Staff Review With Skyler Higley

Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com/callconan. Okay, let's get started.

“All right, this is a special thing we're doing lately.”

Normally, I would talk to a fan somewhere around the globe during this segment.

But these are different because I have my amazing

Oscar writing team downstairs. These are writers that are the best. They really are the best and I hang out with them all the time. We try and think of fun things we could do at the Oscars this year. And since I have this room downstairs, I'm filtering them one by one to talk to them. And just find out more about them because they're very funny, very talented.

And today it is Skyler Higley's turn. Skyler, what's your origin story? Um, where you from? Um, can I first say this is the most respectful I've heard you speak to me. Thank you. That's right. The Carl Bryan.

Yeah, I love these writers in 20 minutes going to be different. We say something. Well, we should also say that any time I enter, the room where you guys are, the kind of dungeon. Um, no, it's a nice room, but I can't just walk into the room. I kick the door open and like it's a drug raid.

And then I come in and I start doing cartoonish over the top insults. I say you guys are the best writers I've ever seen.

But I was waiting for just now because I realized I don't have my glasses.

Oh, okay. So I go to put my glasses on and then I look at them again. And I show cartoonish disappointment in what I'm seeing. And it's, it's all theater. Yep.

But I think I know I have a good time. No. We have a great time. And then we wait for you to leave and then we work. Yeah, thank you.

Oh, I can really tell when they're like, okay. He's done like 35 different riffs. We've got to get him out of here so we can get back to our room. You ruined the door downstairs. I kind of did it.

There are scuff marks on it every day. Yeah. I know. I know. I love it.

I like it a lot. It's a treat for me. I just sit there and wait and go, hey, this whole time's up out. I don't think you don't. I don't time myself out.

Skyler, yes, tell me, I remember when you first started working from which would be what year

did you start working from? 2020. Okay, 2021 remember in the middle of the pandemic and there was the BLM. Remember when we cared about BLM for a second? And it was right in that time.

I was like going really crazy because it was Chicago and the police and everything were there. And then it was like, I was having like just a lot of anxiety around that time. And then people called me up and were like, hey. You want to meet with Conan's people and just for like a meeting.

And I was like, yeah, I guess.

“And then it was like, oh, yeah, do you want to write for Conan O'Brien show?”

And I was like, well, I think the world's ending. So short, like there was a virus. There was like an uprising, a social, you know, it was like fine. Yeah, this will be the last thing I do. But what I remember most is that because everything you, you still, you didn't

move because it's the height of, you know, not just COVID, but so much insanity. So you would zoom in from your apartment. Yeah. And your apartment was in Chicago. And I remember the angle was, I don't know if it was the angle and how much of it was

the angle. It wasn't the angle I lived underground. Okay. It looked like. So Scholar would would, you know, okay, here's Scholar.

And you would appear on the screen and it looked like your ceiling was one inch above your head. Yeah. And it looked like it were being held captive. It looked like it was being in being John Malkovich, when he has to go into John

Malkovich's head. And the ceiling's really nice. Yeah. That's kind of where I live. Yeah.

But it cheap rent when you live underground. Let me tell you something. Well, I mean, this has been much discussed, but you've done hilarious, hilarious work for me on the on the on the Conan show. And then on the work you've done on the Oscars last year, this year has been

stupendous. You wrote that insane joke last year. Yeah. It was one of my favorite jokes to get to deliver. Oh, and it was also like just, I don't know.

It just sometimes in comedy, you have that moment where things just like line up. You know, where you just get blessed with a premise and like this is a perfect, it lines up. And you do it. And I didn't, you know, I don't know if anybody expected it to be quite as big as

it.

“Well, I think there was a sense before I went out.”

Well, yeah. Well, this will be fun. Yeah. And I don't want to miss quoted. So maybe you can remind us, I walk back out, it's the beginning of an act.

Kendrick performed at halftime, and then he did his stuff with Kendrick and Drake.

