Bullz-Eye: I feel like we’re practically best friends now that we’ve Tweeted back and forth.

Kevin Michael Connolly: I know! Exactly! It’s, like, one step away from exchanging bodily fluids! [Hesitates.] Okay, maybe not that close. But it’s in the ballpark. Six degrees from…

BE: Yeah, we can probably just agree that we’re very close.

KMC: Got it. [Laughs.]

BE: Thanks to the Travel Channel, I’ve been able to check out the advance screeners of the first two episodes of “Armed and Ready.”

KMC: Oh, cool!

BE: I would say the same. So you’re a guy who’s gone from winning a medal in the X Games to being recognized for your photography to writing a book to now hosting a show for Travel Channel. That’d be a pretty amazing road to travel for anybody, let alone somebody who’s had to tackle these things from, shall we say, a different vantage point.

KMC: And to do it all by the time I’m 27! [Laughs.] It’s pretty crazy, man.

BE: So what are the origins of “Armed and Ready”? How did you find yourself in this line of work?

KMC: Well, Travel Channel contacted me after I had an article come out in Outside Magazine that was in promotion of my book, Double Take. Really, the show is an extension of everything I’d been doing with my photography and skiing. I mean, we don’t have skiing in the first season or anything, but, basically, with both of those activities, whether it was traveling on the road with a camera or jumping on my mono-ski, all of it required adaptation and building jury-rigged apparatuses on the spot to allow me to do whatever I needed to do. And as you saw in both of those episodes, we’re certainly still trying to build our way out of a lot of problems. [Laughs.]

BE: In regards to the absence of skiing in the first season, was that because it just seemed too obvious, or did you just want to challenge yourself a bit more?

KMC: No, we just shot during the summer. [Laughs.]

BE: Makes sense. Well, in those first two episodes, we see you taking on the Great Smoky Mountains and Hawaii, but where else do we see you go during Season 1?

KMC: I get to do a NASA trip, so I get to try and become the first legless astronaut, and I get to go through a lot of the training there, driving the lunar rover and some zero-g activities. There’s a medieval-themed episode in Fort Collins, Colorado, where I’m jousting, which was – hands down – the scariest activity or sport we had throughout the whole series, just because, like, what’s the first thing you do to a horse? You straddle it. And I, uh, can’t. [Laughs.] So we definitely were trying to…I mean, I’m literally in the episode on the back of the horse, and someone’s drilling straps onto the actual saddle, just trying to make it work even as we’re getting ready to actually do the joust. And then we have ranger training at Fort Benning, in Georgia.

BE: As you were saying, and as I saw in those two episodes, the people you’re working with at these various places definitely seem to be game not only for you to give these endeavors a shot but are actually intrigued at the idea of trying to figure out how to make them work. Did you come across anybody who said, “No, you can’t do that, no way”?

KMC: Well, I mean, obviously, since we’re Twitter buddies… [Laughs.] People spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned through that, it’s that everything more or less has already been done. If you need something built or you want to go somewhere, chances are that someone has gone before you and done that. And so, while not having legs definitely provides its own set of logistical challenges, the other way to look at it is that it opens up this whole new realm of problems to solve and things to explore.

I mean, really, if anything, when people ask me, “Wow, you jumped from photography to writing to now television, why did you do all that?” the answer’s simple: I just have a really unique point of view that I like to explore, and it can be explored in a bunch of different mediums. But in this case specifically, it’s a chance to, y’know, have a bigger budget instead of just, say, being an author by yourself. Also, getting to meet some of the people and go to some of the locations that we do, that’s what really allows us to build some of the more complex contraptions that you’re gonna see on the show. The added benefit of that, too, is that no one else can really use them. [Laughs.] So at the end of every episode, I just get a new device to play with!

BE: Actually, that leads into something I’d been wondering about. I know your father designed several devices over the years to help you get around. Has he been able to patent any of those, so that others can possibly benefit from them?

KMC: Well, I actually just finished building a mono-ski for a young boy from Make-a-Wish Foundation based off of an old mono-ski that I designed myself. Honestly, that’s one of the biggest goals I have with this show. I mean, obviously I hope everyone watches it and we get great ratings and it’s really enjoyed widely, but there’s gonna be a specific subset of people who watch it and the solutions that we come up with on an episode might be direct inspiration for them to go, like, “Oh! Now I can go try and street luge!” Or, “Yeah, okay, so that’s how you build a saddle from scratch for a horse!” [Laughs.] That direct help, especially in the adapted-sporting-devices arena, is really awesome. I mean, one of the things I remember as a kid growing up in Montana in the pre-Google world was that access to information for someone with physical disabilities was really, really difficult. So to get to expand the network, much less put it on a national stage, is just…I dunno, it’s just a feel-good opportunity, if that makes any sense.

BE: Sure it does. How did you come up with your list of destinations for the show? And were there any things that you weren’t able to do because of insurance concerns or whatever?

KMC: Yeah. Basically, I was asked by the production company I’m working with…and this is total coincidence, but ironic nonetheless: they’re called Crazy Legs Productions. [Laughs.] Totally separate. They were founded years before they met me. But they came to me and just asked me flat out, “What’s your bucket list? What are things you’d want to do?” And a lot of my stuff was going back to my eight-year-old desires, which were, like, “I want to be an astronaut and experience zero-gravity, I’ve always wanted to skateboard in a suit of armor…” So I’m, like, “Send them that list!” And sometimes there’ll be a miss. One time I wanted to rally-car drive, and they’re, like, “We might have to wait for the second season.” [Laughs.] ‘Cause trying to insure a legless kid doing the crap that I’m doing, I imagine, is a very difficult proposition. But, anyway, I was trying to give them what I wanted to do, and my producer would come back to me, and she’d usually add some dangerous element to the mix. So it’s, like, “All right, you want to go skateboarding in a suit of armor and be a knight? Well, then, you’ve got to joust.” So there’s definitely…it’s good, ‘cause I’m a little bit of a masochist, and I know my producer is definitely a sadist. [Laughs.] So it’s a good relationship.

