Episode #51: Find Your Funny with Marta Ravin
Episode Descriptor
Learn how to find your funny through meaningful connection and humor with award-winning showrunner, executive producer, and comedian Marta Ravin. Marta helps next-generation leaders find the secret sauce to leadership by embracing authentic leadership with a sense of humor.
Episode Recap
Kelly Callahan-Poe and Marta Ravin discussed the art of finding and crafting authentic comedy, emphasizing the importance of bringing out one’s natural personality and humor. Marta also shared insights on managing workplace stress and burnout, highlighting the need for empathy and support. Kelly and Marta later discussed the importance of humor in personal growth, leadership, and marketing, and how it can help build relationships and create a positive work environment. Marta tells many stories from her past work as a showrunner and executive producer emphasizing authenticity and connection in comedy and workplace culture.
Episode Transcript
Kelly Callahan – Poe
Welcome to the Two Marketing Moms Podcast. Today’s episode is called Find Your Funny with Marta Ravin. Marta has been sharing compelling stories, producing innovative content, and making people laugh for over two decades. She started as a stand-up comic and writer and then transitioned to producing live events, shows, and specials like Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards, and she created fan favorite, the Long Island Medium for TLC. Recently, Marta started consulting with individuals and companies, helping them find their funny thanks for joining me today, Marta.
Marta Ravin
Thanks, Kelly, thanks for having me.
Kelly
Your background is really unique, and I was really excited to chat with you, because you’ve worked on some really iconic shows in the 80s and the 90s. And I love that you transition from stand-up comedy to producing those big-name shows. And you even were a TEDx speaker, and you are now an MC and coach, and you do workshops. And so, when you stand back and look at your career progression, and you look at it as if you were reading a book, it really makes a lot of sense, right?
Marta
Yeah, yeah, it does. It finally makes sense to me. Because for a while there I’m like, what does this all have in common? Because even when I would explain myself in interviews or when someone says, what do you do? I’d be like, I had a lot of things, but yeah, I looked back on my career, and when I really started looking at the common denominator and how all the dots connected, it was comedy. Because in my family, I was always the funny one at the dinner table, and I started doing stand-up just when I was in college. And then at school in the 90s, I was doing stand-up in New York, and I was a writer. And then when I started working as a producer on television shows, usually the content was comedy, or the hosts were funny in some way, and when I started creating my own shows, I was just naturally drawn to funny people. Or my way of producing has always been to bring out someone’s funny as a way of just bringing out their genuine personality. And I would work with a lot of young talent and do that. And then when I started doing speaking, you know, I just like, kind of lean back on my stand-up comedy muscles, because it’s a little bit more complicated than I thought.
But at the beginning, I was like, oh a TEDx talk is just like grown-up stand-up. I realized it’s a little bit more complicated than that because you actually give them some takeaways, but it’s definitely, that’s my kind of go-to, when in doubt, make somebody laugh. And when I had met a bunch of speakers, and when we’d be hanging out, they would be just be funny, relaxed, you know, just normal people hanging out. And then when they would get on stage, I would see them really freeze up and that their natural personality wasn’t coming through and they knew it, it didn’t feel good to get to them. And so, we all help each other. And I said, your funny is not coming out, you know, like that story you told me at dinner, when your eyes started to crinkle, and you were laughing. We need to take that and put it in your speech. So, I want you to do your speech again right now. I’d get them laughing. I’m like, now do your speech. And the difference in that, whether or not we change the words, but just the energy of that, and really focusing on not yourself, but focusing on what am I giving to another person? What is my job here? My job here is to entertain and inform. And how can you entertain? You can entertain by making someone laugh. So, I realized it’s been helpful to individuals. It’s been helpful to leaders, who, in our corporate world today, in the cancel culture world, it’s kind of hard to be an engaging, funny leader without worrying about offending somebody or crossing a line. So, I help leaders of corporations kind of find their sweet spot where they can be themselves, and relate more to their employees. So yeah, that’s me, my throughline is funny. I figured it out. I cracked it.
Kelly
Well, how long did it take you to figure that out? I mean, obviously, again, standing back looking at your resume, it makes a whole lot of sense, but it takes people a really long time sometimes to figure out what is that one thing about yourself? What is your why? Why do you exist? What is your purpose? What are you really good at, and how is that aligned with who you want to be? And you did that really naturally through your background, so it just feels like it works. It works for you, and the fact that you’re doing this for others you’re giving back, right?
