My next guest is a hilarious stand-up comedian
and one of the newest writers on "Conan."
Please welcome Skyler Higley.
Skyler, thank you for being here, man.
Thank you for having me.
What's it like joining mid-pandemic?
Because if you're in a writer's room,
it's essentially a lot of chemistry.
And you have to do the weirdest thing imaginable,
which is this cold Zoom meeting and technical errors.
It took, I would say maybe slightly longer
than usual, but I think it's fine now.
Like, coming into a new writing staff,
I think, always the problem is in a new group of people,
It's always like, when do I make the joke?
And the thing about Zoom is, if you try to make a joke
at the same time as somebody else, it's just,
nobody's gonna hear anything either of you said.
So that was kind of like the first big hurdle,
of like, when do I even talk?
Because everybody is already on the same page about things.
I know what you mean.
Other than that, like, being in the room
is one of the things I enjoy the most about my day,
because a lot of it, particularly
with the "Conan" staff, everybody's friends,
a lot of it's just like, kind of bullshitting a lot.
The same thing that Andy was talking about,
being very mean to each other.
Or not each other, but being mean about things.
And making jokes that are like--
Yeah.
We're all just like hanging out.
And then like, a half hour or more into the meeting,
then Matt O'Brien will be like,
"Okay, let's read some pitches."
And you know, it's like we've been just
doing nothing for a while.
Yeah, but it was a great way to go in, though.
And you're talking with a human being
and not just go in cold and have to read
a incredibly dumb sketch.
Right.
This is "Dr. Fart Helicopter."
Right, and God forbid, Conan joins the Zoom.
Then we're just like, not even going to get to any.
Then it's just like, you know, Conan bits.
And then we just are like hanging out
with him and having fun.
So it's just like, the most fun
I think someone could probably have working,
in the time that we're working.
So you started as a stand-up in Chicago.
And is this true, you grew up Mormon?
I did.
And it was a thing that, like,
I talk about it in standup a lot.
It was a thing that I didn't even think was weird.
Or like something that people didn't relate to,
until I was about a year in.
And then everybody's like, you grew up Mormon?
That's like kind of crazy.
And I was like, "Oh, is it?"
And they're like, "Yeah, (giggles) nobody's Mormon."
Except for, if you grow up in Utah,
where I grew up, then everybody is Mormon.
And I'm like, "Yeah, it's normal
"for like, everybody in the same state
"to be like almost the same religion, right?"
And everybody else is like, no.
No, that is a Utah thing.
Yeah, because it's a very specific one,
and they get a lot of hate just because it's so new.
Yeah. They need, like,
another hundred years where until it's acceptable.
Or maybe just get out of Utah. maybe to her.
Maybe tour.
I mean, yeah, that was my thing,
is I just had to like, get out
because I just, I always felt out of place in Utah.
I didn't like, I just didn't, you know?
I wasn't the same as everybody else.
Like it's a state that's like, what?
99.99% white?
It's like me and the Utah Jazz
are the only black people there.
Right.
And I moved to Chicago, and like, it was just much more,
like I became myself, I think through,
like, comedy, you know?
I grew up very religious,
and there's a back part of my mind where I'm like,
"You know what you'd make a killing,
"is if you become a church comic."
Okay.
That's something that I had considered,
because like, I remember what I was gonna go into comedy,
My mom, like told my family,
and immediately my grandma got me this DVD
that was like, to say like,
"Hey, if you're gonna do comedy,
"you don't have to, like curse and stuff.
"You could be like one of these, like,
"best Mormon comedians."
Yeah. You had this, like,
specific DVD that I never watched, by the way.
Of Mormon comedy? That was just like,
Yeah, it was like Mormon comedy, that was like,
"You ever be at church and, you know, XYZ?" (giggles)
"You take the sacrament, and then you feel connected to,
Like, I don't know how that could be funny! (giggling)
Brigham Young material. But they make a killing!
Just imagine being like, you're killing it.
You're killing it for the Lord.
So you think God is happy with you the whole time.
Yeah.
And then you get like a giant check.
10% of which you give back to the church, but that's okay.
Like, I mean, that's gotta be a pretty good living.
You know what?
I've convinced myself.
I'm gonna go do church comedy now.
Wow! (laughing)
What religion did you grow up in?
My parents made up their own thing.
They did?
They took a little bit of, yeah, Catholicism,
and made up their own thing.
And tried to take that act on the roads.
We were missionaries for that.
And it did not work out.
We had zero followers.
How long were you a missionary for?
Maybe 10 years.
