was like, and you came at a time where I feel like the show was just starting to take off. And then your kind of energy and your relationship with Discovery Channel took it to the next level. Like we really went from, you know, doing a cool show to just all of a sudden we were doing these insane stunts and doing these incredible stories. And it was because of your energy and that like one on one relationship you had with Discovery Channel.

Speaker 3:
[07:14] It was complete teamwork. It was a joy. I mean, I really, it was a really odd time. When I showed up, there was like things going in all directions, all kinds of things going in all directions. And honestly, it was a group effort to take the show and take it where it went, which was a great place. Like people say, what did you do today? Well, I got trained to operate a scissor lift. Like, that was your job? Like, well, it was a big part of my job. And it became, you know, became crucial knowledge and experience that I put to good use on one of the shows that we talked about, the great 747.

Speaker 2:
[07:54] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[07:55] Because I was, you know, we showed up there and we had to get the wide shot, right? We had to see the bus or see the car, the taxi, and you had to see the airplane. You couldn't just have like singles.

Speaker 2:
[08:07] For the listeners, it was the myth that a taxi got blown over by the jet engines of a 747. We found an air shipping company that would let us come out and just basically blow away everything behind these giant jet engines.

Speaker 3:
[08:26] But we showed up there and we needed to get that high wide shot and we only traveled with one DP, one director of photography. So I volunteered to go up in the scissor lift, a forklift thing, and they said, well, do you know how to operate that? It's like, well, I have a certificate that I am trained up on a scissor lift. And we guys said, okay, you'll be fine.

Speaker 2:
[08:49] Oh my God. That is so amazing.

Speaker 1:
[08:52] Let's set the stage for when you entered MythBusters. So like, what were you working on before you got there?

Speaker 3:
[08:58] Previous large, big bang, build it, blow it up show I was working on was Monster Garage.

Speaker 2:
[09:04] Yeah. So if you guys don't know what Monster Garage is, it was a show on Discovery Channel back in the thousands, early thousands, and it was a competition show. And Jesse James, who was the host, he would give a team of five people a project, and they had five days to get this project. So it was like, turn this car into a jet ski. So it was like taking a car and transferring it into something completely different, and they had five days to do it. And if they achieved it at the end of five days, they each got like a brand new tool set. But if they didn't achieve it, they would blow up the vehicle or shoot it with machine guns. It was just a crazy, fun show.

Speaker 3:
[09:45] It was a great show, and it was good prep for MythBusters because we built things on Monster Garage. And sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't. When they didn't, we had to blow them up.

Speaker 2:
[09:56] We were such huge fans of Monster Garage. And I remember when you came on, we were fanning out on you. We were like, wait, tell us what it's like doing that show. Do they really only have five days? What's Jesse James like? We were just geeking out so hard.

Speaker 3:
[10:12] It was pretty funny. I mean, that was another show where they say, well, what did you do today? Well, we built a brewery on the back of a fire engine. No. Yep, yes, we did that. But the first, I remember my very first day of filming, it was, how do you get out of a car if you drive off a bridge and the car is underwater? So it was the underwater car filming day in a swimming pool, and so it was 2007, I think.

Speaker 2:
[10:45] Yeah, and that was Jamie and Adam's story.

Speaker 3:
[10:47] And that was the Jamie and Adam story, yeah. And so it was me just watching mostly at that point, but I thought, wait, we're gonna put a pool, we're gonna put a car in a swimming pool, and there's gonna be a safety diver, but I'm a certified diver, let me do that too. So I remember getting into the pool and watching, and just being on hand as a safety diver for my first MythBusters myth.

Speaker 2:
[11:11] Oh, that's so crazy.

Speaker 1:
[11:12] That was a really incredible myth to be on, because that actually saved lives later. There was a news article where a woman said that she had watched MythBusters, and that's how she knew how to get out of her car.

Speaker 3:
[11:20] That's great, I know. It was really, I mean, the show was great fun, and we all had a damn good time at varying degrees and at varying amounts as we went through the show. But it also, it did something really important, which I thought was it sort of quietly was a show about the scientific method. It's like you ask a question, then you do some experiments and gather some data, and then you reach a conclusion, and that's what we did. But it was, the question was a myth, like could a bull run through a china shop?

Speaker 2:
[11:55] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[11:57] One of my all-time favorites, and one that surprised the hell out of all of us.