Marta
Yeah, yeah. And I have to say it wasn’t all me. I’ve worked with two great coaches. Their names are Gabby and Brian Bosche, and they have a company called The Purpose Company, and they wrote an amazing book called The Purpose Factor. And they’re the ones who helped me figure out what my TEDx could be and how to apply. But their definition of purpose, which is what I always go back to, is “the best of what you have to help others”. And so, it took me a really long time. So, it was this process of, like, connecting the dots, but then also saying, okay, what is the best of what I have to help others? Like, yes, I can help people online shop at two in the morning. Like, I’m definitely everyone’s go-to enabler. Like if anybody wants a drink at three o’clock on a Thursday, I get the comment. And if somebody wants to go ahead to buy something that they really shouldn’t, I get the call. But aside from that, I realized it was humor that’s what I can do, that’s my thing. And it’s not to say that that’s like your only purpose, but this book is wonderful, and I can give you the link for your listeners, and you just go through some exercises and they make it simple. And, it’s a great process, especially for women who are kind of at a certain age or a certain point in their career, and when their kids are older, and they’re our age.
By the way, I wasn’t exactly working in the 80s. I feel like that I would have been in a sweatshop, yeah? I was definitely at the mall in the 80s!
Kelly
Sorry, sorry.
Marta
Yeah, that’s okay, that’s okay.
Kelly
We’re the same age. I know that. So, you’re right. The 90s, my apologies.
Marta
Yeah, all good, all good. Oh, my God, your skin’s really good. I thought I had, like, 10 years on you.
Kelly
No, I’m 55 this year.
Marta
Oh, okay, so especially women whose kids are out of the house, it’s kind of like what is that next chapter? And, it doesn’t mean that it has to be pro bono work, or it’s just really taking that thing that you do that Kelly is a marketing genius, but like, really whittling that down. Like, what is it? What’s that thing that you’re always able to do, whether it’s with a client, whether it’s with a friend? What is that thing? And then, you know, saying, I can get paid for that. Well, I can get paid and I can call it something else.
I mean obviously, a lot of these things do fall under the marketing umbrella. Because in the world we live in now, everything is marketing, you know, like, I feel like, especially coming up in television, there was the On Air department, the programming department, and then there was the marketing department, and then there was the publicity department, and then there was the digital department. It’s all marketing. It’s like we’re all marketing, yeah.
Kelly
Well, how has your sense of humor helped you in the past?
Marta
It’s my go-to when during the 2000s I worked at Total Request Live (TRL) for MTV and so I produced a ton of celebrities, and it was a different time. So now, when celebrities come on a talk show, there’s a pre-interview. You have to pitch a lot of stuff to their people. They come on; they know exactly what they’re doing. They’ve agreed to it beforehand. For some reason, this was not the process at MTV for TRL, we went live every day at five o’clock. So, they would come in at like 4:30 sometimes 4:45 and you would have five minutes to say, hey, Beyonce and all your people, and your parents, how are you? You know, and Jay Z like, so we have this game, and we want you to come up and we’re going to play every song you’ve ever sang, and we’ve got a kid who’s your biggest fan, and we’re going to have you go back and forth and see which one of you can identify the lyrics to your song faster, or some sort of game like that. But, you really have to pitch it quickly and charm them, and make them feel comfortable and be funny. Because, there just was no other way to, you have people like screaming in your ear, like, is she going to do it? Is she going to do it? And it’s like, she’s going to do it.
Kelly
Is that a real story?
Marta
Oh, that was every day.
Kelly
No, but Beyonce and Jay Z, was that a real story?
Marta
Oh, every day, yeah. Because Jay, when he first was bringing Beyonce as his artist, and she would come with Destiny’s Child, but then when she was a solo artist, it was more like they were showing up together, and they were dating, and so it’s one thing pitching Beyonce and her dad, sometimes her mom. But then, when you’ve got Jay there, you know? And he’s all business. And I remember, I remember one time I was just pitching Jay something, and it was, like, this back-to-school thing that we had just put together and it had a wheel and like, all. And I’m like, okay, so hey, you know. And they never remember me. But even though, like, I would produce them, I’m like walking down the hall with him, and we’re really short on time. And even though they knew we were live and they would show up, they would roll in, but no one’s rushing Jay Z. So I’m like, okay, so here’s the idea I can show you in the studio, we built this wheel and we have all these different things, and what we want you to do is, you’re going to spin the wheel and then, I can’t remember the specifics, but I get finished, like, you know, blurting out my thing, and he’s like, yeah, I’m not going to do that.
Kelly
Of course not.
