When taking the stage for a performance or after address talk, Garvie knows that it is vital to command the stage. Garvie says that you need to physically own the stage and show the audience that you are confident on the microphone. Whether as a television executive in the board room or a comedian on the stage, Garvie knows that building rapport early in your performance will bring everyone along for your message.
Wayne Garvie spends his days as an Executive Producer and President of International Production at Sony Pictures Television. Garvie has built a career behind the scenes in television from sport to high level productions like international hit The Crown. For Garvie, a life as a television executive is more about the failures than the successes. In the television industry, dealing with failure is a must. Garvie embraces the frequency of failure by supporting his creative teams with open communication and comedy.
“I’m very, very open with people I work with, particularly young people, about things I’ve got wrong, because you want to encourage them, because things will go wrong in their careers and their lives. They’ve got to learn how to respond to that in the right way, I think. A lot of the time, it’s about having a positive, humorous outlook on life.”
For Garvie, communication is the key to dealing with difficult situations. When having difficult conversations with those hoping to get their projects on screen, Garvie says that humour can be used as a tool to improve communication. Once you have established a relationship with someone, humour can help you deliver the news that’s hard to hear without destroying the working relationship.
“I think that’s right. Of course, if you know you’re going to have a difficult conversation with someone, which, in my line of work, you have to have a lot of that, the way you cut through it, your backstop is always the humour. Once you build that relationship, you can laugh about something. You can even approach some really difficult conversations through the humour.”
Throughout his long career in television Garvie has also learned that humour can help you see the humanity in everyone. While working with some the country’s most popular stars and footballers, Garvie has seen just how much humour can do when it comes to connecting people from different backgrounds.
Garvie is a firm believer that humour can help humanity get through the hard times. Whether at work or in life, humour can help take some of the complexity out of life. For Garvie, humour is a way to connect with all sorts of people. Whether you are speaking to the creative team behind the world’s most entertaining television or to a legendary football manager, humour can help you build relationships and see the real person behind the curtain.
“I think humour is a way that cuts through a lot of life’s complexity. You’ve got to be humorous. You’ve got to embrace humanity, I suppose. To your definition of Humourology, it’s about understanding and liking people, and wanting people to do great things.”
Join Wayne Garvie and The Humourology Podcast for an excellent and highly entertaining discussion around communication, comedy, and leadership. Hear a variety of very funny and insightful stories from Garvie’s legendary life in television. See what it takes to get a television programme from an idea to the screen and how creatives deal with failure at the highest levels. Learn how humour can help us through life’s hardest times and connect us with all of the humans around us, only on The Humourology Podcast with Paul Boross
You can find out more about Wayne Here
Having had the privilege of spending considerable time with Wayne, I can confidently attest that he is the epitome of an expert when it comes to the art and science of using humour to create a competitive advantage. His profound understanding and seamless integration of humour into every facet of his professional and personal life have undoubtedly contributed to his awe-inspiring success as an executive in the television industry.
If you found this interview as enlightening and entertaining as I did, I kindly ask you to show your support by liking, subscribing, and leaving a review wherever you access your favourite podcasts. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us continue delivering compelling and comedic content to our dedicated audience.
Although we’ll be taking a short break for the next couple of weeks, rest assured that the entire Humourology team will be diligently working behind the scenes, tirelessly creating more irresistible and humorous content that will be gracing your ears very soon.
Warmest,
Paul x