Speaker 2:
[12:02] Yeah, totally. That bull didn't knock over one piece of china.

Speaker 3:
[12:07] It was so amazing. People, in daily life, like, well, what do you do? Well, I work in television. Anything I know, and I always say, MythBusters, oh, I love that show. Somebody actually said to me, there was that bull in the china shop story.

Speaker 1:
[12:25] No kidding.

Speaker 3:
[12:26] Just a couple of weeks ago. So, MythBusters lives on, and now you guys are giving it new life with your show.

Speaker 2:
[12:34] Kari, I don't know about you, but I am so sick of overpaying for phone service, plus getting stuck in those contracts where it's like, you have to stay with that price for like three years.

Speaker 1:
[12:44] Do you remember, like, when we were first getting our cell phones, it was, it wasn't that bad, and then the price just kind of escalated. It went up and up and up. And I remember you could, there was only like one phone company that you could get service in the middle of Mojave. So like, I was stuck with that contract, because whenever we do MythBusters stuff down there, like, if I didn't have this one company, like, I couldn't even get any service.

Speaker 2:
[13:08] Yeah, it just feels like the price just keeps going up and up, and I'm like sick of it. So that is why I am super excited about our new sponsor, Mint Mobile.

Speaker 1:
[13:18] And if I needed to save money with Mint Mobile, this phone plan would be a lifesaver. Stop overpaying for wireless, because that's just how it's always been. Mint exists purely to fix that.

Speaker 2:
[13:30] A premium wireless plan starting at $15 a month. High-speed data, unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network.

Speaker 1:
[13:38] Bring your own phone and number. Activate with eSIM in minutes. No long-term contracts. No hassle. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. And I do like my money. Shop plans at mintmobile.com/mythfits. That's mintmobile.com/mythfits. Disclaimer, upfront payment of $45 for three-month, five-gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offer for first three months. Only then, price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. I remember you being on the Super Size Myth, where you were on the deck of the ship, filming Tory wakeboarding behind the cruise ship, which was, we talk about that one a lot, because that was one of my favorite times, because it was just, it was just another one of those, wait, you're gonna get a cruise ship, Tory's gonna get in the water behind it, we've only got one shot at it. Like, it was just insanity in the fact that we pulled it off, or the fact that Tory pulled it off. It was amazing.

Speaker 3:
[14:49] It was amazing, but it was the funniest thing with the network, because the network saw a cruise ship, and they went, oh, that's gonna cost us so much money, you get, you know, and it's also, they were just skeptics. They're like, well, I said, well, what if we find a cruise ship and it'll fit, that fits in our budget, and the budget was zero, so we had to go free cruise ship. They said, if you guys find a cruise ship, then you can do the myth. I was like, great. And, you know, I think it took us, and this was a Linda find again, I think, Linda Volkovich, Ace. I think it took us less than a month and, you know, less than 10 phone calls. And we found that guy that it was a one cruise ship company, and he had one route, and it was Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas and Nassau to Miami. And so, you know, for us, we got to go to Nassau for that. We got to cruise.

Speaker 2:
[15:47] We took a cruise to Nassau. Like, that was so fun.

Speaker 1:
[15:52] The cruise ship was zero, but then we had to fly the entire crew to the Bahamas. Worth it.

Speaker 3:
[15:58] Yes, every penny, every nickel.

Speaker 2:
[16:00] So was it Discovery, like the executives pushing back, or was it Beyond saying we couldn't do it?

Speaker 3:
[16:07] I think it was probably both, but I remember the network because we had, you know, even if Beyond wanted to do it, we still had to get permission from the network.

Speaker 2:
[16:16] Beyond was the production company that made MythBusters, by the way.

Speaker 3:
[16:19] And I remember, you know, the network exec was completely skeptical about the whole idea, the number one that you would be able to do it. And I remember we tested in the lake. That was a good day, too, where we figured out, figured out the mechanics and the timing.

Speaker 2:
[16:36] And the transition, because getting the, trying to get pulled out of the water from the cruise liner would have been impossible. But what we figured out is if I got pulled up by a smaller boat and then matched the speed of the cruise liner, then I could swap over, you know, from one rope to the other. But do you remember the guy that we tested that at the lake? He was like a master water skier and he just, he knew how to get the speeds perfect. The guy in the Bahamas, he was just like, he was going too fast and he was slowing down. And it was like, I, he couldn't match the speed. So every time I try to grab the rope, it would either be burning my hand or it would just go, you know, you get slack.

