**Mythbuster Questions and Answers: A Conversation with Adam Savage**

I'm here in my cave, surrounded by fans, answering questions submitted by Tested patrons. Today's question comes from Keely Cat's mom, who asks if I can confirm that I shot a cat for TV. This is a familiar name to me, as Jamie Rye has been making fun of it on social media recently.

Oh man, that Herding Cat Smith segment was absolutely ridiculous as it seemed! It begins with learning how to herd animals, and we got lessons in how to herd them. What's really fun is when you wanna herd animals - you start with ducks because they exhibit herding behavior and are much easier to deal with than large sheep or pigs or cows.

So, you learn the philosophy, the mental gymnastics of herding on ducks. And then we were filming out at the Alameda Fairgrounds - that was the location where most of our animal segments were shot. My producer found this location, and it was perfect for us. We used it for several stories, including the grocery store episode.

I may have said this before, but do you know who from the general public showed up to be a volunteer on the day of our grocery store episode? Simone Hatch. Yeah, she told me after we'd known each other like a year before she revealed that fact to me that she has a picture with me and Jamie from that day. I didn't know that a couple years later she'd become one of my closest friends.

You never know life is weird. Back to Herding Cats - yeah, man, herding cats is not possible! Cats are evolutionarily resistant to herding; their response to stimuli is almost the opposite of what a herding animal's response would be. A herding animal is like "let me stay away from this thing that I don't understand," while cats are like "you know they, they, they make their shoulders big and stick their ass up - that emergency sound!"

It's astounding; it's like the Hong Kong Foo event! They're about to change into something totally different. Well, we did cover in the episode that one of the cats got stuck in the walls... I think we did, anyway. The cat wranglers who spent the night with it were fantastic - they kept the cats happy and comfortable while we shot over two days.

Unfortunately, the next day when we woke up on set, it turned out that one of the cats had crawled into the wall and gotten stuck in the wall. We literally had to tear out the wall to get this cat back! But we got to try herding cats, and I'm super glad we did - there's a place in the world where you can test that phrase "herding cats" and it was us who achieved it.

I'm really, really pleased with that. No one wants to herd cats, no one needs to herd cats - just like no one needs to make a lead balloon! But we tried it, and I think we showed definitively that it is way against plausibility - there you go!

Thanks for that awesome question, Keely Cat's mom. Tested patrons keep submitting your questions, and I will keep answering them. It's been really lovely revisiting this, and in particular, frankly, I must admit it's delightful to talk about some of the inside baseball which I wouldn't have shared before. You know, close to the production time - there are just things you hold back sometimes that you can reveal years later.

I'm not going to tell you which things, but I do feel like a little bit more freedom these days to talk about it and not like I'm going to talk crap about anyone. I'm just going to talk about some of the difficulties we had that we might not have highlighted before. That's all alright, stay safe, wear your masks - I'll see you guys next time!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey how's it going adam savage and i am here in my cave that was a little bright fan  oh that's better uh here in my cave answering mythbuster  questions submitted by tested patrons and this one comes from a familiar  sounding name keely cat's mom hello again wants to know was shooting the herding cat smith  as absolutely as absolutely ridiculous as it seemed jamie versus the floof made me cry laughingyeah totally the herding cat story  was hilarious to film it was one weird bizarro thing after anotherit begins with just learning how to herd animals so we got lessons in how to herd  animals and what's really fun is when you wanna herd animals you start with ducks because they  exhibit herding behavior and they're much easier to deal with than large sheep or pigs or cows  so you learn the philosophy you learn the mental gymnastics of herding on ducks  what could be more fun that was an amazing day jamie and i each getting lessons and herding  it was great uh and then we were filming out at the where were we at the alameda fairgrounds  at the alameda county fairgrounds i think that was the place we were filming this is the same  location we shot i think event solis my producer found this location uh and we used it for several  stories we also used it for the grocery store episode ooh i may have said this before but do you  know who from the general public showed up to be a volunteer on the day of our grocery store episode  and was one of our extras that day simone hatch yeah she told me after we uh we'd known each  other like a year before she revealed that fact to me that she has a picture with me and jamie  from that day i didn't know that a couple years later she'd become one of my closest friends  you never know life is weird but back to herding cats yeah man herding cats is not possible cats  are evolutionarily resistant to herding in fact their response to stimuli is almost the opposite  of what a herding animal's response to stimuli would be like a herding animal is like let me  stay away from this thing that i don't understand and cats are like you know they they they make  their shoulders big they stick their ass up and they make that sound that they only make  that that emergency sound that cats have it's like astounding it's like they're the hong kong  foo event they're about to change into something totally different yeah i know it's a deep cut um  did we cover in the episode that one of the cats got stuck in the walls i think we did i think we  did um the cat wranglers who spent the night with it because we shot over two days the cat wranglers  actually spent the night in the space with the cats to keep them happy and comfortable which was  amazing the cat volunteers were fantastic they were terrific unfortunately the next day when  we woke up when we all showed up on set it turned out that one of the cats had crawled into the wall  and gotten stuck in the wall and we literally had to tear out the wall to get this cat back  but we got to try herding cats i mean of all the most i don't know this that one  stands out for me as one of the more ridiculous things we ever did and i'm super glad we did  it like there is a place in the world to test that phrase and it was it was on us and we achieved it  i'm really really pleased with that um no one wants to herd cats no one needs to herd cats  just in the same way that no one needs to make a lead balloon but but we tried itand i think we showed definitively that it is way against plausibility  way against plausibility there you go that's my new version of busted  uh keely kat's mom thank you for that awesome question  tested patrons keep submitting your questions and i will keep answering them  it's been really lovely all these mythbuster questions over the past few weeks  um it's been lovely revisiting this um and in particular frankly i must admit it's delightful  to talk about some of the inside baseball which i wouldn't have shared before uh you know close  to the production time i mean there's just things you hold back sometimes that you can reveal years  later i'm not going to tell you which things no you got to figure it out yourself but i do feel  like a little bit more freedom these days to talk about it and not like i'm going to talk crap about  anybody i'm you know just going to talk about some of the difficulties we had that we might not  have highlighted before that's all alright stay safe wear your masks i'll see you guys next time\n"