BE: You seem to have an infinite wealth of limb-related puns at your disposal.

KMC: [Laughs.] Well, y’know, the blessing and the curse of being born without legs is that you certainly…you always have a better repertoire of jokes about not having legs than anyone coming up to you thinking they’re gonna try to be clever and pull a new one. Every now and then I’ll hear a new one, and I’ll stop and give a little golf handclap. But for the most part, I’ve heard ‘em all.

BE: In regards to the zip ties that you had to use to tie your shirt and pants together when you’re making the cliff jump in Hawaii…well, I’m just gonna say it: I think you’re too disparaging about how people would react to seeing your balls. Travel Channel viewers have seen a lot worse than that on their TV screens.

KMC: You know, that’s probably true. [Laughs.] That is probably true. But, I mean, that’s one of the things where…I don’t know whether it’s necessarily always the best attitude to have for television, but at the end of the day, for me, I’m, like, “I don’t care what it looks like. Screw it: if it works, that’s the most important thing.” I guess what I’m saying here is that, as a TV host, I’m definitely not afraid to zip-tie my shirt to my pants.

BE: You mentioned Double Take a few minutes ago. I know it’s been optioned for a possible film. Have you heard any updates on the status of that?

KMC: Um…all I know—all I’m allowed to say, actually—is that it’s now being produced with Groundswell Productions in conjunction with Katie Jacobs. So, yeah, it’s moving along. I can’t really give any too-specific details, though. Sorry!

BE:  It’s all good. As far as your experiences with the X Games, I was wondering if you had the opportunity to see any performances by bands that really stood out for you.

KMC: I didn’t really get to see any bands. For the most part, when you’re at X Games, you are either in your bed, trying to sleep or ice out a recovery, or you’re on the courts. I mean, really, X Games for the athletes is a really amazing time, but also…I mean, every day I was scared out of my mind. You don’t have any time or mental state to go out and enjoy yourself. [Laughs.] As odd as that sounds. Everybody who went with me had a blast, but I was scared out of my fricking mind every day! I did get to see 50 Cent walk through with his entourage, which was pretty funny, just because…well, just because they’re a bunch of really big bouncer dudes walking through a tent filled with tiny little ski kids. Everyone was scared. It was awesome. [Laughs.]

BE: I should clarify that the only reason I really asked that question was to find out where your musical tastes lie.

KMC: Hmmm. I’m really all over the map. I really like freak-folk type stuff, so Bonnie Prince Billy, older Sufjan Stevens… But then I also dig The Knife, Royksopp… [Hesitates.] I’m trying to think. What’s my latest thing? Well, then I’ve been into this Mongolian…I forget the name of the instrument he’s playing, sorry. I’m pulling up my iTunes. And I’m being way too specific. [Laughs.] Suffice it to say that I’m really into music! I just had Marty Robbins on a little earlier ago, from way back when, playing “Big Iron.” And then I have a remix of Damian Marley by Skrillex, and then I’ve got Beck and Interpol and Die Antwoord and Alex Clare… How’s that?

BE: I’d say that “really all over the map” really undersells your musical tastes.

KMC: [Laughs.] Oh, good!

BE: I went to the website for “The Rolling Exhibition,” and in your artist’s statement, you mention how people have variously wondered if your legs were eaten by a shark, lost in a car accident, or the result of a stint in Iraq, but what’s the craziest thing someone’s said in suggestion of what happened to them?

KMC: Um…well, I remember one night when I was trick-or-treating as a kid, I was probably 10 or 11 years ago, and a little kid came up to me. I was sitting on the step of a porch, and…you know how those porches go, where you can see under the porch through the gaps between the steps as you walk up? This little kid came up to me, and he’s looking underneath the stairs, looking at me, then looking underneath the stairs again. And then he said, “How did you get that costume?” [Laughs.] So the assumption that this is just an elaborate Halloween costume was definitely a good one.

My personal favorite, simply because I still to this day have no real idea what his motivations were, was when I was in the Ukraine and was getting ready to jump on a subway car to head back to the place where I was staying. I had my backpack, so I threw my backpack and my skateboard on the train, and as I jumped from the platform into the train, two arms came from behind me and just lifted me off the ground. With no explanation! I struggled to turn around, and it’s this burly, mustachioed Ukranian dude, looking at me. And he’s got me pretty well wrapped up, but his eyes just read of pure fear, and he’s speaking rapidly in Russian to me…but I don’t speak Russian! My best guess, though, is that he was just, like, “Oh, my God, this guy needs help, I should pick him up,” without thinking of the second half of that, which was, “Where do I put him?” So he’s trying to figure out the second half of this issue, but I couldn’t help him, so eventually I just pulled the three-year-old noodle maneuver – when you don’t want to be held by your mom, you just ooze out – and I got away. So, uh, the reactions are far and wide. [Laughs.]

BE: And you’re still traveling far and wide, except now you’re doing it as the host of your TV show. The adventure, as they say, continues.

KMC: Yeah, one of the biggest catalysts for travel and meeting new people and just having new experiences in life is just curiosity, so while I have to deal with some weird questions and weird reactions from time to time… I also have the ultimate ace in the hole in terms of inspiring people’s curiosity, so it’s really cool to just be able to know that you can land almost anywhere, whether it be in the U.S. or abroad, and have people be interested enough at least in what you’re doing to open up. I dunno, I just found myself very quickly engaging with locals and ingratiating myself with the local culture, simply because of how unique it is that I’m getting around the way I do.

BE: To wrap up, you mentioned at least one of the possibilities for the second season of “Armed and Ready,” should there be one. Do you have any other thoughts of where you’d like to take the series if you get a sophomore year?