Speaker 1:
[17:19] God, how did you keep it together? That was, I mean, like the amount of pressure. And the fact that this is just such unfamiliar territory and we're doing something that nobody's done. I mean, I don't, I don't understand how you kept it together. I know you fell a couple of times. And then once you got up, I was screaming.

Speaker 2:
[17:40] Eva was insane. It was so insane.

Speaker 1:
[17:42] Were you nervous?

Speaker 2:
[17:43] I was, I mean, I was more nervous about not pulling it off. It wasn't like worried about the, I don't know. It was just, it was like, I just didn't want to fail. If I couldn't do it, that doesn't mean that the myth was busted. It just meant that I wasn't good enough to do it. So that was my biggest thing. But you, Todd, you got like that wide angle shot from another boat, right? Yes, yeah. Because you were on a separate boat, a camera boat.

Speaker 3:
[18:13] Right.

Speaker 2:
[18:14] And you got the money shot.

Speaker 3:
[18:16] Well, we had to have the process filmed. So that's why that other boat was E to having that done. But yeah, and I know we, I can't remember how we got the shot of the rope being thrown off the back of the cruise ship.

Speaker 2:
[18:32] I think that was John-

Speaker 3:
[18:34] Oh yeah, one of the APs.

Speaker 2:
[18:36] Yeah, associate producer. He actually stayed on the ship as it was leaving, going back to Miami. And so he threw, he was the one that threw the rope off the back end of the boat. And I think it was like 400 feet long. And then he stayed on the boat and filmed that shot from behind.

Speaker 3:
[18:56] Well, and in hindsight, we also, we should have brought the guy we used on the lake. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[19:00] Because you're right.

Speaker 3:
[19:01] He was, he knew what he was doing with the speeds. And it was, yeah, everybody on, on the powerboat was looking critically at each other. Like, oh my God, how is he going to do this? Cause it was clear you were, you were struggling not because you were struggling, you were struggling because the guy was not an ace powerboat captain to get the speeds right.

Speaker 2:
[19:24] Yeah. I remember there was one moment where it was like close enough. Like, you know, I like grabbed the rope cause we were trying to get at the end of the rope to get the, the handle. But I was like, we're never going to match the speed. So I just grabbed the rope, wrapped it around my hand and then let go. And I was like, okay, we're doing it. I'm like, thank God.

Speaker 3:
[19:46] Oh my gosh. It was, that was, yeah, that was completely epic. I mean, just hop drawer epic to achieve that. And, you know, I thought maybe it would inspire an annual event, but no.

Speaker 1:
[20:02] Did it at least inspire some confidence in the Discovery people? Were they like, okay, now we know they can pull off whatever they tell us? Did it, did it at least do that for us?

Speaker 3:
[20:12] It did help us a little bit. I think they were shocked. I mean, at first they were a little disappointed that we'd found a cruise ship because they couldn't go back on their commitment.

Speaker 2:
[20:24] They're like, dang it, Todd, how dare you?

Speaker 3:
[20:27] You succeeded. You and your team, Linda, succeeded in finding a sail, a cruise ship willing to do it.

Speaker 1:
[20:34] Damn you, crazy kids.

Speaker 3:
[20:36] I know. Yes, that's exactly. I'm sure that phrase was uttered more than once.

Speaker 2:
[20:41] But wait a minute. Do you remember how pumped up we were that night? We just like we drank so much and we just had a huge steak dinner. You and I were smoking cigars. It was just, we had our own little mini rap party that night.

Speaker 3:
[21:00] Yeah, because it was kind of clear, like we were never going to be able to do anything like that again. We couldn't come up with a myth that was as crazy as that.