“Everybody remembers, and you could just come out and you say, well, we're halfway through”

the show. So it's time for Kendrick to come out and call Drake a pedophile. Yeah. And so I told that joke, and then I'm just bathed and not just laughter, but screams. And I have to tell you, if you have a disease, if you have cancer in your body and

you walk out and tell a joke like that to a room that big and you get that reaction, you will be cancer-free. Yeah. It cured me of any ailment I might have had, huge, and then I walk right back stage and there you are.

Oh, no. Oh, nicely. Yeah. I think I gave you a, yeah. Thank you.

Yeah. And then you were like, your name is Skyward. Right? I noticed the moment Conan started respecting me as a person. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, started to. I didn't say. And then you spent that capital really quick. Oh, of course.

But I'm curious. I really sat down and talked to you about your backstory. When do you start thinking, okay, comedies my thing, this is what I'd like to do. How early did you get the bug? How did this all happen for Skyward Higley?

I got the bug, you know, early, like, as kids, I feel like I was like, I feel isolated. I feel like a weirdo. You know, I'll think or two about that. And you're, you're a spy. If you're a spy, everybody.

No, no. No, no, no. I've had your apartment made even small. Oh, I have to go back to the old apartment, yes, you know, I'm doing zoom. I've had your ceiling lower.

I was in, yeah, like, junior high high school when I thought, oh, I can actually do this. Because when I was growing up, it was like, 2,000, 10. So there's this big comedy podcast boom. Everybody was talking about how you could do comedy as a career. And I feel like a lot of people before that didn't really have that sense.

And I remember, you know, there were very key moments of watching your show and watching the documentary, the tour dock, Conan O'Brien, can't stop, where it felt like, oh, this person is like, can have, you can have your problems in your anxieties. And I was going through a lot of anxiety at the time. But the comedy part can be like a salve.

That can get you through hard stuff.

And it like the, I've never told you this really, but that documentary was like a big deal

for me as like a kid being like, okay, things are crazy and scary. And I'm very anxious. And you can go through things. And you can be okay. And if you really commit to being funny, you can make it through stuff.

So that was a part of the bug, but it was just a bunch of, you know, there's YouTube would come out. There's podcasts, there's all this stand up. I remember growing up watching, like the blue collar comedy, you guys weird. And I was like, like, they're the cable guy.

“Yeah, just like the guy with the puppets, remember that guy?”

Jantana. Yeah, I know. You're right. You're right. You're right.

You're one with the really racist puppets. And listen, when I was 13, the best thing ever. Yeah, he's a jalapeno. Why would he be jalapeno? That's hilarious. He's on a stick, there's a terrorist. He's dead.

That's cool. I didn't know, but you know, you just kind of grow up with that. And like with the internet, too, you just got so much access to it so early. And then that's a different, that's a very different. This is one of the things that fascinates me, talking to someone as young as you.

That I didn't have access to any of that. That was not the world that was in. There were occasionally shows that peaked out here and there that were revolutionary and amazing, but they were very few and far between and most of it's like, it's the love boat. Right.

And you're like, huh, this is, this is our comedy. And you're getting, so it's, it's not just shows you're seeing on television where they're, sitcoms or anything that you were into or is that not really, oh, totally. It sitcoms that were, I get 30 rock community parks and rec. Those were all out in exactly the formative time that you would want to watch it.

I remember watching those shows and just being like, they're just being as crazy as possible on TV and they're making themselves happy. Yes.

And it's very specific and I always really appreciated that.

“So it was just something that I think in this era felt like a real viable career path.”

And before I even went to college, I knew I want to do comedy. And so I went to college for like a year and I was working on an English degree. And I was like, this is a waste of time, probably go to college kids, but you don't have, if you're going into comedy. I just did a podcast with Lisa Cudrill where we were, I ended up encouraging people to

You know, this is the work really well.