KMC: [Loudly.] Rally-car driving! [Laughs.] I figure if I say this enough, they’re just gonna have to do it, because there’s gonna be promises made in ink. I want to rally-car drive! But I was definitely told flat out, “We can’t afford insurance for that right now.” But one of the ways in which I think of the things I want to do is based on questions that I get asked by people, and one of the most common questions is, “How do you drive?” And so I would obviously like to answer that, but not by, like, driving a minivan or something. Let’s kick it up a notch! [Laughs.] So, basically, what I’m saying is that trying to drive a manual, stick-shift rally car sounds like a lovely Sunday afternoon…

Carmichael chatted with Bullz-Eye about the origins of his series – the cleverly-titled “Dangerous Grounds,” which debuts on November 5 at 10 PM – and how his coffee-hunting adventures have changed since he’s had to start traveling with a cameraman by his side, also offering up a few suggestions of where casual coffee fans can start the process of expanding their palate to more unique tastes. By the way, for the record, Carmichael admitted to being “a little juiced up on caffeine” during our conversation, having just come off a lengthy coffee-tasting session, but as someone who’s perpetually hopped up on caffeine myself, he sounded perfectly normal to me.

Bullz-Eye: First of all, I was able to check out the first episode of “Dangerous Grounds” before our chat, and I really enjoyed it.

Todd Carmichael: Oh, great! That was Haiti, right?

BE: Yep, sure was.

TC: Oh, excellent. Yeah, that was a great adventure.

BE: Well, to jump way back to the very beginning, when did your love of / addiction to caffeine first begin?

TC: [Laughs.] Oh, you know, it’s just like any other addiction: it’s hard to tell the actual moment. But I definitely really remember the first time I said, “Okay, this is what I’m going to do.” But I did it for a different purpose. I was 15 years old, and I was just one of these obsessed little distance runners. It was really distance running that got me to college, to the University of Washington. And I read this article in Runner’s World Magazine at the time, and there was a guy named Bill Rogers, he was kind of like the reigning champion of the Boston Marathon, and he wrote an article about his use of caffeine and coffee and how it affected his running. And, you know, at that time, everyone kind of thought of coffee as a dangerous thing, as if it was like cigarettes or something like that. Needless to say, the next morning I brewed my very first pot…and drank the whole thing. [Laughs.] And I haven’t really stopped doing that since.

BE: So what made you actually go into the coffee business?

TC: Well, first, I think coffee chose me. And then later on, I chose coffee. Like I said, I went off from a small town on the eastern side of Washington and went to the big city to college, and although I had a full scholarship for distance running, I still needed to have a little extra money, so I started looking for jobs. But I was a farm boy, and it wasn’t such an easy thing to come by, because I didn’t really know how to do anything other than, like, drag hay bales and grain sacks around. [Laughs.] But I finally found a job, and it was in coffee. And it didn’t take me long to kind of fall in love with the exotic idea of…I mean, I looked at all these bags, and they weren’t like the bags back home. They had names on ‘em like Tanzania and Rwanda, and it just really got me dreaming. And when I finished my education, I pursued for a couple of years tax law, of all things. That’s what I’d studied to do. But I missed coffee. So then, through my twenties, I saved all my money in order to start my own coffee company, which I did at the end of ’93 with my best friend. And then the rest is history.

BE:  Certainly the term “adventurer” has been used to describe you a few times here and there.

TC: [Laughs.] Yeah.

BE: How did this particular adventure of doing “Dangerous Grounds” come about?

TC: Well, I think that the adventure of “Dangerous Grounds” started somewhere in Antarctica. I know that sounds strange, but what happened was that I set out to be the first American ever to solo from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole on foot, a trekking kind of feat. I had the intention of breaking the world record. And before I left, my wife said that one of the conditions of letting me go out on my own for two months in Antarctica was, “Honey, I want you to keep a video log and to bring it home and share it.” Which I did. And, strangely, it turned into a documentary. And then it ended up on televisions all around the world and in a couple of different theaters. And it was while watching it in one of those theaters with my wife that she turned and said, “You should do the same with coffee.”

I guess I got a joy out of sharing it, y’know?  Sharing a place that came to mean a lot to me with people who might not otherwise take the time to do what I did. And my wife really just persuaded me that, “Honey, you’re going to all these different mountains all over the world, you should share those as well.” And the next thing I know, here I am. It’s a bit of a Forrest Gump story. [Laughs.] I wish it was something other than that, but, y’know, basically, I had this great idea and then I sold it. It was kind of just that, y’know, a woman named Nancy Glass, my wife, and the people at Travel Channel all kind of got together and said, “There’s something here.” And I’ve been running around the mountains with the camera guy ever since.

BE: Was it a case where you had thoughts in mind as to where you’d take the show, or did Travel Channel have specific suggestions?

TC: No, y’know, my travel plans are pretty aggressive already. I mean, that’s one of the beautiful things in working with Travel Channel. They just say, “Todd, where are we going?” Some of the countries, where I’m just going in and dealing with administrative matters with farmers that I’ve worked with before, I get to do those solo. So I can really let my hair down then. [Laughs.] But, no, the other regions…well, I’ll try to put it in a nutshell. There are 80 coffee-growing countries around the world, but the bulk of coffee comes from about seven of those, maybe eight. And I’ve proved over the years that those other countries that add up to equal the 80, there are beautiful coffees there. They’re just harder to find. And it’s kind of like having a ballpark all to yourself with some of these countries. Like Haiti, for example. We’re going in, having a hypothesis, locating it, bringing it back home, working it over the next couple of months…now we’ve taken multiple trips there…and bringing something home that no one else has. Those are the kinds of boundaries I like to push. And so far, so good, y’know? The difference now is that I lean over and I just see this really scared guy holding a camera on his shoulder. [Laughs.]

BE: Which leads into my next question, actually. One of the taglines of the show is that this is your real life whether it’s being filmed or not, but how has it changed some of these trips for you by having a camera guy right there?