Speaker 2:
[21:10] Yeah. Oh my God. I remember Kari called the production company because we just spit. We went over budget on our per diem, so we were like, this dinner is really expensive. Kari was drunk and she called up the head of Byron and was like, Oh, in Australia. It was such a successful day. You need to buy our dinner tonight. We did. So we go, all right, we have another day. We got another day here. Let's take a snorkeling trip. It was a scuba diving and snorkeling boat. And so we're on it. And the guy was getting too close to the shore. And so they brought another boat to try to like tow it out, but it wasn't working. And then out of nowhere, this storm just like came in out of nowhere, like, and quick. And all of a sudden these waves started pushing the boat closer and closer to the shore and we're on the boat. And I remember there was like, some people going, get off the boat. And we were like, stay on the boat. Like we didn't know which was the right thing to do. But then it started smacking against the reef. And all those oxygen bottles, all the scuba diving tanks started falling out onto us. And I remember one of our producers-

Speaker 3:
[22:36] They're heaving those things.

Speaker 2:
[22:38] What's, yeah. And so then somebody, one of our producers was on the boat and she just got like tossed and fell. So that's when we were like, okay, let's get off the boat.

Speaker 3:
[22:49] Get off the boat wins.

Speaker 1:
[22:51] You guys, I can't believe you guys capsized a boat. Grant and I were too hungover. The two of us and the cameraman, we left. We were like, we left you guys in the Bahamas and we saw the sky darken as we were leaving. And I'm like, so glad I'm not going on a boat trip today. But then I look over at Grant and he was green. And then two of us were so hungover. It was like, no, we're going to get out of town. And then when we got back and we heard you guys shipwrecked, you're like, yep, I guess it was the right call.

Speaker 2:
[23:23] It was in, I have a picture of it somewhere because we went the next day after and the boat was on the shore, like just completely.

Speaker 3:
[23:32] It was still there. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[23:34] Yeah. It was totally.

Speaker 1:
[23:36] Did you get back? Did you swim back? Did somebody come rescue you?

Speaker 2:
[23:39] No, they had to send a bus for us and picked us all up.

Speaker 1:
[23:44] So you got to work with us and you also worked with Jamie and Adam. What were some of the, because we weren't over there when you were, what were some of the fun stuff that you did over there?

Speaker 3:
[23:53] It was generally more fun at your place at M7.

Speaker 2:
[23:58] Yeah, we were having fun.

Speaker 3:
[24:02] Because Adam and Jamie sometimes had more difficult work because of their skill set. I don't know, but I, you know, there's three of you and two of them. And it felt like you guys had a little bit of the upper hand, at least more in fun. I just, I remember things like there was a shark week and they had to build a robotic shark. And our production manager figured out, worked backwards from the filming day in South Africa. And so, and it had to go through customs, it had to ship. And so, I said to Adam, I said, well, you guys have two and a half days to build a robotic shark. And they just sort of looked at me. And Jay, Adam was like bouncing around like he always does. And Jamie, just very low affect, like, I'm not sure we can do that.

Speaker 1:
[24:57] It's two and a half days, that is nothing for a full robotic shark. That's insane.

Speaker 3:
[25:03] I know. Well, those were always the most surprising and fun things. But, you know, he made it happen. They made it happen. They figured out some piece, some power tool that went back and forth. That was the shark swimming. And the other, the memorable things were like conversations with Jamie, who is an interesting fellow. They both are interesting fellows, but Jamie was telling me about the time as a kid, he spent a week in an igloo. This was when we went to Telluride to do the whole Avalanche special.

Speaker 2:
[25:36] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[25:37] That was another great week of fun.

Speaker 2:
[25:41] Wait, was that the one where you're dropping bombs out of helicopters?

Speaker 3:
[25:44] Yes, yes. Adam got to go up in the helicopter, and he didn't get to throw the dynamite, but he was allowed to light the dynamite and hand it off to a ski patrol guy who lost it on the helicopter, trying to clear the snow so there wouldn't be any avalanches. So that was some exciting filming.

Speaker 1:
[26:08] Back it up, back it up. Jamie lived in an igloo?

Speaker 3:
[26:11] I know, right? See, this is Jamie. It was some outward bound kind of schooling thing, and some story, and I don't know, part of the deal he made with his parents. It was a long and interesting story that ended with him having to take his final test in an igloo.

Speaker 1:
[26:34] I mean, I feel like he left home at age 15, so this had to have been when he was much younger. So I...

Speaker 3:
[26:41] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[26:43] The many lives of Jamie Heineman.

Speaker 3:
[26:45] I know, they're crazy ones.

Speaker 2:
[26:48] Kari, I just got something in the mail, and I am very excited about it.

