Mythbusters LIVE!

Last night, the boys and I joined 1,000 other people in the ballroom on USF's main campus to see Kari Byron and Grant Imahara of Mythbusters. Scouts or see two of the people that work on one of our favorite shows? Even the Scoutmaster said he'd go if he had the chance.

The presentation was part of USF's University Lecture Series. We all filed into the ballroom, then at 7pm, Kari and Grant came up on stage, along with a moderator. She introduced the two and the crowd went wild. Grant said "I've got a video to show you" and Kari commented that based on audience reaction, the video wasn't necessary. It was a little something Grant put together on his iPad about the show.

Then, the young lady moderating asked the two of them various questions before opening the floor to questions from the audience. First up was the question "So, how did the two of you get involved in doing Mythbusters?"

Kari told of watching the "Making of Thriller" documentary over and over, and that cemented the idea that "I want to do THAT!" She contacted M5 about doing an internship and her first day was the day they started filming the show. The also told her they needed to take a 3D scan of her backside to blow up to bust the theory that fat ladies get sucked into airplane toilets. (She realized as she's explaining this that 'hey, they could have sculpted a model instead of using my butt!").

Grant had known Tori, Jamie and Adam for years and finally got sucked away from LucasArts in season three. Grant's resume includes model making for Star Wars 1, 2 and 3, Van Helsing and making Battlebots.

Favorite episodes: For Kari, her new favorite hasn't aired yet, but they destroyed a car and put it back together with duct tape, then she had to run it through the paces.

Grossest episode: For Grant, making an earwax candle. He said it was smelly, the wax that they got from a doctor was brown, had hair in it and just was nasty. As he's telling the story and the audience is reacting to the grossness of it all, Kari kept saying "Thank GOD I was on maternity leave!"

Another gross one was when they tested the theory about a bell diving suit crushing the person wearing it if the valve fails. It does happen, but Tori made a meat man (aka Porkenstein), and it was kept in a chest fridge outside the shop. Their neighbor (a deli owner), noticed the thing was on over the weekend and shut it off. Soooo, they had a rotten meat man to test the theory, it worked and when a body implodes in a bell diving suit, it sends the stench up the hose and into the very tight quarters that the team was in on a boat. (Again, Kari was on maternity leave)

Both said they HATE psuedo science myths. Grant went so far as to ask the audience to name a common household object. "iPad", "shoe" "phone", so we got "IPad Shoephone" then he said put "Exploding" in front and "of Death" on the end. So, all crazy myths are "Exploding iPad Shoephone of Death" as their titles.

Then, the floor was opened to questions. Chef asked one "Grant, in the "Pepper Cure" myth, why did it look like you were crying for your mom when you ate one teaspoon of jalapenos?" After the entire audience burst out laughing, and Kari was giggling like a nut, Grant answered "Because I WAS!". I should have known the kid would ask about that, because he's been asking why can't a grown man eat peppers when I eat them all the time. Too funny.

In person, they both seemed like they do on the show, only funnier. They had us cracking up the whole 90 minutes. The best part was having both boys rave about the presentation the whole way home.

And if you get a chance to see them speak, DO IT!