A few years ago I was in Seattle, preparing to film the first round of After the Catch. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, After the Catch is a talk show in a bar, where The Captains and crew from Deadliest Catch gather to chat about this and that. I impersonate a moderator, and do my best to keep things on the rails. (Think Charlie Rose with cigarettes and whiskey.)

Anyway, on that first day of shooting, I arrived a few hours before filming began, and observed the kind of chaos that one can only find around a TV production. We were going to be shooting in a style called “Live to Tape,” which means we’d record the show in real time, as though it were a live production, but edit later for content. (Can you imagine filming the Captains with no time delay?) Consequently, there were at least 7 cameras positioned around the big table, and all kinds of lights hanging from the ceiling and poking through the windows. The plan was to record two shows in one afternoon. Producers and directors and cameramen and all manner of production personnel were milling about, and there was a real sense that no one actually knew what the hell was going on. Which was indeed the case.

As the Captains took their places around the table, it was clear they were not entirely sure what to expect. I can’t say they were nervous, but I can assure you that ambiguity does not sit well with men who are accustomed to being in charge. This kind of filming is the opposite of what goes on aboard their boats, and they had lots of questions about how the day would unfold. Unfortunately, I had no answers for them. (Unlike Captains, I actually prefer confusion and ambiguity – especially in television – and I told them as much. I also suggested that, being in a bar, there were any number of remedies nearby capable of taking the edge off – a completely unnecessary piece of advice, given my audience and setting.) Read More...

OK – you really want to hear Mike actually *sing* about Dirty Jobs and hard work? Well, here’s your (hopefully last) chance… Barsky joins him on doing a Milli Vanilli guitar/banjo fake-a-thon… (Oops – maybe we weren’t supposed to say that. If we weren’t – uh, really sorry ’bout that!)
Click here to see something you’d never thought you’d see

So, you are asking yourself, what is going on? The man that has graced the cover of Grainger’s safety catalog and has done public service announcements for the Army’s “Own the Edge” campaign, is now publicly taking the position that safety is not important? How dare he? What kind of role model is this for a man that frequently finds himself in dangerous (not to mention dirty) positions? Something must be done!

Waitaminute now. Before you start writing letters to complain to anybody, listen *carefully* to his message. What Mike’s saying is that while safety equipment, procedures, OSHA and all that are important, it is not a replacement for good old fashion common sense. Plainly speaking, no one cares more about your safety than you. Not your employer. Not your friend. Not even your spouse. Well, maybe your spouse but do you really want to put your safety in their hands when you may have forgotten to take out the garbage last night?
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