Speaker 1:
[26:52] Was it a letter for me?

Speaker 2:
[26:53] No. Well, that would have been pretty awesome. But no, it's my new Quince shirt.

Speaker 1:
[26:58] Oh, look at that.

Speaker 2:
[26:59] My favorite color, black. I love black. It fits so well. The quality is like, they're so good. I love Quince.

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Speaker 2:
[27:14] Oh, is that right?

Speaker 1:
[27:14] It's linen, so it's light. It's like, it's just, it's comfortable. I have a thing for like blue stripes, right? It's cute.

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Speaker 3:
[28:15] But wait, do you guys remember this one, the Batmobile?

Speaker 2:
[28:20] Yes, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:
[28:22] And we thought, well, it would be pretty funny to take it out for a spin and go get a coffee at a drive-thru. So we were driving through San Francisco, and what happened? I want to know what you guys remember.

Speaker 2:
[28:35] We took a Trans Am, an old Trans Am, and then just put Batwings on it. I mean, it was a fun build because it was just like recreating a Batmobile on a real car. It was a dream come true, but then it was unregistered. So it was actually destined to, they were sending it to the junkyard to get crushed. So they're like, oh, we found this really cheap car, it's not registered, so it's not street legal. So Todd had the brilliant idea, and it was actually really funny. He's like, oh, let's just go for a ride around the neighborhood and get some shots. And as we're driving, a cop sees it's not registered, pulls me over, and he's like, what the hell is this? And what are you guys doing?

Speaker 1:
[29:20] Did he give you a ticket?

Speaker 2:
[29:22] No, Todd got out and like smooth talked this guy. He's like, hi.

Speaker 3:
[29:25] I was like, I got it, I got it, I got it. We just played dumb, I just played dumb, which sometimes comes easily.

Speaker 2:
[29:33] You have that effect, like you're such, like you can put people at ease. You're very disarming. And like, you just went up, you're like, oh man. Oh, it's not registered. Oh gosh. Like how embarrassing. I'm so sorry. I feel like that was one thing that used to bug the production is that you, cause like they would say, oh, we can't do this. We don't have the money for this experiment. And you're like, we don't? Well, let me call up Discovery. And you would just like go straight to the executives and go, hey, we need more money for this. And they go, oh, sure, you got it. And that used to piss them off so bad.

Speaker 3:
[30:11] Yeah, yeah, I know. But you know, the production comes first and there are ways to do things. You know, the attitude was always, everything should be free. And so we marched forward with that attitude and often it was free. And it was a fair deal for everybody all around because the exposure to be on MythBusters, I think was significant. And it was a, maybe it took a little production time to score some of these deals. But the level of myths that were made possible by, you know, a bunch of free dynamite and things, it was critical to have all of that. And that, you know, producers, you just don't like to take no for an answer, especially when it's a good idea and everybody wants to do it. It was always an easy thing to at least try to get the network to go for it. And especially when, you know, when we all knew that it was a great idea, I wasn't going to just stop with, well, Beyoncé said no.

Speaker 1:
[31:17] Considering the things that we pulled off and the places that we went, it's surprised, I think people are really surprised at how scrappy our budget actually was.

Speaker 3:
[31:25] Yeah, exactly. I'm always telling people like, no, you know, we just, and that was another thing from experience, because MythBusters didn't, I mean, Monster Garage didn't have the budget that we, you know, that we wanted it to have. But exposure is worth something and a good idea shouldn't be ignored just because of a little thing like budget.

Speaker 1:
[31:50] Now, Todd, in your long experience of working in reality-based television, I'm giving you full permission in case the answer is me. Have you ever had to work with some divas or through some diva moments or some difficult host moments?

Speaker 3:
[32:07] There's always difficult host moments, but I don't, I never thought of you as a diva. You were, you were the toughest one in the crew, honestly, except for every now and then Tory would put on his tough pants. Oh, police.

Speaker 1:
[32:20] So you never, you never had any experiences that would be like, like you're like, oh my God, why am I here?