TC: That’s the truth, man. If someone says differently, they’re not addressing the question right. There’s a couple of things. One is that having a camera person with you slows you down. And I learned that in the first three to five minutes of ever filming. We got into trouble in the red zone in Port a Prince, Haiti, in that market, ‘cause I’m calculating how long it’s going to take me to get in and out of this place. Well, the camera guy slows down, and the next thing you know, you’re in trouble. The second aspect is that, y’know, you start seeing yourself. Do you know what I mean? I’m able to kind of reflect on myself through the eyes of what I see in this camera guy’s eyes. And it gives me focus. It does. It really lets me…I focus a lot more on my job at hand, and I think ultimately it’s because behind that round glass they’re pointing at you, there’s a lot of people. And I really don’t want to fail in front of a lot of people. [Laughs.] So the change is that it gives me more anxiety in so many ways, because I just so want to not fail in front of America. And, y’know, if you’re doing something for so long…in so many ways, those two aspects really add to it. It’s, like, an additional adrenaline level. There’s a little bit more electricity in the air. So I guess in so many ways it just gives a little extra bounce to my step. So it affects it…y’know, I don’t ever expect to get a call from some office somewhere in New York or DC saying, “Todd, we want you to go to XYZ because that would be great, and you’ll find coffee.” It’ll never work that way.

BE: A lot of people who aren’t professional coffee drinkers, if you will, will probably look at the show and just kind of shrug and think, “Well, coffee is coffee.” Has there been any consideration given to doing a “Dangerous Grounds” sampler pack, where people can actually taste what the difference is between some of these coffees you’re going after?

TC: You know, it’s funny, because I actually kind of did that today. [Laughs.] We put together maybe 40 people in a room, and…I know that people are thinking, “Wow, okay, so is this, like, ghostly nuances that normal people can’t pick up on?” No, I think that if that’s the case, then I’ve failed at my job. It’s really finding dynamically different tasting coffees. And so we went through that tasting, and…well, you’re a journalist, you know how they are. They’re a critical crowd, right?

BE: Absolutely.

TC: It’s not easy to…I was looking in their eyes, and they couldn’t believe what I was saying. I said, “Now, this one has a taste of blueberry.” And you could just see the look on their faces, because it dramatically is that taste. My job is not to find those things that are just, like, one atom away from the one that’s to the left. That’s not it. Then I would really be wasting my time. My job is to find things that are dramatically unique. And different tasting. Like champagne is to white wine is to red wine, and within that category, you should be able to tell the difference between a Chianti and a Bordeaux. They need to be dramatic. And if they’re not, then you’re not looking hard enough.

BE: Of the coffees that are spotlighted on the series, which is the most unique?

TC: Well, that one’s easy. In this category, there are three species of coffee. Species, like cat, dog, and camel. They’re completely unrelated in terms of their genetics. In coffee, there are three of them that you can drink. There are more species than that, but there are only three that you can actually drink. One is Arabica, one is Robusta, and there’s another one that very few people have ever heard of, and that’s Liberica. They haven’t heard of it because there aren’t any Liberica beans in the United States. In the world’s coffee, they represent like point-zero, then lots and lots of zeroes, and then a tiny number after that. For years, I had never tasted it, but finally I said, “Okay, I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna go, and I’m gonna buy, like, 300 or 400 pounds of this.” Just because of curiosity. Even all of my frienemy coffee roasters, guys who own other coffee-roasting companies, none of them had ever tasted it. So I knew at least that I had a captive audience. [Laughs.] They would be forced to buy that coffee from me!

So it took some time to find it, but I was just completely blown away. You saw the episode, you saw how large a coffee berry is. Liberica is the size of a ping-pong ball. I mean, it’s large and round, bigger than a crabapple. And in it are two seeds that look like almonds. That’s the size of the bean. And when you roast it, it gets even bigger. That’s why they call it the elephant coffee. [Laughs.] I don’t want to say this, because I don’t want to come off as too much of a coffee geek, but, I mean, I felt a tear coming. I was, like, “Oh, dude, I’ve found it! I’ve found it!” And I was able to taste it and bring it home and share it with all of my…y’know, there are Trekkies and then there are coffee fans. So being able to share it with them, that was a real moment. So, yeah, that was the most unique coffee.

BE: On the flip side of that, is there a coffee that you might recommend as kind of a gateway out of mainstream coffee and into a slightly more unique taste, but not so different that it’s going to freak out someone who’s only just trying to branch out?

TC: [Laughs.] Yeah, I see what you mean. Kind of an entry-level coffee.

BE: Exactly.

TC: Central America has a reputation that…I mean, the taste of the coffee in Central America, particularly Costa Rica, they are what we call mild. It’s an extraordinarily balanced coffee, and it’s a very good kind of first step towards, “Listen, I’m gonna start playing around with my coffee brewer at home.” It’s a safe coffee. But in all coffees, always look for altitude. The higher the coffee, the better. I mean, you and me and someone who has never drank coffee before, we can all go visit a farm that’s…let’s say that part of it is a thousand feet higher than the bottom part. I pick some beans from the top, I pick some from the bottom, we roast ‘em and make coffee, you would say, “Oh, my God! Night and day!” So Costa Rica, high altitude. The next one, and this is more fruity and more acidic, is Yirgacheff, from Ethiopia. Those two are great. The way I describe ‘em is that they’re crowd pleasers.

BE: It’s only been in the past couple of years that I had my first Ethiopian coffee, and it was mind-blowing. I just thought it was fantastic.

TC: I’m glad to hear you say that. Okay, all right, I’m hugging you right now. [Laughs.] Yeah, Ethiopia is a really important country for coffee. I mean, not all coffee out of Ethiopia is mind-blowing, but if you fall down in Ethiopia, the chance of getting up and finding a mind-blowing one is pretty high. It’s the homeland for all that is beautiful about coffee.

BE: Well, I’m glad you were able to find a few minutes to chat before you head off on your latest jaunt. And I’m thrilled that I’ve been assured that a couple more bags of your coffee are heading my way.

