Behind every great show is a great executive producer.  MythBusters is no exception.  The man at the helm of the show is Dan Tapster, an Englishman transplanted to the land of Oz where Beyond Productions, the company behind the show, is located.  What follows is an interview conducted via email with Dan on June 11th, 2008.  Enjoy!

MBFC: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Dan: I was born in Watford which, in  1995, came second in the 'best town in England' competition. After such an auspicious start,  maybe it's fate that I ended up on the best science show on TV (no second place there).

I'm married to the wonderful Jessica who I appreciate daily for putting up with all my MythBusters rants!  And we have a son who is almost as ridiculous as I am.

My second toe is longer than my big toe by over a centimetre, and I'm a cricket tragic.  

MBFC: How did you become a producer?

Dan: It's a long story but I'll try and tell it quick!

When I was in my final year at Oxford,  all my fellow students began to apply for jobs as accountants,  traders,  management consultants, etc. Despite having a desire to get a job that did actually use the degree I'd been studying for,  I soon found myself  being sucked into this graduate recruitment system.  And before long I was having interviews with multi-national companies being asked what I could bring to their marketing / consultancy / management teams.  Soon I realised that 'enthusiasm' wasn't on the list - even of the fake variety!

So Jess and I decided instead to go Peru as eco-tour guides, as you do!  We worked mainly in the Tambopata-Candamo Reserve Zone near a town called Puerto Maldonado - a tropical version of Watford - guiding tourists of all nationalities through the rainforest.  After some time,  we began to specialise in guiding film-crews.  This gave us both a great insight into the world of TV and I realised that here was something that combined my passion for photography with my science skills.  So I asked one of the film-makers for his contact details and then when I was back in the UK,  he advised me that the BBC were advertising for the role of researcher.  Thanks to some heavy-duty research,  a gall bladder operation and a dream interview,  I got the job.

From there,  I followed the typical route of years or researching followed by years of assisting producers followed by producing itself.

MBFC:  How did you get tapped to take over the role of Executive Producer for the show?

Dan: When I was kidnapped by machete-wielding Quichua Indians in Ecuador,  I decided it was time to take a break from natural history film-making.  Armed with giant stinging nettles,  a passion for science,  and an unhealthy obsession with MacGyver,  I escaped  by canoe under the cover of darkness.
By 2004 this escape had lead me to the MythBusters head office in Australia.

I joined the show as a writer, and cut my teeth on Breaking Glass and Rolling Stone.   By the following year I was in charge of all the post production of the show,  and by the year after that when Peter Rees was leaving,  I was the person ready and able (and this time with enthusiasm aplenty) to take the helm.  I still remember fans being distraught at Peter's departure,  but they had faith in me,  and I hope that faith has been rewarded.

MBFC: Prior to your current assignment, what other shows have you been involved in? Have any of them made it to the US market?

Dan: A lot of the shows I've made have been for the British market but I've done several big natural history blockbusters that have been broadcast in the US, including David Attenborough's Life of Mammals,  and Wild Europe.  I was briefly involved in Planet Earth before landing the MythBusters gig. Natural history projects take such a huge amount of time, that there's 8 years of my life in those 2 projects alone!

MBFC: What is the most unlikely personal experience you have found yourself drawing upon as Executive Producer of the show?

Dan: Before joining MythBusters,  I worked for many years at the BBC's Natural History Unit.  A typical shoot would involve going to some remote field station,  sitting in a hide for days,  even weeks on end,  waiting for some special behaviour to film for the first time.

So when stormy seas prevented us MythBusters from getting on board our boat in South Africa,  I suggested we try to film whether elephants are scared of mice.  I knew of a nearby reserve and even knew of somewhere we may be able
to get mice (the strange contacts you make in the wildlife world!).   We scrambled the team and 24 hours later everything was filmed.  How strange if my ex-colleagues could see me now as we put mice in a ball of dung with a string attached to it.  Yet we got more footage in the can in a day than I'd ever got in a week before!

(Note to Nor - sorry that we used white mice - we did have brown ones but because none of us expected anything to happen we went with the 'extreme case scenario', the white mouse.  Then when that worked,  we ran out of time before we had a chance to use brown.  But yes,  the colour of mice had been thought about!).

MBFC: Are there specific aspects of the show we would recognize and say "oh yeah, that's Dan"?

Dan: Because the format of MythBusters is an exceptionally good one and I've tried not to meddle too much with it.  But, clearly as EP,  my finger prints are on every show in lots of different ways.   But perhaps there are four in particular:

The first,  and I guess by far the most important,  is content:  I have a great team to support me but primarily the vast majority of myths that we do come from the deep,  dark,  confused recesses of my brain!  The same was true of Peter,  it's a part of the job that I really enjoy and for reasons pertinent to a childhood in Watford,  I'm strangely good at it.

