On (TV) Comedies and Not Messing With the Magic—Michael Swanson, NBCUniversal

Episode Notes

An Emmy award-winning movie producer, Michael Swanson is also a television studio executive, serving as a vice president of production at NBCUniversal. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1993 and was back on campus in June for the University’s annual reunion weekend.

Michael joined host Ted Fox for our first live show. Recorded in Notre Dame’s Duncan Student Center, they passed on brunch because we thought it would be awkward to have people watch them chew on stage.

Michael has been involved behind the scenes on some of the most acclaimed comedies in recent years—shows like Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place. In this episode, he takes us inside the table reads he remembers most, the studio production system that moves a show from the initial pitch to air, and the evolving TV landscape of broadcast networks and streaming services. He and Ted also talked about the independent entertainment production company, Faith Filmworks, he founded with his wife, Christine.

And as for the rock-climbers scaling the climbing wall in front of them? Well, they just added to the ambience.