TC: In that case, I’ll go ahead and let you know that the Ethiopian is from Harrar. Oftentimes you’ll hear coffee geeks talk about the fruit aspects of coffee, and then you taste it and you’re, like, “Nah, I’m not picking up on that,” while the coffee geek is going, “Ah, it has a hint of watermelon!” [Laughs.] We’re talking about those ghostly references there. But this one is a beautiful example of blueberry. It’s the one I mentioned earlier. And, again, I think it will show you that when I do find a blueberry and say it’s blueberry, it’s gonna be very, very obvious. When it’s hot, you’ll taste it, it’ll be floral, but let it cool down a little bit, and suddenly you’re gonna have blueberry in your mouth.

These comments, as you may have guessed, are the way Jordan Hembrough, host and star of the new Travel Channel series “Toy Hunter,” bookended our phone conversation a few days ago. Like myself, he’s both a father and an unabashed sci-fi geek, so it should be no surprise that I enjoyed watching the initial installment of his show, which finds him traveling the country in search of various toys and action figures, including just about everything that was part of my pop culture diet growing up, including “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and even relative obscurities like “Space 1999” and Disney’s “The Black Hole.”

“Toy Hunter” premieres tonight at 10 PM (9 PM CST) on Travel Channel. If it isn’t already programmed into your TiVo – and if you’ve ever been called a geek or a nerd in your time, it really should be – then perhaps this chat will inspire you to fix that situation post-haste.

Bullz-Eye: First of all, I’ve got to tell you that not only did I enjoy watching the screener, but I’ve got a seven-year-old daughter, and she was digging it right along with me.

Jordan Hembrough: You know, Will, I’ve got to tell you: you just hit something that’s…it’s a real special chord with me. I’m really hoping that families will watch this show together, because when I watched it with my kids, they were enjoying it and asking me about old toys as well.

BE: One of the funniest things – and you may have experienced this, too – was that one of the most frequent comments I heard from my daughter was, “You really played with that?”

JH: [Laughs.] You know, that’s exactly what my son said to me. He goes, “So did you get this with an iPhone application?” “No.” “So does it hook up to a computer?” “No, it doesn’t hook up to a computer!”

BE: In prepping for this conversation, I discovered that you had an affiliation with Starlog when you first got started in the toy business.

JH: Yeah! You know Starlog?

BE: Absolutely. I’m 41, so I used to read it back in the day.

JH: Well, there you go: I’m 42. Yeah, I was the buyer for their chain of retail stores. It was awesome. I had a great time. In fact, that’s how I actually got my start doing what I do. When the company shut down, I bought a lot of the inventory. It was fantastic. I was excited about that.

BE: So what first got you into the geekier pursuits, as it were, of sci-fi and whatnot?

JH: [Laughs.] Well, I’ve got to be honest with you: I’ve always been a diehard collector. It’s something I’ve done all my life. I was a huge “Star Wars” collector when I was a kid. And when I was in college, right before I graduated, I used to shop at Starlog, and they were just starting up the giant franchise corporation and asked me to come on as a merchandise coordinator, which turned into a buyer for the company. So when you talk about sci-fi and geek stuff, it’s because when I was a kid, I was a huge “Star Wars” collector.

BE: So what made you decide to turn it into a career? Certainly, when Starlog closed its doors, you could’ve just as easily said, “Well, that was fun, but I’ve done my time.”

JH: You know, Will, the truth of the matter is that I didn’t know what else to do with my life. [Laughs.] I basically said, “I don’t want to become an accountant. I don’t want to be a lawyer. What can I do?” And I said, “Y’know what? I really love toys. Let’s see if I can really do this. Let’s see if I can make a career out of it.” And I have. And I’m very fortunate to do what I do.

BE: Earlier this year, prior to “Toy Hunter” going to series, you did a one-hour “Toy Hunters” special. How did you cross paths with Travel Channel in the first place?

JH: I was actually contacted by Sharp Entertainment a little over a year, and Sharp Entertainment…they’re very known for “Man vs. Food” and “Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America,” and they have a really great working relationship with Travel Channel as well. So Sharp pitched the show to Travel, and Travel picked it up as a one-hour special. And we did exceptionally well in the ratings, but I think what really turned it around was the fan support on social media, because a lot of fans came out on various social media sites and on the website and said how much they loved the show and wanted to see more of it.

BE: A lot of people may think it’s more or less the same as Kevin Smith’s show on AMC (“Comic Book Men”), but it’s actually the flip side, one could argue, because you’re actually going out into the field.

JH: I would agree. We’re out in the field, we’re hunting through basements and attics everywhere in America, and…what I always say, what I tell everyone, is that I’m on the Great American Toy Hunt. America is essentially my co-pilot on this journey with me, and…well, as I said, I’m very, very lucky to do what I do. And it is Travel Channel, so we are out there in the field as often as not.

BE: “Star Wars” is obviously a big deal for you, but is there a specific toy genre that you’d say that you specialize in? I’ve read that you’re pretty deep into “Thundercats.”

JH: Yeah, you could say that. [Laughs.] So are there any fields that I specialize in? Basically all of the ‘80s toys, both boys and girls. They’re my sweet spot that I really truly love. 1970s as well. So of course I’m partial to lines like “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica,” because it’s what I collected as a child, but a lot of the other toy lines are really, really fun, too, like “Thundercats,” like “Masters of the Universe.” Even the girls’ lines like “Strawberry Shortcake” and “Jem,” they’re interesting to me because I’m always surprised at how much money some of them can get.

BE: Say, out of curiosity, how do the “Black Hole” figures hold up in value nowadays?

JH: [Laughs.] Boy, I gotta tell ya, it’s so funny you mention that, because aside from a couple of them, they’re only like $30 or $40. But I just came across a designer who actually worked on the original line and had some of the prototypes and some of the original wax sculpting for Maximilian and Vincent. Those sold for thousands of dollars each. They did very well.

BE: When I grew up, my mother was a teacher and my father worked for the railroad, so, y’know, we were lower/middle class, which meant that our toys tended to not always be “Star Wars” but, rather, “Star Trek” or “Space 1999.”

JH: I love it! That’s great, too. “Star Trek” and “Space 1999” are great toys. In fact, the Eagle One play set from Mattel for “Space 1999” is one of the hardest toys to get on the market complete. And if you have one sealed, it’s probably close to $900.

