And please welcome Skylar 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, um, usual.

But I think it's fine, 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, is 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 E No, 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 on.

It's particularly with the Conan staff.

Everybody's friends.

A lot of it's just, like, kind of bullshitting a lot the same thing.

That and he was talking about being very mean to each other or not each other, but being mean about things and making jokes that are like we're all just like hanging out and then, like, ah, half hour arm or into the meeting than 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 is 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 incredibly dumb sketch, right?

Dr Martin Helicopter.

Right?

And God forbid Cohen joins the zoom.

Then we're just, like, not even gonna get to any.

Then it's just like, you know, Conan bits, and then we just start 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, um, and it was a thing that, like I talked about it and stand up a lot.

It was a thing that I didn't even think was weird or like something that people didn't relate Thio 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, nobody's Mormon Except for if you grew up in Utah where I grew up, then everybody's Mormon and I'm like, Yeah, it's 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 that is a Utah thing.

That is yeah, because it's a very specific one.

They get a lot of hate just because it's so new.

Yeah, another 100 years.

Where until acceptable.

Or maybe you just get out of Utah, maybe tour.

I mean, yeah, that was that was my thing because 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.

I like.

It's a state.

That's like, what, 99.99% white?

It's like me and the Utah Jazz or the only black people there.

And I moved to Chicago and like it, it was just much more like a I became myself.

I think through like comedy, you know, very religious and is a back part of my mind where I'm like, you know, what you make a killing is if you become a church comic.

Okay, um, that's something that I had considered because, like, I remember when I was gonna go into comedy, Um, my mom, uh, like, told my family and immediately my grandmother brought me is DVD That was like, um, like to say like, Hey, if you're gonna do comedy, you know, don't have toe like curse and stuff.

You could be like one of these.

Like best Mormon comedians.

You had this, like, specific DVD that I've never watched.

By the way, that was like, yeah, like Mormon comedy that was like, You ever be it church and you know, X y z you take the sacrament and then you feel connected to like I don't know how that could be funny 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, 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 got to be a pretty good living.

You know what I've convinced myself.

I'm gonna go to church comedy now.

Wow.

What religion did you know?

Uh, made up their own thing?

They did.

They took a little bit of yeah, Catholicism's and made up their own thing.

And I'm trying to think that after the roads were missionaries for that and it did not work out, we had zero followers.

How long were you missionary for, uh, 10 years?

A long time.

Yeah, but not, like, like help people and like, staying with them.

And And we're gonna build a school.

We were just like aggressive street preachers.

We go to a concert outside of the Utah Jazz game or something and just be screaming at people.

Oh, my God.

Like a sign.

Yeah, yeah, There's a lot of pressure in Mormonism.

Like when you turn, uh, teen toe like it's like men, like, go on missions for, like, two years where, like, that's your whole thing.

Everybody say in the book of Mormon musical, they know how this works.

I was so afraid of like doing that because, like by that time, I was like, I'm not gonna B 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 want to talk about this guy?

But, like screaming at people?

That's nuts, man.

Yeah, it's a lot.

So you nervous?

You stand out, like, now?

As long as I'm not telling older women, they're going toe.

All right.

That was probably don't walmart gave you the confidence to be like, Yeah, if I yeah, if I bomb, it's like, you know I can bomb.

It's no worse than the things that I've said to people on the street.

Yeah, but I think missionaries and religious people have insulated themselves.

So you can, uh, so if anyone persecutes you, they don't get it.

They're not saved.

I think comedians need that.

We need a way toe insulate ourselves.

Because now, if you don't do well, there's someone hates you.

It's like they may.

Yeah, well, that's what I, uh that's what I do is like, if I get offstage and I bombed them like they didn't get it, they don't get any jokes.

They all you know, I am God make it about them.

Yeah.

I think the only way to truly navigate, um, 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, um, I mean, like, I go back and forth.

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.

I wish I had that confidence.

Can you imagine the pathology involved toe, like, actually comment something negative on of like something else that somebody made, like, Who are you?

What do you dio if There are any negative comments on this.

I will personally fight each and every negative.

Come I will find now you're inviting them.

But that's fine, because that's just engagement.

That's gonna boost us in the algorithm.

That's right.

Negativity rises to the top.

Start the conversation.

So people are like something.

There's nothing interesting about go there.

Question.

Good.

So people want we should start a feud between us.

We should be a huge blow up.

So we have it in the summer.

Do you want to start just like some 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 hard, hardcore into anti masking.

You could be the cause.

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 to Mass.

Now.

I'm just gonna be going hard until, like, I only wear one mask and that could 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 them to wear to mass.

Well, fuck it is gross.

That's what that's what generates any sort of heat.

Success is just the negativity.

And I'm 100% down to play the game.

E think we'll get in a fight about joke that, But it's gonna be the worst joke, right?

How he stole from you.

So incredibly corny.

Yeah, he stole my thing About how, like, sometimes you take inedible and then you're suddenly, like, so high out of nowhere.

The That was my comedy market.

Um, I took inedible and then something we It's like every time I hear the stories like you're an adult, you took an edible plane.

What did you think was gonna happen?

Right.

It was 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 him.

It's like, great, like, way I love it.

Okay, well, we have a very bright future.

I like this.

I can't wait to see you again.

Perform on a real show.

I know you're going it on the show.

Everyone loves you around there, so hang in there.

Keep keep doing your thing.

Yeah, man.

Thank you so much for having me.

Of course.

Skylar.

Higley.