I’m quite fond of Mythbusters (one of my never-to-be-fufilled ambitions in life is to appear on the show in some sort of firearms expert capacity), and it’s one of the few TV shows that I’ll make time to sit down and watch when it’s on.
One of the things I’ve wondered, though, is whether Adam & Jamie get along that well off-camera? I know they run M5 Industries together, but I’m assistant manager at a store full of people I certainly don’t see socially, so I don’t think that counts for a lot.
I certainly get the impression that the two of them aren’t heading down to the pub for a few drinks together after shooting wraps on an episode, and while the rest of the team there all seem to work pretty well together I just get a faint vibe of annoyance from Jamie towards Adam, although I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Surely I’m not the only one who’s wondered about this?
I get the same vibe, but I’m pretty sure its a scthick. Jamie is the serious one, and Adam is the goofball, so straight-man is always vaguely annoyed and exhausted by goof-balls antics.
In an interview with Adam I read somewhere, he admitted he’d never visited Jamie’s home for any reason; the implication being Jamie keeps his private life private.
I’m sure their families know each other well enough, but that one aspect says a lot about their relationship, I think; that they are close work colleagues more than friends.
I read a comment (sorry, no link; I don’t recall where it was) about the show and its continuing popularity in which Jamie answers some questions, and he says that one “myth” about the show is that he and Adam are best friends. I got the impression that it’s much like the show in that they get along but Adam bugs the hell out of him sometimes.
There was one episode where Jamie went ballistic over the mess Adam had made in the workshop. He acted like a proper pissed-off boss rather than an annoyed friend.
I can’t speak for Jamie and Adam, but having worked in the same field as a effects sculptor, I can tell you that it’s a common attitude among artists not to be “friends”. Creative people tend to be rather big personalities, and that often causes snafus. I’m about 75% Adam, 25% Jamie, and when I get on a roll, I tend to ignore both rules, and common courtesy. I KNOW I do it, but I’m completely swept up in the “EUREKA!” moment. This does work out well with employers who like to keep a neat and organized shop.
If you think about the amount of time they must end up spending together just to do the show, they’d have to be real bosom buddies to want to see each other in addition to that.
The impression I get of Jamie is that he is a person who is easily annoyed by others, but has enough understanding to not let this become a problem for him. This is not true of all people who own companies.
I think they get along fine as coworkers, and have a great deal of respect for each other, even if Jamie thinks Adam can be a careless doofus and Adam thinks Jamie is an overbearing control freak. I think the incidence of TV stars being chummy both on and off screen is fairly rare.
I read Joseph Hannah’s (or maybe it was Will Barbera’s) autobiography, and the subject of friendship came up. Basically, he stated that they were collaborators and co-workers inside their offices, but outside of their offices they were basically strangers. They never hung out together, knew only superficially of each others’ families, and didn’t know each other on any level that transcended what was necessary to get the job done.
Seems like this might be true of a lot of pairs of people who work closely together. IIRC, Laurel & Hardy and Abott & Costello weren’t friends with each other outside of work.
I’m also reminded of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, whose normal working relationship – getting along perfectly well on the job, then going off to their own lives when work is over – was always caricatured as barely-contained hatred.
I just went and saw them at the Rio last night. You can buy a program for $5, and inside, there’s a “Penn on Teller” biography and a “Teller on Penn” biography. Having read them both, they seem to practically be soulmates. Penn did say that he doesn’t see Teller outside of work, and they don’t “hang out” together, and in the very next sentence, adds “But we’re working all the time.” The implication being that they don’t really need to “hang out” as friends because when they’re together, they’re working on the show (one of the 3 rules of their relationship is that the show always comes first).
Whenever I see the same actors doing multiple movies or whatnot with each other, I have to assume that they at least respect and admire one another on a professional level. The example that popped into my mind is all of the Christopher Guest ensemble comedies. There are several recurring actors in these, and especially given that these films are improv-heavy, the actors must have good chemistry or I would think the concept would not work multiple times. Whether or not they are chummy off-stage, I don’t know, but as a few people here have pointed out, just how much time do these folks spend off-stage anyway? It’s understandable that they’d get a fair amount of socializing or whatnot in while working and wouldn’t really need to stretch out more quality time with their colleagues.
As for the Mythbusters, I’ve always seen them as pretty much an “Odd Couple” situation, where their common ground is in their profession and not in their personalities. And that’s fine, I had several people in my major in college whom I very much enjoyed working with in classes and on projects, but did not necessarily hang out with on the weekends. Having separate social spheres isn’t the same as not getting along with someone.
Now the dynamic that I REALLY don’t understand is on American Chopper. Do these guys really come close to completely melting down all the time, or is it just staged for dramatic effect?
I’ll toss another example into the mix in the guys in Rush. They’ve been playing together for almost 35 years (!) and enjoy doing so. But when they’re not working they’re totally separate people. They stay in touch but it’s not a ‘best friends’ kind of thing. Hell, one of them (Peart) lives in another country than the other two. And when they’re at the initial stages of writing an album they’re all HOME. It’s not until they have some rough idea of where they’re going that the get together in a studio.
