Haddish, Shatner, Paisley join Discovery's 'Shark Week'

NEW YORK (AP) — Deep in the ocean, surrounded by sharks, Tiffany Haddish stayed cool. She drew on her land-based survival skills.

“I was as frightened around them as I am around like a pack of pit bull dogs,” she said in an interview. “I feel like animals pick up on your energy. If you’re in there being scared, they’re like, ‘Well, what you got? Why are you scared?’ It's like being in the ’hood.”

Haddish is among the celebrities signed on for this year's Shark Week, with a record 45 hours of programming on the Discovery Channel and streaming on discovery+ between July 11-18.

Joining Haddish are Brad Paisley, William Shatner, Eric Bana, Snoop Dogg, Eli Roth, Robert Irwin, Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and cast members from “Jackass.” For Shark Week's 33rd year, there are documentaries, many specials and even a reality series for shark fans to sink their teeth into.

Howard Swartz, a senior vice president at Discovery Channel, said Shark Week was born as a counterpoint for those who developed a fear of sharks and a desire to eradicate them after seeing “Jaws.”

“What has evolved over the last three plus decades is to show that they’re not these mindless killing machines, that sharks are amazingly intelligent animals,” Swartz said. “Equally important is how critical they are to the ecosystem, how critically important they are to the health of the oceans and therefore to life on our planet.”

“Star Trek” star Shatner boldly went where he really didn't want to go — diving with sharks. He suffers from galeophobia, a persistent fear of sharks, but he overcame it in “Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek.”

“I think it’s very healthy to be afraid of an animal that has an 18-inch jaw with three sets of teeth,” he said in an interview. “It’s...