BE: Well, I didn’t have one sealed for very long, but I did get it for Christmas one year.

JH: Awesome! Well, you opened it up and played with it. That’s the next best thing. [Laughs.]

BE: I know you go to New Jersey and North Carolina in the first “Toy Hunter” installments, but where else does the rest of the first season take you?

JH: Yeah, we went to North Carolina and to Jersey, we went to Los Angeles and to San Francisco. We kicked around parts of Texas for awhile, and now we’re just gearing up to…well, I’m gearing up personally to go to Florida, because I’m doing the “Star Wars” Celebration. I’m on a panel down there, giving a talk on what it’s like to follow me on the road and film toys for TV.

BE: What’s it like being in front of the camera?

JH: You know what? It’s not as hard as you would think for me. I’m talking about what I know, I’m talking about what I love. When I was younger, I was actually an actor and did a bunch of bit parts on TV and a lot of theater, so I’m really marrying two of my loves, and that really means a lot to me. So for me, it’s not that difficult. It’s the things that you don’t think about that become troublesome, like, “Did I pack enough clean underwear for the road?” [Laughs.]

BE: So what’s your favorite purchase that you’ve found thus far that you can talk about without giving too much away?

JH: Well, I can tell you that I was able to find… [Starts to laugh.] I was able to find some “Jurassic Park” toys that were very, very special to me. It was special, basically, because they went for a lot more than I thought they would, and it was a father-and-son collecting team together… I don’t want to give away too much, but I think it’s a great episode, and I think you’ll enjoy watching it along with everyone else.

BE: Do you find it hard to get some of the people you’re dealing with to part with these items?

JH: You know, I do, and I think I kind of shoot myself in the foot sometimes because I get so excited about the stuff. They start going, “Oh, you know what? I think I’m gonna keep this. I don’t know if I want to sell it!” [Laughs.] So every now and then, it does become difficult.

BE: When did you open your store, Hollywood Heroes?

JH: I opened Hollywood Heroes…we were incorporated in 1995.

BE: What was it like to step out on your own like that?

JH: Um…scary. [Laughs.] But it was also exhilarating. I think I feel everything that every other entrepreneur and business owner feels. You know, there’s trepidation when the market is down. I think the really differentiating factor between what I do and what someone else does is that nobody truly needs the toys that I’m selling. I mean, when you have a mortgage or the kids need braces, you don’t need a Batman figure. But on that same note, it always surprises me and amazes me how those people always find the money to get the toys that they love. And that really invigorates me to keep doing what I’m doing. Because to these people, this is very important, and if it’s important to them, it’s important to me.

BE: So how much time are you required to spend traveling for “Toy Hunter”? Does it take you away from the business?

JH: That’s a very good question. It’s taking a lot of time away from my business. Right now we’re in the early stages of trying to figure this out. It’s a juggling act for me. So what I’m doing is, I’m getting help from other people who work at the company with me part-time for shouldering the load, answering emails and shipping toys and picking up shipments and everything like that. So right now it’s a juggling act, but it’s like every other new business model. That’s the way I’m looking at this. I’m filming a show and running a business. It’ll work itself out. I’m happy to be here.

BE: In one interview I read online, you mentioned that you were very proud of a “Lost in Space” toy you’d found. Are there any other classics from your back catalog that you’re still particularly proud of? Not necessarily something you’ve found during the show, so you don’t have to spoil anything.

JH: [Laughs.] You know, awhile ago I did purchase a prototype of Boba Fett from the original “Star Wars” line from Kenner. It was the original wax sculpt, and it truly was one of a kind. I don’t think I’ll see another one like it again. I regret that one leaving my inventory. But I’m happy, because it was known around the world, and I was the one that got it, and I was the one who brought it to market. That sold for $65,000. It’s in a very good home right now. It’s overseas in a private collector’s hands, and I know that it will not go anywhere. And usually when I know the toy will be locked up in a private collection and not for resale, it at least makes the parting less sorrowful. It makes me feel a little better about saying goodbye.

BE: I’d think it’d make you a little antsy when you’re selling to somebody who, in your heart of hearts, you suspect might be a little shifty.

JH: Yeah, you’re right, and that’s why you talk to people a lot about stuff. It’s a double-edged sword. I mean, you can say on one hand, “I got the money I wanted, so I’m good with it.” But on the other hand, it hurts when you see those items come up to market again. Especially if I’m not offered the chance to buy it back. [Laughs.]

But we’re not here to talk about Sakey’s books. We’re here to talk about his TV show.

On December 6, the Travel Channel will debut “Hidden City with Marcus Sakey,” a series that will, over the course of its 12 episodes, explore 12 different cities around the United States – caveat: for these purposes, we’re treating the Florida Keys as one big city – by investigating some of the more sordid (or at least less than cheery) parts of their pasts. For example, in Boston, Sakey explores the history of the Boston Strangler. In Chicago, he looks into the infamous protest riot of 1968. Neither is the sort of thing that’d pop up on the cover of a tourism brochure, but it is the sort of thing that fascinates Sakey. I’ve had a chance to screen the first two episodes of the series, which, not coincidentally, find Sakey working his way through Chicago and Boston, and I found it to be highly enthralling viewing.

Okay, so maybe Sakey doesn’t have the eccentric intensity of, say, James Ellroy. (If you haven’t seen Ellroy’s series “L.A.: City of Demons,” I highly recommend it.) But you can sense Sakey’s fascination with the material he’s discussing and the people with whom he’s conversing, which goes a long way. Plus, c’mon, it’s the guy’s first time playing host. Give him a chance to grow into the role, huh? And, anyway, the end of his adventures in Chicago, one thing’s for sure: he’s up for anything if it’ll help him get a better handle on the discussion at hand…even if it involves being temporarily blinded.

Bullz-Eye: So I checked out both of the episodes on the screener yesterday…

Marcus Sakey: Oh, cool! What did you think?

