Peter McGraw

Humor Speaker, Behavioral Economist, Professor at the University of Colorado

Peter McGraw`s Keynote Speaker Fee This reflects Peter McGraw`s U.S. Speaking Fee
$10,001 - $20,000
Languages Spoken
English
Travels From
California, USA

Peter McGraw`s Keynote Speaker Fee This reflects Peter McGraw`s U.S. Speaking Fee
$10,001 - $20,000
Languages Spoken
English
Travels From
California, USA

Keynote Speaker Topics

Business Speakers
Comedy
Economics
Humor Speakers
Management
Marketing

Why Peter McGraw?

Peter McGraw helps organizations that are struggling to delight customers and failing to stand out in a cluttered marketplace. As a behavioral economist who teaches MBAs by day and decodes comedy by night, McGraw presents inspiring business insights gleaned from the practices and perspectives of the masters of comedy—and most creative rule breakers. His entertaining lessons help organizations uniquely solve problems, craft messages that are impossible to ignore, and create ground-breaking products and captivating brands.

McGraw offers three keynotes that pull back the curtain into the creative world of stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy to reveal cutting-edge organizational insights.

And he will never ask you to tell a joke.

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

Shtick to Solutions: Learn to Manage Uncertainty from the People in Chaos

In times of stress, uncertainty, and economic loss due to the pandemic, comedy can provide a crucial relief valve, but the world needs more than delightful distraction. Organizations—and their employees—have serious problems that require innovation, improvisation, and grit...

In times of stress, uncertainty, and economic loss due to the pandemic, comedy can provide a crucial relief valve, but the world needs more than delightful distraction. Organizations—and their employees—have serious problems that require innovation, improvisation, and grit.

The masters of comedy, however, can do more than provide levity. Comedians thrive during chaos. They have personalities and practices that turn tragedy into humor. In this talk, you will learn:

How Whitney Cummings and Richard Pryor’s authenticity is a necessary skill that leaders need when communicating during crisis.
Why an opposing perspective is useful for comedy and for finding novel solutions to perplexing problems.
How the improvisational rules of The Second City and Groundlings can be used to improve creative execution in a time when improvisation is suddenly mandatory.
Why comedians who have never had an office exemplify how to be productive while working from home.

Peter McGraw’s talk provides a one-two punch of levity and creative problem solving for a
chaotic world.

Learn More

Shtick to Innovation: Serious lessons in creativity and execution from comedy’s rebels

The world’s best businesses think differently in their pursuit of novel problem-solving. The world’s funniest people, too, think differently in their pursuit of laughs on command. After more ...

The world’s best businesses think differently in their pursuit of novel problem-solving. The world’s funniest people, too, think differently in their pursuit of laughs on command.

After more than a decade studying humor, sharing stages with comics, and hanging out with them in dingy green rooms, McGraw presents entertaining insights gleaned from the masters of comedy—and most creative rule breakers:

Innovation insights for organizations from people who don’t fit in organizations:

How a simple “101” comedy trick used by Chris Rock, Ali Wong, and Anthony Jeslenik can overcome biases and reveal new business opportunities.
What tactics Mae West, Jim Gaffigan, and the writers of The Onion use to enhance inventive thinking.
How Vaudeville and British music halls were at the leading-edge of the lean startup revolution.
Why Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s approach to comedy is the model for the radical collaboration needed to implement creative solutions

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Shtick to Marketing and Sales: Strategy and tactics gleaned from the genius and madness of the masters of comedy

Let the world’s funniest people show your organization how to drive growth and sustainable success. McGraw’s entertaining insights will help you uniquely solve ...

Let the world’s funniest people show your organization how to drive growth and sustainable success. McGraw’s entertaining insights will help you uniquely solve problems, craft messages that cut through the clutter, and create ground-breaking products and captivating brands.

Learn how to develop a marketing mindset from people who don’t know what marketing is:

Why smart businesses are building brands like Dave Chappelle, Joan Rivers, and Sarah Silverman in order to get ahead of the competition.
How to develop Jerry Seinfeld’s comic-as-outside perspective in order to identify new growth opportunities and fearlessly smash the status quo.
Why “It’s funny cause it’s true,” can be applied beyond stand-up to creating marketing communications that stand out.
How to stop thinking of bugs as bugs—and turn them into (differentiated) features.

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Shtick to Success: Fearless professional lessons from the world’s funniest people

What do comedians know about killing it in business? McGraw translates the habits of the world’s funniest people into powerful prescriptions for professional achievement – whether starting a new business, climbing the corporate ladder, or ...

What do comedians know about killing it in business? McGraw translates the habits of the world’s funniest people into powerful prescriptions for professional achievement – whether starting a new business, climbing the corporate ladder, or simply finding a way to enjoy work.

