What are we looking at?
Bridgerton.
Yes, I remember this very well.
(whistles) All right, everybody.
I'll have quiet, I will have quiet.
Oh, I'll have quiet.
You think I'll have quiet?
I think you'll have quiet.
(upbeat jazz)
Hey, Conan O'Brien here
for another addition of Behind the Nonsense.
This is basically segments where we go behind the scenes
on sketches.
Find out how they were made, why they were made,
and is there any way we can go back in time
and have them not made.
Anyway, sitting here with one of our writers,
Skyler Higley.
Hey, Skyler. Hi.
Did you, or did you not,
maybe the second time we spoke.
Great.
Did you, or did you not refer to me as an "old fuck?"
Well...
Short answer, yes.
(Conan laughs)
But you, look,
you keep putting me in a position
where you say I'm bullying you,
and then I have to bully you.
Yeah, yeah, that's what happened.
You heard from all the other writers, Conan's a madman,
he's insane.
But in all the time you've worked with me,
in all of our meetings, you've seen nothing but,
maybe the sanest guy you've ever met.
A professional, and a gentleman, and a scholar.
(Conan laughing)
And I only have positive things to say.
(Conan laughing)
Well listen, as an old fuck.
(Skyler laughing)
To a young man, I just wanna say my best to you.
We're gonna look at a piece now
This was a Bridgerton piece.
It was announced that the star, can you call him the star?
Yeah, you can call him the star.
I mean, he's the breakout.
The star.
Well, how do you say his name again?
Regé-Jean Page
Okay, Regé-Jean Page,
breakout star.
Ladies going crazy for this guy and the fellas, too.
I know I'm in that camp.
And everyone loves him.
He'd announced he was leaving,
and so you had a concept for maybe a new replacement.
Is that fair to say?
Yeah, I think I could do it.
Okay.
Well, let's see how that worked out.
Let's take a look.
(upbeat drums)
Some big news just came out about Bridgerton.
Regé-Jean Page will not be reprising the role
of Simon Basset.
Wow.
He's like the breakout star of that show.
That's a big deal.
Yeah yeah, and he's not coming back.
Wow. Fans are freaking out,
and it's all over the internet.
Everybody's freaking out about it.
And then I hear one of our writers
apparently has something he wants to say about this.
I don't know what it is,
but I should give him a chance to speak,
so let's talk to him now.
Please welcome Skyler Higley!
Skyler, are you there?
Oh, hey Conan.
(both laughing)
Skyler, what are you wearing?
Oh, this?
These are just my regular clothes I wear everyday,
but I guess you're right.
I do look like the perfect replacement for Regé-Jean Page.
No, I never said,
I don't think I said at all
that you should replace Regé-Jean Page.
Well then why did I tell everyone you did, Conan?
I don't know why you told people that.
Don't tell people that.
Look, Skyler, it's a huge role on a huge show.
Do you have any kind of acting experience at all?
Yes, Conan, I already have about, what?
15 seconds on on-screen experience,
and I'm already killing it.
I wouldn't say you're killing it.
You're just chatting with me.
Look, this is a demanding role.
It requires serious acting skills.
Can you even do a British accent?
Of course, check this out.
Oi, blimey guv'na.
It's me, Simon Basset, mayor of Bridgerton,
here to fornicate with you.
No one says I wanna fornicate with you.
No one would ever say I'm here to fornicate with you.
Make sweet love.
No, no, no.
Up in your knickers.
No, no, not up in anyone's knickers.
That was terrible.
I don't know, Conan, it sounds like you're jealous.
You know, when I do this accent,
people say I sound like the British Idris Elba, so.
Idris Elba is British!
(scoffs) Okay, Conan.
By the way,
I took the "lorry" to my "flat"
where I ate some "fish and chips" and did some "colonizing."
Oh, yeah, okay, yeah.
That's what people say, "I'm gonna go do some colonizing."
Skyler, even if they look past your horrible British accent,
I have to tell you, this is a very highly sexualized role.
Conan, I get that,
and I think I'm mature enough to work around boobies, so.
Spoken like a real Lothario.