We should be shut down in the end. You're telling kids don't go to college. Don't go to college. No, no, no, no, no, no. But get a lot of it.

Yeah, but the good one. In bulk. So you leave after a year. Yeah. Okay.

And then what do you do? I moved to Chicago because you know, from where Salt Lake City Utah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

“You didn't actually, I think I did know that.”

But I associate you more with Chicago. Yes. I lived. I feel like I became an adult in a real person in Chicago because I grew up, you know, Salt Lake Mormon the whole thing.

And so I was very sheltered and I had no sense of the world. And in fact, comedy was like a lot of what gave me a sense of like, this is what other people are doing. Whereas where we were, it was very like, you go to church, you do all the church stuff. You're not really supposed to watch like the Simpsons and stuff.

And you know, I was obviously, but like, yeah. So comedy was also, I think, kind of what got me out of being super religious. But I was like, I have to pursue this.

I moved to Chicago because, you know, you hear about second city.

You hear about the stand-up. You hear about all of this improv stuff and sketch. And I just wanted to do all of it, you know. And so I just moved and everybody's like, that's crazy. You're just dropping out of school to move to Chicago.

And I was like, and it'll be fine. Like, I had no sense of my own mortality at 20. So I was like, yeah, you can just like, go wherever you want and do whatever you want. And I think I have enough of an aptitude for this that it'll be okay. Obviously, that hasn't worked out at all.

But I keep trying to get you on a legitimate project. Yeah, I'm doing the best I can.

“But so, how do you support yourself? You get to Chicago? How do you live?”

Terrible jobs. Terrible jobs. I worked for one of those companies that I think the first job I had was one of those companies where they're like, we're going to go out and help people have a better electricity. It's just like a pyramid scheme. I was in a pyramid scheme for a couple of days.

Oh, you do that. You've got to be in a pyramid scheme for like a little bit. Yeah. You really do. And they're having these meetings.

Honestly, not unlike when Conan kicks in the door to the writer's room where they come in with all this energy and the, yeah, we're going to do it. And it's like, what do we do? And they're like, don't worry about that. We're going to do it. So, so, so, and like, what is the product?

And they're like, shut up, you know. It's occurring to me right now that all of my career has been a pyramid scheme. I come in with a lot of energy. And in the end, it's at the end, you're just bankrupt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, okay. So, you're doing a bunch of just random shitty jobs. And, and then I started contributing to click hole, which is an offshoot of the onion for like the internet generation. I know click hole. Yes.

You did a video with click hole.

“Do you remember the premise of the video you did for click hole?”

Yes. I'm in the background, right? So, yeah. Yes. I can't, because you're going to try it.

I remember this. I remember when you shot it. I don't know if I remember. Maybe you're something or something. You're pouring milk.

Yes. I think it's a couple going through a break up. And the premise of the video is a couple goes through break up while Cardinal Brian pours milk into the sink. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm pouring milk into the sink in the background. You can kind of see me. Yeah. Yeah.

It's not, I'm not really that featured. I mean, yeah. Because the woman tells her husband she's pregnant. Oh, no. Right.

That's what it was. And then you were like, this is perfectly good milk. Yeah. That was my wife. I'm pouring down the drain.

Yeah. I was just narrating how this is good milk. Yes. It's just going right down the drain. Yeah.

So you were working there when I-- No, I wasn't working there when you did that. But that was probably one of those early things. That probably came out when I was in high school. And that was one of those things where it's like, if people are making that, and you

can do that, that is the kind of thing I want to do. Oh, cool. And great. And so I remember my first headline I ever got on there was like heartwarming. Even though this man and woman are from different religions, they still had sex on a

park bench. So that, you know, there you go. Then you knew I'm on Terra firma here. Yeah. That 15 dollars, like also the first time we're getting paid for writing something.

Well, that's huge. This is amazing.

The first moment, someone-- and I always appreciate it.