Off and on. A long time for it.
Yeah, but not like,
help people and like staying with them,
and you know, "We're gonna build a school."
We were just like aggressive street preachers.
We'd go to a concert outside of a Utah Jazz game
or something, and just be screaming at people.
Oh my God. Which is hellfire.
You were like the people with the sign.
Yeah. Yeah.
There's a lot of pressure in Mormonism.
Like when you turn, 18 to like,
it's like men, like go on missions for like two years,
where like, that's your whole thing.
Everybody's seen "The Book of Mormon" musical.
They know how this works. Yeah.
I was so afraid of like, doing that,
because like by that time I was like,
I'm not gonna be, I can't commit to something like that
for like, two years and just do this, like one thing.
So you guys going like 10 years,
and then not even being like,
knock, knock, "Hi, how you doing?
"Do we wanna talk about this guy?"
But like screaming at people.
That's nuts, man!
Yeah, it's a lot.
So it'd be like, are you nervous to do stand-up?
Like, nah, as long as I'm not telling
older women that they're going to hell,
I think I'll be all right.
That was probably the thing--
Going up to people in Walmart,
tell them they're going to hell.
That gave you the confidence to be like,
yeah, if I- Yeah.
(laughing) If I bomb, it's like, you know,
I can bomb.
It's no worse than the things that I've said
(laughing) to people on the street.
Yeah, but I think missionaries
and religious people have insulated themselves.
So you can't bomb.
So if anyone persecutes you, they don't get it.
They're not saved.
And I think comedians need that.
We need a way to insulate ourselves because now,
if you don't do well, or if someone hates you,
you say "They hate me."
Yeah.
We need to find a common God.
Well, that's what I do, is like,
if I get off stage and I bombed,
I'm like "They didn't get it.
"They don't get any jokes.
"They all, you know."
I am God. Make it about them!
Yeah. (laughs) I think the only way
to truly navigate comedy,
and not like be anxious and depressed all the time,
is you're either like anxious, and like,
self-hating like me or you are just a huge,
like narcissist, and you think like,
everything you do is perfect.
And I mean, like, I go back and forth. (chuckles)
I wish I had more of the second one.
Just to be like, I see the clips that people release.
And I see the stuff they put out,
and I'm like, I wish I had that confidence.
Can you imagine the pathology involved,
to like actually comment something negative
on like, something else that somebody made?
Like, who are you?
What do you do?
If there are any negative comments on this,
I will personally fight each and every negative comment.
(laughing) I will find,
well now you're inviting them,
but that's fine because that's just engagement.
And that's gonna boost us in the algorithm.
That's right.
Negativity rises to the top
to start the conversation.
So people are like, oh something.
Cause there's nothing interesting on
(audio glitch distorts words)
Good. Yeah.
So people want, we should start a feud
between us, there should be a huge blow up.
So we have it in the thumbnail.
Do you wanna just start just like,
some beef over some sort of like,
just some kind of public rivalry?
Yeah, it's gonna be great for our brands.
I'm gonna go hardcore into anti-masking.
You can be the-- Okay, right.
You'll be the fan favorite.
I'll be the villain.
And I'll just say, I won't even go anti-mask.
They say you wear two masks now.
I'm just going to be going hard into,
like, I only wear one mask.
And that can be our split.
See, that's the stance.
That's the nuanced stance, is the one mask guy.
This guy sells out.
PC culture wants him to wear two masks.
He says well fuck.
It's just gross.
That that's what generates any sort of key to success,
is just the negativity.
And I'm 100% down to play the game.
I think we'll, we'll get in a fight about joke theft.
But it's going to be the worst joke.
Right.
I stole from you, (Skyler giggles)
something that's like, incredibly corny.
Yeah. He stole my thing about how, like,
sometimes you take an edible,
and then you're suddenly like so high out of nowhere!
The untouched comedy-- That was my joke!
Market of "I took an edible and then something weird."
It's like, like every time I hear the stories,
I'm like, "You're an adult, you took an edible on a plane.
"What did you think was gonna happen?"
Right. You know what's a story?
You took an edible and nothing happened.
Or the whole, like,
I have worked with or around kids, and you know what?
I don't like 'em.
It's like, great.
Hot, hey, hot, hey. Like, we know.
I love it.
Okay, well, we have a very bright future.
I like this.
I can't wait to see you again and perform at a real show.
I know!
You're killing it on the show,
everyone loves you around there.
So hang in there.
Keep doing your thing.
Yeah, man.
Thank you so much for having me.
Of course, Skyler Higley, everyone.