Marta
I know. And he’s like, Yeah, I’m not doing that. I’m like, okay, cool. I’m like, yeah, Jay’s not really comfortable. And he’s looking at me. He’s like, not going to do it. I’m like, we’re going to pivot. We’re going to pivot. But, not that he wasn’t incredibly gracious and nice. But, there was times when it just wasn’t going to work, and then there were other times.
One of my favorite stories there was this movie that came out S.W.A.T. This was like, somewhere in the 2000s they did a remake of like the SWAT franchise and film, and it was with Samuel Jackson, LL Cool J, and Colin Farrell. And we would oftentimes do like these big entrances. And so, they were going to start the show at five by driving into Times Square in the S.W.A.T. vehicle from the movie. So the movie studio had provided the S.W.A.T. vehicle, and we were right in Times Square, so right on Broadway and between 45th and 44th, and when we would do these entrances, the way you would get the talent into that vehicle because we often did these big vehicle entrances was they’d come to MTV to our studio, then we would get them down this entrance into an SUV, and then drive them around the corner in a black SUV and then they would just get into that car that was waiting for them. They would drive the 15 feet, towards the camera to say, “TRL starts now”, so it’s rush hour. It’s always rush hour. It’s 4:50 and I’m in the black car with them, and they’re just talking, and Sam Jackson, Cool J, and Colin Farrell, they’re just talking. And I’m looking at my clock and my watch and my producers are in my ears like, where are you with? And if you can picture New York City, I’m nowhere near where I need to be.
Kelly
Always crowded over there.
Marta
I am stuck in traffic on Sixth Avenue. I still have to turn onto 45th we still have to make it down 45th and now it had to be like, 4:56, and I’m like, in my mind, we’re not going to make it. I know we’re not. We’re stuck. We’re not going to make it. So, we turn on to 45th and now we’re just, stuck, and everyone’s screaming at me. There’s a lot of screaming in those days. And I just was like, you know when they’re just talking and I’m and I just had to be like, hey guys, and they’re like, yeah, and I’m like, so little bit of a problem. See how we’re stuck in traffic…
Kelly
We’re going to walk.
Marta
Yeah. We’re not going to make it to the car unless we get out and we run. I said, or we’re not going to get there to start the show. And they, and LL Cool J, was like, let’s go. And, like, you know, they come out of the car and they’re singing, like the S.W.A.T. theme song, which, like, goes (“hums”), LL Cool J, Samuel Jackson, Colin Farrell, running down 45th Street with me with my headset and my clipboard, and everything like flying behind me, with everyone screaming at me, like, where, like we’re coming, they’re running, and like, so they run and they get into the S.W.A.T. vehicle, and the VJs are, are standing there, kind of riffing, waiting, you know, to be like, we see the S.W.A.T. vehicle coming down and I am just like, in such a sweat and fear. And that was like when I would wear heels to work, and anyway, we made it in time. But, I mean, it wasn’t, I wouldn’t say it was like my sense of humor, but it was definitely my kind of…
Kelly
Had to roll with it. There were no cell phones to capture the moment, right?
Marta
No, and that’s the thing I never, especially now that I have a 17-year-old and I have an 11-year-old. So, during those years when I worked with every celebrity under the sun, there was not like, let’s take a picture, you know? So, I mean, they definitely don’t think I’m cool anyway. But even if I had like the photographic proof.
Kelly
It wouldn’t matter.
Marta
Yeah, it wouldn’t matter.
Kelly
Oh my God, that is really awesome. So, let’s go back to finding your funny. And you talk a little bit about how you bring out people’s natural sense of humor. Can you kind of give us some tips on that?
Marta
Yeah absolutely. There’s like some just basic elements of stand-up that can apply to whatever you’re doing in business. And this, I find is, there’s bringing out someone’s sense of humor, and then there’s also using these tips to kind of navigate how to handle being funny in the workplace. So, bringing out someone’s sense of humor is, I will, especially if I’m working with new talent, we’ll just hang out, you know, like, it’s like, let’s just hang out. It would be like you and I, you know on Zoom, or grabbing coffee, or grabbing a drink and asking you questions just about your life, and then seeing those moments where you light up, and seeing those moments where your eyes start to crinkle or you’re making me laugh just because you’re a fun person. And it’s watching that, not making someone self-conscious, but I’m noting it, and then, you know, after we hang out for a bit and get to know each other, now whatever project that they want to focus on, whether it’s a speech, a book or just being a leader, I go back and I said, remember, you’re telling me that story about, you know what happened with your friends, or you know what happened with your family? That is your sense of humor, you know? And then we’ll go to like, the script or the speech or the book. And I’ll take now with that energy, now, let’s go to the work, and it’s just really reframing it, and, you know, just saying that’s what it is, it’s when you’re telling the funny story or the thing that makes you laugh, or, you know, so what was the last time? What was the last thing that cracked you up? You know? And hearing what makes someone else laugh, you just can tell what their sense of humor is.