And I still appreciate it. I did a set the other night at some comedy club in Covina. And after I was done, they gave me an envelope, which is what happens to stand up and it had a $20 bill in it. And I took it home and I taped it to the glass that's in my closet, you know, when I

get dressed in the morning and I'm just like, I taped it up because I remember the first time I got at any time you get any time you get that one to one hit of. I just went and had a lot of fun. I think the audience was happy.

Right. It does feel like magic. Right. I got that $20 bill and maybe you spent like five minutes like talking about foreskin or something.

And you're like, this is money. I did a whole-- I did the whole sit-a-hole. Yeah. You're all of your Oscar jokes this weirdly. You keep being like, give me more.

Wait, I'm not talking about foreskin. We go, cut in or what about the movies? You go, no, fuck it. No one cares about those movies. They want foreskin.

This is a whole thing. Boy, this is going to be a bad Oscar. No. Well, I did 15 minutes up top about foreskin. Yeah.

Just cut to eat, start streaming out, getting in their cars and leaving before they've even their categories. Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] OK, so you're doing that.

And then, how did we find you? I was a fellowship writing at the Onion at the time. Or no, no. There was packets that go out, the way that the Conan show,

“I think, always sent out packets is different than most late night shows.”

Because you guys just went, like, we want 10 ideas. And you ask any follow-up questions. You're like, what do you mean ideas? And they're just like 10 ideas. And so I remember writing a packet.

And I put stupid little jokes in the packet. I remember one of them, because there are just different pitches. And one of my pitches was just straight up. Like, Conan O'Brien does blackface. And then I did a colon.

And then I just wrote Conan O'Brien does blackface. And it wasn't obviously a real hit. But I was like, well, people are going to remember that. If I put that in there. Just like, yeah, what if you did it?

And then somebody-- because you know, you have to read a bunch of these things. It's a tactic to get people to be like, what the hell is what's going on? And then actually read it.

It catches the eye. It catches the eye. Yeah, sure. Oh, that would be very unfunded. Oh, that would be good.

You'd never hear from me again.

Yeah. But if you put it in the middle of a bunch of funny ideas, like you like coming up with like, what's the worst thing I could say you do. Yeah.

And I always love thinking about that stuff, too. So I'm like, I don't know. I thought it would just be like whatever. I also didn't ever think I would get the opportunity. And then a year went by.

And then it was in the middle of COVID and the onion.

“And I think that there was just like, you need to hire again,”

that there were packets left over from last year. Yeah. Yep. That's how you can tell when you look at a packet, it's Mike Sweeney will say, oh, you got to see this packet.

And you can tell almost right away in a packet when someone knows who they are and is kind of confident about their comedic voice. Oh, sure.

I think that's always what sets it apart.

It isn't-- sometimes they can read a packet. And I could say, yeah, there's not one idea here that we could use right now. But this is-- You're going to use that black face one?

We did. Yeah. No one paid attention. No. Sometimes you don't even think, oh, OK, here it is.

Idea number seven. We could use that and I did number nine. We could use that. That could go into the show. So hire this person.

Sometimes you'll read a whole packet and think, yeah, not one of these quite has my voice. But this is a really funny person. And that is the harder thing to find. You know what I mean?

And then a funny person will come in and they'll take the temperature of what's going on here. And very quickly, we'll start just saying, oh, yeah, I do this, do that, do this, do that. And maybe broaden our horizons about what

could be funny because we don't always know everything.

And so that's the idea. Is this those, it works.

“That's what I find beautiful about comedy, though,”

two is that you know, you and I are by all metrics, very different people. I think we could say that. I don't know what you're talking about. I think we could say that.