Secondly,  I've tried to bring an increase in production value to the show - I guess an increase to the quality of its look from the graphics,  to the way the show is filmed,  to the music to the audio.  Although it sounds a cliché,  I'm a real perfectionist - I'm constantly trying to ensure that the show looks,  sounds, storytells in the best possible way.

Thirdly,  I've begun more themed episodes - much to the chagrin of some on MBFC!  But I like the way all the team pull together working on myths of the same topic - be it ninjas,  airplanes or dogs. They'll be a feature that we'll continue for sure.

Lastly,  I'm very much about collaboration - I'll listen and assess everyone's ideas.  As such,  I think that the hosts often get more enjoyment out of working on the show now than previously, and I think that comes across on camera.

MBFC: Given that the show is shot in the US but is produced in Australia, do you ever run into interesting differences between these two distinctly unique cultures?

Dan: Not as often as you might think.  I've worked in the US a fair amount so I'm pretty clued up to the cultural differences.  But it does happen from time to time.  For instance,  in the last Christmas Special,  I proposed a story about exploding Christmas crackers.  I remember talking to the team in San Fran about it - explaining that there was a guy who bought  crackers from a dodgy discount store and when the family pulled them, kaboom.  I got blank looks from everyone.  But in the UK and Australia,  Christmas isn't Christmas without crackers! Needless to say the story didn't get filmed.

Other than that,  it's just terminology - we got pulled up on a recent episode when the rough commentary described the blue golf balls that Grant was using as "blue balls".  Apparently,  that's rude in the US.  Still not sure why.....
  
MBFC: How much time do you spend in the US?
 
Dan: It varies.  But I'd say on average I go over for one to two week every couple of months.  And when I'm in Australia, I video conference every day.

MBFC: What have you found to be the most interesting thing you have learned since becoming the executive producer of MythBusters?

Dan: There's so much!  

I've learned that nothing is impossible for this team - from building a lead balloon to persuading the owner of a 747 to let us use their plane to blow over a bus.  From hosts through directors to researchers and camera crew, the team is phenomenally good and I'm constantly amazed that they can turn my plans on paper into spectacular footage on tape.  In particular,  I'd like to use this opportunity to thank Tab, Alice, Linda, Eric, John, Dennis, Dan, Meredith, Suzie, Scott, Ben, Heapie, Tim, Alison, Matt, Will, Matt, Duncan, Don, Chris, Emily, Emma, Evan, Jenny, John, Jenny, Jess, Chris, Mick, Jules, Laura, Andrew, Ross, Mark, Steve and the famous five: AJKTG

I've also learned that we have an incredible fan base.  Fans who want to get involved,  fans who want to help out,  and fans who want to criticise.  All of it is good from my point of view - I love hearing people talk about the show.  I could do without the no-fliers every now and then,  but it's all good!

And I've learned that even if a plane takes off on a conveyor belt,  people still won't believe it!

MBFC: Are you a person who likes to build things or more of a person who does thought-experiments and says "I wonder what would happen if...?"

Dan: Funnily enough,  I'm arguably the world's worst builder.  Craft and design was my worst subject at school by a country mile.  I remember once being given the brief to build a contraption that could fire a ping pong ball into a bucket from a distance of 15 feet.  Now everyone else in the class build a kind of catapult pivot system.  I,  for some reason,  built a mini golf club powered by rubber bands.  When it came to my turn in the competition, I drew back the gold club as the crowd watched on with baited breath.  But  instead of getting near the bucket,  my golf ball was simply smashed on the tee.

Sadly,  that's just one of many stories but what I do do is question everything.  I'm a natural sceptic and whenever I'm told something I don't believe it without proof.  I'm not sure where I got this from - my brother used to tell tall tales when we were growing up - that could be part of it. At University,  I was always encouraged to challenge everything,  so that's probably another part.  But this constant questioning, this "I wonder what would happen if" is something that is definitely me.   From there, I can plan an entire experiment, but build something,  nope.

MBFC: Are there any myths, though profoundly intriguing, that you will absolutely not consider for production?

Dan: I'm a great believer in 'never say never' but there are plenty of myths that I hear about that we're not going to do. From exploding whales to alien conspiracy theories.   Whether these are profoundly intriguing I'm not so
sure!

The intriguing one for me is Lake Tahoe.   According to rumour, the bottom of lake Tahoe,  due to its strange anaerobic properties is full of undecomposed dead bodies dumped there by the Mafia. This I found a truly fascinating story and I know that Adam and Jamie could build a submersible (see earlier detail about achieving the impossible) or at the very least, the world longest reverse periscope.  But then the problems start - if we don't find anything,  that's a pretty boring episode.  And if we do,  we're going to hand it on to the authorities so can't show anything anyway.  So damned if you do, damned if you don't!  So this will stay on the no shelf... at least for now!