So, there are three elements of stand-up are always important. So, they are reading the room, crowd work, and timing. So that’s something that’s going to happen no matter what type of stand-up show you’re doing. Like, I would always get there a little bit early and see how the other comics were doing, so I could see, like, what the vibe was in the room, what was working, what wasn’t working, you know, just what was it really hot in the room? Did somebody just leave? Is there like a waitress that everyone’s like, interacting with, you know, like, use whatever is in the room. So, if you’re about to give a presentation in a conference room, it’s the same thing, like, get there a little bit early, you know, see what the vibe is, you know, like is, does everyone stop talking the minute you walk in? Is everyone hot? Is everyone hungry? Like, you know, where the elevators slow, like, and, and use all that to be, like, oh my gosh. How are you guys doing? It’s a furnace in here. Come on, let’s get the AC. I always show up with candy, you know, like, always, like, you know, for like the two o’clock meeting, you know, just chocolate, whatever, just you guys need some snacks. Or, if it’s the end of the day, you know, maybe it’s like a surprise drink cart and in that, you know, or in the era of Zoom, you know, also getting there early, and this is where the crowd work comes in. And it’s just really talking to people, you know, because in a stand-up club, if your jokes aren’t going well or, or it just kind of feels like you’re, you’re losing the crowd, you go right in there, you know. So, if you know, if you’re, if I’m a comedian, and your kind of busy talking to your friend, you know, I’m like, okay, we’re going to wait till, like, pretty blonde, but the glasses is done, just like, hi. And then it’s like, what are you guys talking about, you know? And then you just, you know, you really are present in the room.
And then timing, you know, like, if it’s, let’s say you’re not leading the meeting, but you’re in the meeting, and you know you have the thing you want to say you know you want to make an impression. You have this thing you want to contribute, but you can’t like to be so in your head, like thinking like, I know I want to say this, I want to say this, I want to say this. You really need to know your moment for when to say that, and you need to be able to, kind of like say to yourself, okay, either now’s my moment, it fits perfectly with what we’re talking about, or maybe it isn’t the moment. But you want to really time you know, when you interject, and also on Zoom, which makes it harder, or you can send a note to your boss, or whoever’s reading, who’s leading the meeting, and be like, hey, you know, I really thought about things. There’s this. I had an idea. Is it appropriate? Do you want me to bring it up in this meeting? How are you know? What you know, if they haven’t sent out an agenda, do you know when would be a good time? If not, is there a time we can talk about it later? Like, so, you know, this way of saying, like, I am present, I am proactive, but I am understanding the vibe, and I don’t want to be the person who, like, kind of throws a wrench in things, because I want to express myself.
And also being really, you know, present in, you know, when you’re in person, in the meeting, especially if it’s not your meeting, you’re not running it, but other so your boss is running it, and like, you know, just being like, okay, my job right now is to support them. This isn’t, you know, it’s about me listening but to support them. And right now, they’re coughing. They could use water. They look hot. Looks like whatever papers they wanted to distribute aren’t there. And you know whether or not you’re the assistant or you know you’re the 52-year-old, you know, non-assistant, but just like a where person, you know you’re on it, you know, like, it’s like, you go find their assistant. There are not enough copies. Let me, you know, bring in some water. There’s something wrong with it, you know, the tech isn’t working. The ac, like, just be that person. Just be helpful. And it doesn’t matter that you’re a senior person. It’s just really tuning in and being aware of what’s going on. So, you are a helpful person. It’s not about you, it’s how can I be helpful.
Kelly
Well, where can our listeners contact you if they want to hear more or learn more about your workshops, your MCing, and your hosting, and all that great stuff?
Marta
Yeah, they can just go to my website https://www.martaravinproductions.com or hit me up on LinkedIn. Or, luckily, I have kind of a unique name. So even if you just remember Marta Ravin, and you Google it, something will pop up. And I’m always, you know, especially with not just younger people, anybody, especially during this time where so many people are pivoting, even if somebody just needs like a half-hour chat and just to help them start thinking of different ways to do stuff, you know, totally obviously free. Just, you know, I karmically like to give back help people wherever I can.
Kelly
I’m hitting you up on that myself. Thanks for chatting with me, Marta.
Marta
Thank you, Kelly, this was so much fun.
