Here’s a local media coach’s advice to Brett Favre before he joins Jay Leno as a guest tomorrow evening on “The Tonight Show:” “Go get’ em. Don’t change a thing.”
Robb Leer, owner of Minneapolis-based Leer Communication & Consultants and a familiar face before that as a reporter on KSTP television, chuckled more than once as he discussed Favre with Sports Headliners earlier this week. Leer coaches clients on how to most effectively communicate in media interviews but he believes Favre is such a natural he needs no direction.
It was suggested to Leer that Favre will be as comfortable on national TV Thursday night as he would be talking to a neighbor in the backwoods of his native Mississippi. “If he doesn’t come out wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a ball cap, I will be surprised,” Leer said. “He’s not going to change a thing.”
Right now Favre is probably about as prepared as he will get. “In Favre’s case, I think the less prepped the better,” Leer said. “He’s a media consultant’s nightmare. He doesn’t need any (help).”
Favre is kind of any ordinary guy, and certainly not a phony. Not an entertainment or sports celebrity who is controlled, programmed and scripted by advisors including media tutors.
“I think Favre is the exception rather than the rule in that he is not working with media consultants, media coaches,” Leer said. “He is who he is. He’s rare in that his brand is just his human nature. There are a lot of consultants that would perhaps like to take credit for the way he conducts himself but I think he just is who he is.”