I think you're insane. I would say that like you can be from two very different worlds, but sort of the idiosyncrasies of, I think, comedy for comedy's sake and whatever this idea of like a, if there is a true like North in comedy of just like funny,

that is like kind of all this same, a little bit. Yeah, even if all the specifics are different, when some things like really, really funny, it can be this crazy weird sketch thing or it could be like this version of stand up or whatever,

it can still be really funny and you can, hopefully like connect. And like you got to be able to learn how to speak different comedic languages. And I feel like I had to learn how to speak the Conan language.

But you still end up getting like the best stuff out of this person's really different, but they know how to fit their

Like I think one of the first things I pitched at the show when we were on zoom is that we just do a whole Christmas

“show because I'm like, I think we're going to die.”

Let's just do a Christmas show. Yeah. And you really liked it. You were like, let's go. And we did Christmas and like August, I guess.

Yeah, we did. We actually decorated the whole, I think we decorated the Largo theater. Yeah, it was really fun. It was fun. And I was like, wow, this is, no, but also it's just,

uh, I mean, I'm sorry you thought that it's, it's so funny because I talked to so many young people, people your age and younger in 2020 who really did think it was the end of the world, like, just only because I was older, I was able to say to them, no, it's okay.

This is not the end of the world. We've been through this, uh, this is what happens in life. We go through these things and we have to come together and they're scary and then, uh, we move on. And I hope evolve, but, uh, that is, no.

No, I'm saying, yeah, I'm a home sure. I mean, look at the world today, perfect. Yeah, it's great.

“Oh, I think we can agree there are no problems.”

I agree 100%. Yeah, all right. We don't get out much. Uh, so we are now, as we take this, uh, what do we like a month away from the Oscars, I think?

Yeah, five weeks. And now we're get five weeks and it, um, it's funny, like we, we get in there and, okay, you tell me, I'm asking you. I'm legitimately asking you, okay.

I have always thought that the bullshitting in a writer's room

isn't really just bullshitting. It's kind of essential and I can't prove it. But we'll go in and I think, I don't know what was happening today. I was acting something out. You guys are making fun of me.

We're, it, it has nothing to do with the show that we have to put on in five weeks. We, we're working on a lot of those for being very responsible, but we will get off on tangents. We were all laughing really hard, right?

And maybe it's terribly inappropriate, but some of us are practically crying. And I will leave afterwards and I'll think, well, that was really good. None of that will go into the show. Yeah. But it's serving some purpose or I'm just wrong and it's a waste of time.

You're, no, you're right. Because I've been in rooms where writers' rooms where it is fun, and I've been in writers' rooms where it's not fun.

And even on just like an essential level of just wanting to come into work.

And it is hard work sometimes. So you are going to want to have to be there to do it. It's important to be like, I don't know. I'm going to laugh really hard today. And it's maybe we'll see and like, or some crazy joke come up.

And maybe it does become something, probably not. But like, it's fun to just be in this space. Yeah. Other times when you're trying to do comedy, and you feel terrible and you're under the gun,

and it's like, well, it's got to be exactly right. And also people aren't supporting each other. It's not fun to do. It's weird. You can be in these situations where you're like, dang,

this was like my quote unquote dream job. And I feel terrible every day. That is not, despite the fact that you are deeply abusive. That is not. I gave you a good shoulder massage today.

No, I'm a player. I'm a player. I'm a player. I'm a player. I got in there.

Yeah. I've called some knots, and I went at it. Honestly, he released my shot gruts. It was really, I feel, I feel loose now. There you go.

Yep, did he? Did he ask you if he could? First. What do you want me to say to him? Yeah.

How should I answer him? I think we take the fifth amendment. Okay. Okay. I might have left across the room.

Oh. Deeply giving Skyler a deeper tissue massage. Yeah. Might have crept over like a Scooby-Doo villain. Yeah.

I did. I can't go. Anyway, look, I'll be jailed for my crimes. We all know that. But, what was the biggest, this is the question I wanted to ask before we have to wrap,

which is, what was the thing about working on that show last year, the Oscars, that was there something that really profoundly surprised you, because it's, you and I have both worked in different versions of show business, and then there's that show, which is this, uh, still this kind of big iconic thing.