BE: A lot of fun, to say the least.

MS: Beautiful! Thanks, man, I appreciate it.

BE: In fact, I went on Facebook right after I watched it and said that my eyes were burning just watching the Chicago episode.

MS: [Laughs.] Yeah, I think part of the reason I ended up hosting this was that my friend and producer felt that I was dumb enough to get pepper-sprayed.

BE: It’s a good selling point.

MS: [Laughs.] Yeah. Sometimes not being that smart has its advantages.

BE: So, now, was this series something that was pitched to you to host, or did yourself actually have a hand in creating it?

MS: I co-created with the producer, Tom Cappello, who’s the executive on the show. He actually reached out to me about two years ago to see about doing something like this – I was writing crime novels – and, you know, I joke about the pepper-spray thing, but in truth, it took probably two years of envisioning the show, coming up with the concept, refining it, and pitching it before getting to where we are now.

BE: Given the pitching process, I presume you did a fair amount of research long before it ever got picked up, as far as what cities you were going to cover.

MS: Yeah, exactly. We dug into that. For us, the central idea was a novelist’s point of view on this stuff. You get to look at these crimes and the way they reflect the city’s character. The way that I might, as a novelist, rather than a more journalistic approach. For example, we don’t write anything in advance. I go in with some idea of what to expect, but no real preconceived notions. We’re not trying to jam it into a box. So I’m meeting with these people and doing these things, and that kind of draws out the themes of the city. The themes that come out about the city come out from me actually experiencing it. That’s sort of what I mean about it being the novelist’s approach. Plus, I can do things like trying to guess what’s in people’s heads…which, I gather, journalists are not supposed to do. [Laughs.]

BE: That’s what I hear. So you’ve got 12 episodes in this first season. I’d guess that your original list of possible cities was a bit longer.

MS: Yeah, there’s been a lot of discussion about the cities, and it’s a fun thing to throw back and forth, where we might like to go. It’s sort of a balance. You want to get cities that you think have a broad interest, plus some surprises. So when there’s cities that are very well known, like New York, we try to take an unusual spin on it. For New York, it’s three crimes, all from ’76 to ’78, a very specific time in New York history, when the city was going bankrupt and it was sort of the heart of the “Taxi Driver” New York. We looked at it that way. Then you’ve got something like the Florida Keys, where it’s a whole different approach. It’s just, like, “What does crime even look like in paradise?” [Laughs.]

BE: Like New York, Los Angeles has so much potential subject matter that I’m sure you had to pick and choose your selections carefully.

MS: Yeah, Los Angeles was interesting. There’s no shortage of crime there. [Laughs.] As you know! It was interesting there because we wanted…well, obviously, it’s just not a town you can talk about without talking about image. And yet to me, one of the things that’s most interesting about Los Angeles is this whole myth that Los Angeles is fake. That’s just not true. Los Angeles is very, very real. It just trades in myth and image, and it builds on that. It’s a company town that builds image. So it was fun to look at it in that way. Like The Black Dahlia, who, after her death, was turned into a star in the worst kind of way. The Wonderland murders with John Holmes, that’s the dark side of the dream. You ever seen “Boogie Nights”?

BE: Absolutely.

MS: Yeah, actually, I guess everybody’s seen “Boogie Nights.” [Laughs.] Well, the guy…Burt Reynolds’ character was inspired by a real-life porn director that we got to sit down and drink Scotch with, which was a very interesting conversation. And then there’s the L.A. Riots, which is as real as you get.

BE: I’m actually in the middle of re-reading Helter Skelter, so I had Manson on the mind, but I guess I’m not entirely surprised that those murders didn’t make the final cut, just because they’ve been covered so many times.

MS: Yeah, they have, and…it was under discussion, obviously. It’s hard not to. But for us to pick a crime, it really has to reveal something about the city, and I think the Helter Skelter murders…they do, certainly, but it’s been covered so much and so thoroughly that I don’t think it would’ve revealed anything that people don’t already know.

BE: To jump into your writing career for a few minutes, what actually led you to the decision to pursue a career in writing?

MS: Oh, man, I’ve been love with the written word, with stories, literally as long as I can remember. I remember the moment that I learned to read, when the squiggles became a code, and I was, like, “Holy shit, I can see Spot run!” [Laughs.] And, you know, that was it. I was just hooked from that moment on. So I’ve wanted to be a novelist my whole life. The funny thing is, of course, knowing what I wanted to do, I then went and did other things for 15 years first. [Laughs.] But, you know, you need a little seasoning. There aren’t a lot of 18- or 19-year-olds that have something worth saying in a novel.

BE: How did you hone your craft, as it were? Did you study other authors’ work, or did you just kind of keep writing, writing, writing, to see what stuck?

MS: Yeah, it’s a bit of both, y’know? I think, as a writer, your apprenticeship is reading constantly. I’m always amazed when somebody tells me they want to be a writer, and when I ask what they read, they say, “I don’t.” Well, good luck with that. [Laughs.] “I want to be an Olympic gymnast, but I don’t really like the gym that much.” So it’s constantly reading, dissecting what other authors did. I took some classes towards an MFA, but not very many before I dropped out. Mostly it’s writing. The secret that I always tell aspiring writers – and they’re always disappointed – is, “Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard.” That’s how you do it. [Laughs.] Believe me, I wish there was fairy dust, and I wish I had a bag of it. But it doesn’t work that way.

BE: I’ve learned over time that turning off your email and Facebook doesn’t hurt, either.

MS: [Bursts out laughing.] No kidding! I always end up playing a little game with myself. When I’m writing a novel, I have a daily word count that I want to hit, and I just have to set little goals. It’s, like, “Well, when you hit 350 words, you can check your email and Facebook. And then it closes down until 625.” [Laughs.] It’s stupid, but, y’know, you’ve got to reward yourself in these tiny ways.

BE: Obviously, you always knew that you wanted to be a writer, but did you always know that you wanted to write crime thrillers?

