not manufacturing perfection

From an article about one of my favorite TV regulars, referencing something I think about very regularly: the fascinating balance between performing and projecting a character, allowing for mistakes, and learning to trust. I am so often exhausted by the persona I ought to project for professional reasons, protecting the internal person that thinks and feels so differently.

“Two weeks of that changed all of our approach to the show, and it also changed the trust I had to place in my staff,” Mr. Colbert said. “You cannot do two weeks of live shows and be a control freak.”

Mr. Colbert became much more forgiving of “a flub here or a flub there,” Mr. Licht said.

That is a valuable lesson, said Mr. Licht, who believes that certain imperfections foster intimacy with the audience.

“At ‘CBS This Morning,’ I said, ‘Guys, there are going to be mornings where Charlie’s tired and he doesn’t smile, and we’re going to have to live with that,’” Mr. Licht said. “‘Gayle is going to ask questions at the wrong time, and we’re going to have live with that.’”

He continued: “We’re not going to manufacture perfection. Then you build authenticity, and they become more comfortable with each other. Your job as a producer, in my mind, is to allow that to happen and get out of the way.”

via {ny times}

picture via {pinterest}