Over your professional challenges by learning:

What is the essential lesson of Bill Murray’s 1-800 number—and why saying “no” is often more important than saying “yes.”
How the daily practices of Jerry Seinfeld and other great comedy writers can be used from the C-suite to the sales floor to improve productivity and well-being
What Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Martin, and Groucho Marx can teach you about taking your career to the next level.
The one tool every comedian carries at all times—and why your employees should carry it, too. (And, no, it is not a microphone.)

Learn More

About Keynote Speaker Peter McGraw

Dr. Peter McGraw is a:

Behavioral Economist

McGraw is an expert in the interdisciplinary fields of judgment, emotion, and choice. His research has answered questions, such as “How do feelings affect the ways people spend money?,” “Can people feel happy and sad at the same time?,” and, “Why does the TSA suck?”

His work has appeared in Management Science, Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

McGraw received a B.A. in psychology and M.Ed. in educational psychology from Rutgers University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in quantitative psychology from The Ohio State University. His post-doctoral training was conducted at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, where he was mentored by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman.

Global Humor Expert

McGraw has spent more than a decade examining the antecedents and consequences of humor—work that has moved the study of humor from the niche to the mainstream. One advantage that he has over his predecessors is his ability to conduct state-of-the-art experiments with the help of the team he directs at the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL), a laboratory dedicated to the experimental study of humor, its antecedents and consequences.

He is the co-creator of the Benign Violation Theory, and more than a 800,000 people have watched his TEDx talk, “What makes things funny?”.

In 2014, McGraw co-authored The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny. He has written for Slate, Wired, Fortune, and Huffington Post. His work has been covered by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, BBC, TIME, Wired, CNN, The Atlantic, and Harvard Business Review.

McGraw hosts I’M NOT JOKING, a podcast called that looks at the lives of funny people from entertainment, business, science, and the arts.

Look for his forthcoming book on April Fools’ Day 2020: Shtick to Business: What the Masters of Comedy can Teach You about Breaking Rules, Being Fearless, and Building a Serious Career.

B-School Professor

McGraw is a marketing and psychology professor at the Leeds School of Business and the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of Colorado Boulder.

He teaches a PhD seminar in behavioral economics and courses in marketing management, consumer behavior, and advertising for the University of Colorado Boulder. He also teaches MBA courses at the University of Colorado Boulder, University of California San Diego’s Rady School, and London Business School.

Entertaining Keynote Speaker

McGraw helps organizations struggling to delight customers and failing to stand out in a cluttered marketplace. As a behavioral economist who teaches MBAs by day and decodes comedy by night, his keynotes present cutting-edge business insights gleaned from the practices and perspectives of the masters of comedy—and most creative rule breakers.

The entertaining and inspiring lessons help organizations uniquely solve problems, craft messages that are impossible to ignore, and create ground-breaking products and captivating brands.

He gives talks at prestigious universities (e.g., Harvard, Stanford, University of Chicago, Cambridge University) and Fortune 500 companies (e.g., Google, Viacom, PayPal) around the world.

Part-time Adventurer

Dr. Peter McGraw is not your typical b-school professor. Though he possesses the pedigree of a serious academic, he has an adventurous side that is evident in his approach to scholarship and life.

Questions? Contact Us Any Time:

805.965.1400

info@bigspeak.com

McGraw is willing to leave the ivory tower to delve more deeply into research questions – whether trying his hand at stand-up at a dive bar, attending a funeral director convention, posing as a shopper at a gun show, or singing hymns at a Fundamentalist Baptist church.

And for fun, he created a comedy game show—Funny or True?—which pits scientists against comedians to see who has the best blend of brains and funny bone.

Testimonials

“When you work in the cable industry, you need a little humor infused with your business. Peter spoke to our corporate teams in the midst of our intense accelerator program. He helped our teams by introducing lessons they could use when talking to Fortune 500 companies and in their growing startups as well. It was actionable, insightful, fresh, and of course, funny.”

Rachel Biesel

CMO and SVP, CableLabs

“His talk earned rave reviews. Peter uses the lens of comedy to illuminate actionable and surprising insights about creativity, marketing, and business. As a speaker, Peter combines academic rigor with a joyful sense of humor and engagement. Post-event feedback from our audience described his work as ‘different, interesting and immediately rewarding,’ and assessed the content overall as ‘excellent’ and ‘compelling.’ Peter is easy to highly recommend as a speaker.”

Brad Bernthal

Leadership Team, Silicon Flatirons

“Peter spoke to our Innovation community. He told memorable, entertaining stories from comedy and business that gave us actionable insights for our jobs and personal lives. With one of the highest-ranked talks, we would welcome him back anytime!”

Michael Todasco

Senior Director of Innovation at PayPal