MBFC: Who makes you laugh the most? (either on the show or otherwise)

Dan: There's plenty of things that make me giggle on the show. Both on screen and behind the camera. Only today I was watching a rough cut of a story where Kari and Tory go to a farm - I won't elaborate but I chortled all the way through it.  I also really encourage the writers to write funny.  Clearly we need to have the best story telling arc,  get the science information across,  etc but comedy is crucial to the show.  I think one of the reasons I enjoy my job so much is that I was a fan of the show before I joined - and that's really helped.

Outside of MythBusters I laugh at nearly everything - some people tell me that this means I don't have a sense of humour because there's nothing I don't laugh at,  but I disagree.  At the moment,  other than Ricky Gervais podcasts,  the funniest thing in my life is my son.  He makes me laugh every single day - last weekend we went to a farm and he said 'moo' to a horse and that cracked me up.

MBFC: Given the popularity of the show it generates a lot of online discussions so do you visit the fan sites often?

Dan: Yes,  I think that MythBusters is entertainment at its most interactive. You got an idea?  Post it.  You got a complaint?  Post it.  We'll listen and address both.  So I'm on MBFC fairly regularly (no doubt Nor has the stats!) and the same at DCI.  These days I don't post all that much - that's partly out of time constraints and partly because I've had postings of mine torn to shreds in the past by viewers who disagree with my comments.  Whilst I realise that there are always going to be people who disagree with our findings (and I embrace that),  I'm not keen on being personally vilified.

But if there's a need for action then I'll step in.  When something's going on at Disco,  MythMod (The Discovery Channel's Moderator) will usually give me a heads up so that I can try to sort things out.  

We make the show for the fans, so if fans have beef,  I'll listen to that just as much as I'll listen to my bosses.

MBFC: How do you feel about the fan base?

Dan: I'm delighted that we have such vociferous fans!  I think that is of real benefit to the show and I wouldn't want to change that.  I love the fact that Mythbusters fans are from all walks of life - young kids to seniors.  Sometimes,  I even get fan mail - but that I find a little weird!

MBFC:  [From Nor] What's the most ridiculous fan email that you've ever gotten... and can you supply us the email address so we can spam the living daylights out of them for being such a git (just kidding about the last part!)?

Dan: I get weird emails every day and most of them are from Adam and Jamie!

The weirdest idea was from a guy reckoning he was 'unbendable' and how we should get him on the show.  It took a great deal of time for me to realise that this guy meant he was immune to 'the bends'.  Needless to say that got filed in the no column.

For general weirdness,  I did for a while have my own cyberstalker.  Someone who was so angry with the POTC/POCB result that I got many emails angry emails a day - to my work and personal accounts.  I started off polite but by the end was just saying "we got it right".  After maybe 100 of them,  he stopped.

MBFC: Are we ever going to see you on camera, involved in the testing of a myth?

Dan: Look very very closely,  and you'll see me on screen in half a dozen shows. Christmas Special,  Supersize Special,  Steam Machine Gun,  Airplane Hour. But in front of camera other than by accident is a resounding no.

MBFC: Do you ever watch completed episodes on TV?  If so, do you sit back and enjoy them or do you find yourself continually critiquing the work?

Dan: All the time.  I'm actually a MythBusters tragic.  I watch it whenever I can on Discovery,  in Australia, on planes, etc.  The vast majority of shows I sit back and really enjoy.  But there are a couple where I look back and think,  'if I had my time again.'  But I think that's always going to happen because I'm  a perfectionist.  It might be a single line,  or a single music cue or the style of the graphic,  or the edit of a blueprint,  I am searching for perfection!

MBFC: When you aren't embroiled in the business of producing the show what do you do for fun?  Any interesting hobbies?

Dan: I'd love to say that I kite-surf or something cool like that but I don't.  MythBusters, particularly in two time zones is pretty much 24/7 so I'm rarely off the clock.  (It's midnight as I type this!).   But when I am,  I love to spend as much time with my family as possible.  In addition to that I love the movies,  I love photography,  I love scuba diving and I love being in the mountains (although I'm too lazy to actually climb them).  Oh, and did I mention,  put me in front of a cricket match and I'll watch it until you drag me away.

MBFC: If you could speak directly to the fans, what would you like to say to them?

Dan: Get on board - tell us your likes,  your dislikes, your ideas and together we'll keep the show evolving so it's better than ever.  That,  and tell all your friends about us!

MBFC: Are you going to BusterCon 2.0?

Dan: Maybe!

Thank you for your time.  It has been a very insightful and entertaining visit.  We hope to see you at Bustercon if you can make it.