Speaker 3:
[32:27] Immediately upon spending, you know, five minutes with each of them, it was clear that Jamie and Adam were a yin and a yang. But the thing that I like to try and explain to people is the network. At that time, there were some shows that were all about people fighting on the show. And I remember showing up, and the network said, the main note that the network handed me when I was there was, make Adam and Jamie fight more. And I said, that's what the network wanted. And I said, I just got here, because all the fighting is working really well. So we think they need to fight more. And so I said, well, I just got here, give me a couple of days, let me think about it. And then we'll talk about it again. Okay, great. So it was clear to me that that was absolutely the wrong way to go. And what I said to them, after a few minutes with the two of them together, it was obvious that we had a comedy duo. There was a straight man and there was a goofball. And everybody knew who the straight man was. It was Jamie. And we know who the goofball was, it was Adam. And they worked perfectly together. So I called the network and I said, look, comedy duos have kind of worked over time, right? Martin and Lewis, Rowan and Martin, Stiller and Meara, the Smothers Brothers. There's always one quiet one and one loud one, one goofball, one straight person. And they said, all right, well, we'll try that. We'll start there, we'll see if it works. And I said, we can push the comedy and we can push the straight man. You know, we can be a little bit more of that. But I said, I think it's a mistake to try and make them fight because it'll be fake and nobody likes fake and MythBusters is real. And, you know, that was sort of the whole thinking of Monster Grouch was real. It really was five days and we really did destroy cars if they didn't work. And they're, you know, MythBusters isn't going to declare busted or confirmed unless there's real data to support it. So why are we trying to fake their personalities? Because, you know, everybody has little, like, gifts now and then, but they were, you know, they are a straight man and a goofy guy.

Speaker 2:
[34:54] I have never heard you tell that story. And I feel like if that would have been such a horrible direction, then it probably would have made the show less popular. Like, the reason why people love MythBusters was because it was such a goofy show. And I just, hearing you say, let's go, let's do the comedy route, that was brilliant.

Speaker 1:
[35:17] Yeah, you probably saved the show because in the end, like, if they started fighting, the show's over. Like, Jamie's not gonna work in an environment like that. Like, that's not gonna happen. So, like, that right there could have been a tipping point.

Speaker 3:
[35:30] Maybe so. I know. Who knows how it would have happened, but I...

Speaker 2:
[35:33] You saved the show, Todd.

Speaker 3:
[35:36] Okay, thanks. I'll take all the credit.

Speaker 2:
[35:40] Take the credit.

Speaker 3:
[35:40] And all the gold that comes with it. Where's all that gold? Well, and, you know, with you guys, the three of you, it was clear that there was a real collegial aspect to your interworkings. And everybody was positive about what they were suggesting. And it was never, oh, that's a stupid idea. There wasn't a lot of that. You know, there was some of it in good fun. But, you know, everybody wanted their stuff to work. And everybody, it was a positive atmosphere. And I think that's attractive the way comedy is too.

Speaker 2:
[36:17] Yeah. But I remember one time you, we were doing, I think it was Bifurcated Boat, and we were towing a boat with this breakaway rope. It was like this super strong rope. But it was weak enough that, you know, when it would hit something, it would snap, and we would release it from the tow vehicle. It was the blue rope. And Grant and I are on the runway. We never used the blue rope. We always used the blue rope. Like, we're having this stupid argument, and you like tapped Heapy, and you're like, film, film. And it got on the show where we're just like two little kids on a playground fighting over what color rope we should have been using.

Speaker 1:
[36:59] I don't remember ever fighting with you. Did we ever fight over anything, Tory?

Speaker 2:
[37:03] No, the one time I pissed you off really bad, it was, you were very pregnant, and we were doing the hangover cures. And so, Grant and I, we had to stay at the shop. We actually built two bedrooms. And so, we got super drunk and they made us sleep in the shop because they didn't want us driving home. And so, then you guys would come in and wake us up, and you would like have a pot and pan, you'd be like bang, bang, bang, bang. And it was just, it was like jarring and we're all hungover, and it was like, ugh. And so, the next day, I had a super soaker and you came in, and you're like dey, dey, dey, and I just went bam, and I shot you in the face, and you just, you started crying, you were like, yeah, I had some. And your makeup was running down, and I'm like, oh my God, I thought this would have been, I thought this was gonna be funny.

Speaker 1:
[37:58] It might have been if I wasn't really hormonally pregnant.

Speaker 2:
[38:02] I felt so bad.

Speaker 1:
[38:04] So Todd, what is the hardest part about being a producer?

