Kelly Lyon won an Emmy award for Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming.

When deciding her outfit for the 2024 Emmy Awards, Lake Oswego resident Kelly Lyon was advised by a friend to “Dress like an Emmy and win an Emmy.”

So the editor donned a gold dress to the ceremony Sunday, Sept. 15, and did in fact win an Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming. The award recognized her work on the episode of “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA” titled “Paranormal.” She even mentioned the dress in her speech, eliciting laughs.

“I felt like the belle of the ball for the night because I started the speech with a little joke,” Lyon said. “It’s fun to get to feel like a queen for the day. As editors we are unsung heroes and usually not celebrated. It’s fun to be the center of attention.”

Lyon, who moved to the Portland area and then Lake Oswego after editing a season of “Portlandia,” specializes in comedy editing and reached the zenith of her profession at the Emmy Awards, where she also was nominated in the same category for her work on “Tig Notaro: Hello Again.”

From high school broadcasts to ‘Saturday Night Live’

Lyon grew up watching “The Simpsons,” Weird Al Yankovic and all things Bill Murray. She started editing at her Michigan high school’s television station and the senior class yearbook and then pursued the career following college. Shortly after college, Lyon got a job at a post production company that worked on “Saturday Night Live” and edited the sketch comedy show for 11 seasons.

While the writers of SNL famously face tight deadlines and long hours to get the show ready for primetime, Lyon said the same is true for editors. She recalled completing the finishing touches on a recorded sketch set to appear after the opening monologue as Josh Brolin was delivering it. This is in part because show creator Lorne Michaels reviews sketches and provides notes just a few hours before the show begins, Lyon said.

“I remember Josh was doing his monologue and we were feeding edits into the show and I was thinking ‘Keep talking please; if he had said ‘We will be right back’ and it wasn’t done feeding into the machine there would be dead air eventually.”

Lyon mainly cut together prerecorded sketches for the show.

“It just feels good to make people laugh. There is no greater high than being on the floor of SNL during a live show and hearing an audience react to the work you have made and hearing them laugh and laugh at the right times, laugh when you are hoping they would. It feels so good,” she said.

Working with Mulaney

During her time on SNL, Lyon said she developed a strong working relationship with Mulaney, who previously wrote for the show. Mulaney asked her to cut his first comeback special, “Comeback Kid,” in 2014; the two have collaborated ever since.

Lyon noted that film and television editors have a larger role and responsibility than people realize. For the award-winning episode of Mulaney’s latest show, Lyon narrowed down a half-dozen hours of footage into a usable 25 minutes and said she didn’t receive many notes about her cuts. Editors are responsible for the rhythm of the production as well as the music.

“I feel like people don’t understand just how important the edit is for the process. People have a general understanding of what the director does, the writer, the actor,” Lyon said. “We are crafting the story, the pacing, adding the music that gives you the emotions you feel, the timing, things to make you laugh or feel. One editor is going to give you a completely different feel with the same footage.”

A key to her collaboration with Mulaney, Lyon said, is that they have a similar sense of humor.

“I love stuff that is silly. I grew up watching Weird Al. I don’t mind a stupid joke. I love when things are out of left field and you’re not expecting it,” Lyon said. “I am so lucky in this career that I’ve found enough collaborators where I’ve found our tastes align.”

Lyon said “Everybody’s in L.A.” was different from other shows she’s worked on in that the pacing was slower and segments were allowed to breathe without a flurry of jokes.

“It was a new way to approach comedy. We all came from SNL, so we all have this (approach of) … get as many jokes in as quickly as you can and get out. John wanted the sketches to be paced slower and longer than you would expect for a normal sketch show,” Lyon said.

Lyon worked on the special from her home in Lake Oswego. She also works as a freelancer for a variety of projects, including commercials, and would like to do more narrative work. She’s hoping the award will lead to opportunities but is also just grateful to be honored.

“To bring home an Emmy to Portland and Lake Oswego is very cool and fun. I’m thrilled and so proud to represent Mulaney’s show,” she said.