Yeah, look.
Regé-Jean Page is a heartthrob.
Women love this guy.
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
He's handsome, but you know,
maybe the character could be funny.
I could make everyone horny with humor.
Okay, and how would you do that?
Oh, easy, check this out.
(silly slide whistle)
Let's have sex.
Okay.
No one's going to like that.
Uh, actually, I'm kind of turned on by that.
All right, look, Skyler.
You're a very funny writer, terrific writer,
but you're not gonna replace Regé-Jean Page.
It's not gonna happen.
Well,
I guess there's only one thing to say to that, Conan.
(sad slide whistle)
You've crushed my dreams.
(fast slide whistle)
And that means (beeping) you!
Okay, hey!
(both laughing)
The hell was that?
(fast slide whistle) All right.
Yes, you've got the part, clearly.
'Cause you're so sexy,
and the slide whistle's just driving women nuts.
(silly slide whistle) (both laughing)
That's wow, wow.
Nothing says Regé-Jean Page like that sound.
One of the things that people need to understand
when they look at that,
is that you were in Chicago at the time.
I was.
Were you in your apartment
with the incredibly low ceiling?
Yes, that was the low ceiling apartment.
Yeah, every time I would talk to you,
or you would do anything for us,
you would come to us from your Chicago apartment,
and you'd be sitting down behind the desk,
and the ceiling of your apartment,
even when you were sitting,
was pressed down on top of your head.
So you have to do that over Zoom.
And I can't think of a harder thing to do
than to do comedy with somebody else,
and you're in Chicago, and I'm in LA,
and it's Zoom, and there's a pandemic going.
Right, I mean, there's a delay, and there's like, yeah,
it's hard to, you know, you're like,
I'm just in front of a screen,
and now I'm looking straight at you the whole time.
Instead of like the way we actually talk to each other,
which is sometimes I look at you, and sometimes I don't.
And then you're just like in my face all the time,
and who wants Conan directly in their face at all times.
(Skyler laughing)
Listen, a lot of people would kill
to look at me constantly. I know.
I'm noticing that I'm looking at you the whole time,
and you keep looking away, nervously.
(inhales) Yeah, well.
Is this making you nervous, what I'm doing right now?
No, I'm incredibly turned on.
(Conan laughing)
That's what incredibly turned on people say,
and that's just also the way they say it.
How did we get you the outfit for that?
Because that was the other thing,
I remember being impressed that
that idea was hatched very late,
and I think, did Scott Cronick send you,
he like FedEx'ed you that outfit.
Yeah, they overnighted me that outfit.
And what you don't see of the outfit was, I mean,
most of it because it was of the Zoom window,
but there was like a whole,
there was like a whole pants part to it,
and these like high boots, and it had this whole lapel.
It really looked like a real Bridgerton outfit.
I was very impressed.
You can't see two-thirds of it.
Yeah, you can't see most of it.
But I, you know, I walked down the street
and just kind of looked at people.
(laughs) You walk past Wrigley Field.
And I walked like this. (Conan laughs)
That's how you walk in a suit like that.
Yes, back in 1780.
If you want to get a message out to anyone out there
in the world about just what an incredible, I don't know,
feeling there is on the Conan show.
(Skyler laughing)
The respect and reverence I show all of you writers.
Maybe now's the time to say it.
I wasn't told that this part was gonna happen.
I'm just going with it.
I just thought maybe I could get something on film.
No, like, so I could make a statement.
I would say... (Conan laughing)
Whatever he said that I should say about him,
Yeah? Is what I say.
Okay, well Skyler, thank you very much.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you for calling me the greatest influence
in your life ever.
We're gonna insert that later.
Yeah, no. I'll say that.
Thank you, Skyler. Yeah.
You're a scholar and a gentlemen.
(upbeat jazz)
Wait, no, let me just like say it,
so then you could like feed it in with a different voice.
Okay.
And so in post...
Oh, we know what to do. Yeah.
We know exactly what to do.
The only praise I've ever gotten has been
when I make people move their lips
and then add it later on in post.
Conan's a mad old fuck.