Speaker 3:
[38:06] I think the hardest part was just having enough time, having enough time to explore the myth in depth was probably the hardest part of MythBusters. Cause you know, production has a budget, and we had a certain amount of stories we had to do to fill the budget. Struggling to film enough episodes in the amount of time we had, would have been nice to have a little more time for some of those myths, I think. What do you guys think?

Speaker 1:
[38:33] Yeah, I mean, sometimes we're just like, we're working on something so kooky that I'm just like, oh, can't wait till this is wrapped up. I can't wait till Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss is over, because this is taking months and months.

Speaker 2:
[38:46] There was a lot of those episodes where, because we didn't have blueprints for what we were building, we were just making it up as we went, that when the day was over, we would stay, like the crew would put tools down, put cameras down, and they would all go home. But there was a lot of times where Kari Grant and myself would stay till midnight or even later. I remember we were there till two in the morning trying to get, it was a viral video that it was, this guy in Japan, and he had these two liter water bottles on his back, he had this backpack, and it created a water bottle jet. When you pump, you put water in the bottle and then you pump it up there, and it creates a jet. So we were trying to figure out how to launch like 20 of these bottles all at the same time. And I went down this one road of this release mechanism and it just wasn't working. And so we were like, okay, we have to abandon this, but we have to do this tomorrow. So the three of us just stayed till like two in the morning, just building this new rig to get these bottles all go off at the same time. Those days, it did work, but I hated it.

Speaker 1:
[40:07] Yeah, but we were tired. We still had to come in at the same time the next day. None of us got any sleep. Well, thank you, Todd. Thank you for taking us back down memory lane. And I feel like there was a couple of nuggets there of things that I just did not know about the MythBusters process. I'm so glad we got to talk to you.

Speaker 3:
[40:25] My pleasure, you guys. A real treat to spend a little time with you rolling down memory lane.

Speaker 2:
[40:31] Totally, dude. It's so good to see you. And I'm so happy that we got to work together and we've still remained friends after all these years.

Speaker 3:
[40:42] Same here. And if there is a Mythfits of some sort, I'm available.

Speaker 1:
[40:46] Excellent. Well, thanks, Todd. I just finished, I think, my third cup of coffee. I don't know about you. I am fully, fully addicted to coffee. And I just, I like the taste of it.

Speaker 2:
[41:00] Wait, you had three cups of coffee today?

Speaker 1:
[41:02] Yeah, I'm like kind of jittery. I do. It gets me, I know, I know.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 1:
[41:21] I'm gonna have to start drinking more mud water. I mean, it tastes like coffee. So like I can substitute maybe those later in the day cups because I don't want to be up all night and then have to repeat the process in the morning.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 1:
[42:01] Right now, our listeners get an exclusive deal up to 43% off your entire order plus free shipping and a free rechargeable frother when you use the code Mythfits.

Speaker 2:
[42:11] That's right. Up to 43% off with code Mythfits at mudwater.com, mudwtr.com. After your purchase, they'll ask you how you found them. Please show your support and let them know that we sent you. Welcome back, MythBusters. Oh man, that was so fun to catch up with Todd.

Speaker 1:
[42:42] I love that we're still friends with all the people we used to work with. It's nice to be able to come back and reminisce a little bit. And he's like, you know, everybody always has stories that I haven't heard.

Speaker 2:
[42:51] And he's just, he was just such a breath of fresh air, because we had like very toxic environment when we first started on MythBusters. And then when he came in, it was like, oh, somebody I can confide in and he's not going to use that against me later. You know what though? What if, God, how cool would it be to bring back MythBusters? Like to actually do like a YouTube show, because I don't know if you'd be able to sell it in like a cable market these days, but wouldn't that be awesome?

Speaker 1:
[43:25] Do you think there's still an appetite? Like, do you think it would still, people would still want to watch MythBusters?

Speaker 2:
[43:31] I feel like still, there's just so many like crazy stories in urban legends that just keep coming out, that I feel like it would be a perfect time to like start busting all those. In fact, I was just watching a movie the other night. Have you seen the movie Sisu? Yeah, yeah. So it's this movie out of Finland, and it's about this guy during World War II, and there's so many crazy things that happened in that movie that I wish MythBusters was still on because it was like, oh, I want to test that one. Oh, I want to just...

