'Mythbusters' co-host: Creation Museum 'not even wrong'

The topic of Greater Cincinnati’s very own Creation Museum probably didn't come up during the local stop of “MythBusters,” because, as Adam Savage puts it, it’s not even wrong.

Savage and co-host Jamie Hyneman are on the road with the stage version of the popular science-entertainment TV show, which brought its 14th and final season in January on the Discovery Channel.

Before the show, Savage talked about why the TV show is coming to an end and whether he’ll check out the controversial Northern Kentucky museum while he’s in town.

Question: What’s the stage show of Mythbusters like?

Answer: It is effectively a magic show, but instead of magic and illusions, at the end of each vignette we have a little bit of science or a little bit of knowledge dropped. It sort of naturally accreted into that structure when we were figuring out how to translate “MythBusters” from a television show to a stage show, and the key turned out to be lots and lots of audience participation.

Q: Is the TV show ending for business reasons such as ratings, or is it something else?

A: Every show reaches the other end of its bell curve over a period of time, and we were seeing the other side of our bell curve, and Discovery and Jamie and I worked out an exit that was different than what usually happens on network television. They usually just stop airing the show at the end of the season. They just stop ordering new ones. I’ve been really clear with Discovery for a couple of years now that when we do feel like the end might be in sight that we wanted to send it off, and Discovery has been a great partner in that. We shot this one last season as a great goodbye, allowing the show to have a natural life span instead of being cut off short.

Q: Are you going to visit the Creation Museum while you’re in town?

A: Ah! I haven’t considered it, but holy crap, what an idea. I had forgotten it was there, but my goodness, I don’t think I could pass that up.

Q: Do you have a conflicted feeling about contributing money to the museum by paying the price of admission?

A: The conflicted feeling I have is, there is a scientific term which I really like that is “not even wrong,” and these are ideas that are so far off the mark they’re not even worth discussing. I’m worried about participating or giving oxygen to ideas that are not even wrong lest I lend them a credibility as something that’s debatable.

Q: So if you were to go to the museum, you wouldn’t talk about the experience on stage, because that would be giving it oxygen, as you say.

A: My particular bailiwick isn’t to be a provocateur in that regard. Again, part of it is not giving oxygen to ideas that I don’t think are very debatable. I have empathy for people. And I don’t feel like going up on stage and telling some members of the audience, “By the way, I think you’re idiots.” I tend to stay away from that sort of polemicism. At the same time, if I’m asked, I’ll respond to questions directly. I’ve never had a problem doing that on stage.

Q: What would the reason be for going to the museum, if it’s not for getting material for the stage show?

A: For me it’s sort of like slowing down and looking at the car accident.