“What was there something that you took away from that?”

I, before working on that, I had no sense of, uh, scale, I guess. I, and obviously, we, uh, I knew it abstractly, but I didn't know what it would feel

like being there, and I never realized that, um, the jokes.

talking about this joke that you would just said, like, five minutes ago.

I had not experienced that before, and it was weird to be, like, oh, all eyes are on this. And it's, it's live and it's happening in a way that doesn't really happen that much, almost ever anymore. Like, the only live comedy that you have is SNL, but it's still not, it's not like getting, like, millions and millions of views every week, you know, it's like, it was just

huge. And I had not been in a space with also, like, that many celebrities before, obviously you see them around, but when they're all in sort of a concentrated area that star power is just, like, you're seeing people that you've seen your whole life just whiz by your vision. It's like, very, I don't know, just kind of surreal.

Yeah. And then it's just like, all right. Well, let's just make go back and make sure these jokes work. Like, let's go back down into that dungeon below the theater and just make sure the jokes work because there's pretty people upstairs and it's scary.

Is that where they put you? Oh, yeah. There's a room downstairs, because I go there too and we'll sit there and we'll think, okay, we just rehearsed, but now we got to go downstairs.

“Last year it was, I think Cynthia and Ariana were practicing their song and they kind of”

wanted to clear the area.

Oh, yeah. Get out for Cynthia and Ariana, all of us, you're not important enough, you get out. And all of us went down and just grow on your ground, like, and then we were in this room and we're trying to figure out, should this joke go before this joke or after that joke? And, but the thing that I find is the scale can change, but the process is the same.

It is. Meaning if we were working on a show that was just going to be a live fun sketch show that we were going to perform for an audience of 200 people at the Largo theater, it's still the same process. Right.

You got to have the ideas, you got to fight over them, you got to, and then you can change the scale. Right. And you can add these beautiful iconic people, but it's still the same thing. Yeah.

And the process isn't that much different except I need a lot more makeup. Right. No. It's also very gratifying.

That moment of, I think the two days before, I don't know what it is where we're

feeling kind of insane, and you remember those last 48 hours, it's like we're like moving stuff around. Yeah. There was just a sense of the adrenaline that's rushing through me and being like, well, oh, we're actually, we're really doing it, and this has to happen, and we've got to

pull it off. Right. Some of the best moments kind of happens.

“I don't think that Jesse didn't really, like, I think it was Jesse's idea to put the”

sandworm in the band. That happened like five minutes before my show. Right. Right. And it happened because it had to happen because something else dropped out, and we quickly

said, OK, if they was, I don't know who it was, but it was Jesse great, but just, oh, yeah. So yeah, we're going to go do it again. Let's hope it all goes well. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

It's got really quiet in here. Yeah. It's a lot of pressure for you guys. Yeah. I'll be watching.

It's no pressure for me at all. I just enjoy. I was in the audience. Yeah. Well, you guys were underground.

Oh, my God. You're always high. It takes to Kurt Russell and Goldie Haan. Oh, my God. It was great for us.

I don't think you should have that good to see. You look dance with him. It's so great. I danced with him. I don't think he took shots with him.

I don't know. Come on. All right. Gail, we're behind us. Why are you getting such a good seat?

Why is it all over? Why is it all over? You had so much fun. We were scared. I know.

I know you guys are talking about the Oscars. Like, it's scary. And I'm just like, why it's fun. Yeah. The work you do makes my life better.

“Can I go on record as saying you should not have that good to see?”

I already did. I can't believe Oprah's like, oh, there's all this hair in front of me. All right. Skyler. Yes.

I'm going to go and throw objects at all of you in about five minutes. Yeah. But you're brilliantly funny. I thank you for loaning your talents to me. And onward and upward, I say thanks for having me.

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