Speaker 1:
[44:06] You know, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was watching that movie. I'm like, I wonder if that could actually happen. Could you really fall out of a plane? And it's just one crazy, crazy action movie that the whole time I was thinking the same thing.

Speaker 2:
[44:20] Like just so many awesome stunts that it's like, okay, it's obviously CG, but could that work? Like there's one scene where he like, he throws a landmine and it hits the guy in the head and it explodes and you're just like, oh, could you do that? Would that work?

Speaker 1:
[44:40] Could you do that?

Speaker 2:
[44:41] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[44:42] That would be fun to test.

Speaker 2:
[44:43] On that note, Kari, let's take a fan question. All right, Kari, this fan question comes from Ken, a member of the Band of Mythfits. Thank you, Ken. You three were the glue that held the show together from the two mad scientists each episode. Do you know if Grant ever imagined how big of a following we'd get from MythBusters?

Speaker 1:
[45:08] I don't think any of us did. I mean, he did join us a little later after we had already kind of had a fan base going. But it wasn't until, I don't think any of us really expected what was going to happen. And we didn't even realize it till that one Comic Con where we came up on stage.

Speaker 2:
[45:24] Yes, DragonCon.

Speaker 1:
[45:26] Oh, it was DragonCon, you're right.

Speaker 2:
[45:28] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[45:29] Where we came out on stage and just like the room was filled. It was filled with so many people. And all three of us just kept looking at each other like, yeah, because for so long, we would read the chat boards.

Speaker 2:
[45:41] The MythBusters Club, they had a chat board and they just hated us. They would just leave bad comments. We don't like those guys. We just want Jamie and Adam. And so for a long time, we were under the impression that they hated us. And when we came out on stage and they're like cheering, we're like, are they cheering for us? What is going on right now?

Speaker 1:
[46:00] They like us, they really like us.

Speaker 2:
[46:02] Yeah, that was pretty insane.

Speaker 1:
[46:05] Oh, yeah, yeah. I feel like he appreciated it. And he kind of had a special following of young robotics engineering kids that really, really- Yeah, people that had just really identified with his hobbies and what he did. And I think that he was deep into that culture. And so I think it was really exciting for him, especially like cosplay and like he'd go down to LA and he just have this entire base and community of people that, you know, were really, really active.

Speaker 2:
[46:37] I remember one time we were having this discussion because, like, there was a point in the show where he and I were like butting heads and it was just like getting, you know, it was starting to get out of hand. And I was just like, dude, what, like, you are the king of the nerds. Like, you are, like, everybody loves you. And he's like, Adam's the king of the nerds. I'm like the prince of the nerds. I was like, oh my God, dude, I can't believe you have thought about this. I was just like going, I don't know why you're so frustrated. Like, you have so many fans.

Speaker 1:
[47:15] He is so well loved. Like, he is to this day, so well loved.

Speaker 2:
[47:19] Well, Kari, this was fun. It was nice catching up with Tod. Some of those stories I had never heard before.

Speaker 1:
[47:26] Yeah, I know. I know, it was kind of cool. I had no idea that they were, I mean, I knew that they always tried to make us fight, but I didn't realize they actually sent someone in to like infiltrate us and try to make us actually like the other angry shows on Discovery. Like, that would have killed us. That would have blown us up.

Speaker 2:
[47:44] But in the early days, they did do that. Remember, they would go, Kari's saying that your rig sucks and it's not gonna work. And he was like, what?

Speaker 1:
[47:53] Why would you say that?

Speaker 2:
[47:54] Yeah, they would. They would like whisper in our ears and go, oh, so-and-so thinks you're not going fast enough and that you're, you suck. And he was like, oh.

Speaker 1:
[48:04] No, I think we were onto that pretty quick. I'm like, why? He wouldn't say that.

Speaker 2:
[48:07] Yeah, I know, right?

Speaker 1:
[48:07] Did you say this? I'm gonna go talk to him. Let's go. Like, no, no, no, we want you to talk smack. He doesn't, I'm not gonna do that.

Speaker 2:
[48:16] Well, thank you, Ken, for that question. And Band of Mythfits, or just regular Mythfits, you guys keep sending in those questions, video questions, preferably, because then we can get you on the show.

Speaker 1:
[48:28] Stay weird, Mythfits, stay weird.

Speaker 2:
[48:38] Pionaire.