‘Deadliest Catch’ set to board

Here’s a live “Deadliest Catch” experience, without the seasickness, the 30-below temperatures and the fingers pinched by claws.

On Sunday, three of the main figures on the Discovery Channel’s reality crab-fishing series will do a stage show, complete with video clips and audience participation.

Mostly, it will consist of an extended question-and-answer session with the three captains: Sig Hansen of the Northwestern and Andy Hillstrand and Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit.

“You’d almost think it’s a comedy tour, because we get along so well and have so much fun with it,” said Hansen, by phone from his Seattle home.

“We also show a lot of never before seen footage that we filmed ourselves. Andy has a couple of songs he sings. And we like to interact with the audience – we have a survival-suit race that’s pretty fun to do.”

The trio staged a few of these live shows last year just for fun. They proved to be popular with the show’s many hard-core fans. This year, they have already taken the show to 35 cities and will soon head to Australia for three weeks.

Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch” follows the crab-fishing fleet out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Viewers can vicariously experience the danger, the exhilaration and the camaraderie of trying to make a living in the raging Bering Sea.

“People are so vested in this show,” said Hansen. “They feel like they know you. But what they know is the guys at work. They don’t know the other side.”

For Hansen, the “other side” of his life has taken a drastic turn in recent years. In the pre-“Deadliest Catch” days, he would finish the three or four months of the crab season and then “have all the time off you could ever wish for.”

Now, the off-season is a whirl of personal appearances and business opportunities. His name is on fish sticks, tartar sauce and a brew from Rogue Ales.

His most exciting side project? You can catch it on movie screens.

The people at Pixar approached him after doing a fundraiser in Sonoma, Calif., and said they wanted a boat character for “Cars 2.” So now the character of Crabby the boat is voiced by Sig Hansen.

“It’s not a real big part,” he said. “But it’s kind of neat. It’ll live on through my kids’ kids, if you know what I mean.”

Meanwhile, Hansen said he no longer has any shortage of deckhand applicants – usually not the right kind.

“A lot of guys are in a midlife crisis, who want to prove it to themselves or whoever,” he said. “That is not, in my mind, a reason for anybody to jump on a crab boat in the winter in Alaska. If you’re a thrill-seeker, go somewhere else.”

“Deadliest Catch” has unquestionably changed his life – mostly for the better.

“I’m not going to say life was a rut, but the fishery itself was getting real tough,” said Hansen. “When Discovery came around, it really turned things around, and at the same time it turned things around on a personal level. Really, it has brought a new and deeper respect for what I do.”

Yet in some ways, he sounds nostalgic for the old days, when “Dutch Harbor was a secret,” the fishing community was a “nice little clan” and nobody was seeking attention.

Hansen was born in Ballard, the Seattle neighborhood where the Alaska crab fleet had its origins and where many of the original crab boats were built.

Between stage appearances, he has found himself at home in Seattle this summer.

“This is the fourth time I’ve been home for the summer since I was 12,” he said.

Yet he’s not even thinking about giving up fishing for good.

“We know fishing is our main occupation,” said Hansen. “… We start back in October for king crab.”