MS: No, that I came to later, actually. I always knew that I wanted to write novels, and I wanted to write stories that kept people up too late. Y’know? Things that just riveted you. That’s always been my goal. I was the kid reading under the blankets at night with a flashlight…and I suspect you were as well. [Laughs.]

BE: Oh, yeah.

MS: I wanted to…that was the experience I was shooting for. The thing that got me into crime writing was realizing that it’s a combination of doing that, and then also you can explore real-world issues and philosophical questions and moral dilemmas all turned up to 11. It’s easy to have a principle or to think you know how you might react to something, but climb into a crucible and let’s set it on fire. [Laughs.] Then see what happens.

BE: So back to the show. Is it weird finding yourself on the TV screen?

MS: God, it’s completely surreal. A completely surreal experience, yeah. I was never even an actor or anything. This is not…this is a totally new experience to me. And the thing I’ve done is just kind of try to ignore the cameras and recognize the people I’m talking to. There’s a kind of people who…y’know, you get some access to them when you’re writing a novel, but nothing like this. I mean, we’re talking to people who are absolutely on the front lines of history, who shaped these enormous events. And it makes it easier if I just focus on that and talk to them.

BE: I’d guess it’s almost just as weird to see your name trumpeted in the title of the series. I interviewed Brad Meltzer last year, right before his show started on the History Channel…

MS: Yeah, he’s a nice guy.

BE: He is. But he said the whole thing just became an instant running joke with his family about how ridiculous it was that his name was in the show. He said he’d ask, like, “Honey, what are we having for Brad Meltzer’s Dinner this evening? Because last night we had Brad Meltzer’s Chicken, and I’d love it if we could have Brad Meltzer’s Pasta tonight.”

MS: [Laughs.] Yeah, my wife and I were chatting last night, and she paused the DVR, and…you know how sometimes it catches up to real time and starts playing again? Well, when it did, it cut right in on a commercial with me walking down the streets of Chicago. She paused it again, and she said, “Is everything about you, Marcus?” [Laughs.]

BE: “It is now.”

MS: “Yes, it is, baby. Yes, it is.” [Laughs.] I think it’s really important that people are busting your balls on that kind of thing. My friends all find it hilarious. I can’t ask a question now without them saying…like, if I ask where they want to go for dinner, they say [Quoting the show’s intro] “I’m not a cook. I’m not a restaurant reviewer. I’m a crime novelist.” Yeah, all right, guys, thanks for that…

BE: Which of the cities proved to be the most surprising for you?

MS: Well, there were surprises in all of them. I think the one that was most counter to expectations was the Keys, actually, and mostly because we’re filming in paradise, and we’re thinking, “This is going to be fantastic!” I mean, they’re all stressful and long days and everything, but we’re, like, “This is gonna be great!” But, man, it was FUBAR from the drop. I mean, literally, as we’re trying to fly into the Keys with all of this camera equipment – you’ve got, like, 27 cases – we discover at the airport that, because the runway in the Keys is so short, we can’t do that. We can only bring one bag. So we had to fly everything into Miami and have people drive all night. And it just goes from there. We’re staying on a boat, which sounds nice until you realize it’s 100 degrees and there’s no air conditioning. We interviewed this big, eight-foot-tall actor who plays a pirate, but he kept dropping his shit in the water. The captain of the boat had to keep diving for his saber. [Laughs.] So it was just sort of one thing after the other like that. It was fun. It made for funny stories. But it was totally not what we expected.

BE: Have you found that any of the cities have been a little dodgy after the filming of a particular segment, like, “Are you sure this isn’t going to make us look bad?”

MS: No, there’s been all kinds of cooperation, actually. It’s been really great. It is funny, though: there truly is a different culture to all of these different cities that you see doing this but wouldn’t if you just went to the museums and the shopping districts. Even all those little things…like, in Boston, nobody wanted to be filmed. I mean, not our primary interviews, but other people. Normally, you walk around with a camera and everybody’s, like, waving and flashing gang signs and trying to get on TV. In Boston, nothing. Nobody wanted to be filmed. If they were in the background in the bar, they came up to us and threatened us. They’re a close-mouthed town that doesn’t want to appear on TV. [Laughs.] So the little things like that are kind of interesting. You get the culture of these places. But the cities themselves are often really welcoming.

BE: I didn’t know if you might’ve had issues with government officials saying, “Well, we don’t really want to emphasize that particular aspect of our city.”

MS: You know, there are certain groups that will meet with us or something. But the stories we’re picking, there’s always a lot of ways to tell them, so we’ve been fortunate to get really, really close. Funny thing, but…well, again, it’s in Boston, but we were doing the Whitey Bulger story, and that had been planned, but then he got caught a week before we flew there. I was, like, “Goddammit, Whitey, couldn’t you have held out one more week?” [Laughs.] ‘Cause it complicated everything, you know? The FBI suddenly couldn’t talk to us about the case, because it was a pending investigation. But the thing is, because I’m telling this as a storyteller, a novelist, there’s always another angle that we can dig into.

BE: Yeah, plus, now that I’m thinking about it, most of these ages are old enough that at this point the cities are probably, like, “Yeah, we know, it’s part of our history, we’re resigned to it.”

MS: [Laughs.] Exactly. And, I mean, who decides not to go somewhere because someone was murdered there 50 years ago, anyway? Our show isn’t about the lurid side of a city. It’s not, “Find the darkest streets.” But it is about trying to understand a place through its shadows, through things that happened there that, okay, maybe the city isn’t proud of them, but they still really do tell you something about it.

BE: Lastly, what are your expectations for “Hidden City”? There are a ton of reality series out there. What do you think yours brings to the table that others might not?

MS: What I hope it brings is a new way to look at cities where you really kind of come along on this adventure with me. It’s not me telling you how it is. It’s me going to check out how it is, and then reporting back what I find, being very honest and free to have judgments. [Laughs.] And to talk the way I talk. I think we’re wearing out the “bleep” button at Travel Channel! But I think…hopefully what people find is that it’s an adventure they want to come along on.