In September, Kelly Lyon (née Brickner), an alumna of North Farmington High School, stood on the glittering stage of Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, clutching her first Emmy.
Honored with the award for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming for Netflix’s “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA,” Lyon’s path to success began in a much humbler setting — the TV-10 class at North Farmington High School.
“When Kristen Kish announced ‘J’ in John Mulaney, I truly couldn’t believe it,” Lyon said, recalling the moment she won. “It’s a cliché, but it felt like I was dreaming.”
Lyon’s win crowned years of hard work and creativity that began in Michigan.
As a senior at North Farmington in 1999, Lyon took the public access television class TV-10. There, under the mentorship of instructor Dean Cobb, she first encountered the editing equipment that would shape her career.
“It was the first time I had touched editing equipment,” Lyon said. “Mr. Cobb taught me to edit and I loved it. But I asked him, ‘This isn’t a real job, is it?’ He said: ‘No, it is a real job, and not a lot of women do it. You should pursue it.’ That conversation set me on the trajectory I’ve pursued ever since.”
Cobb recalls Lyon’s meticulous nature and determination.
“Kelly was always one of the most meticulous editors in the class. If it wasn’t perfect, it didn’t go out,” Cobb said. “She is one of the best.”
Lyon credits TV-10 for opening doors to an industry she hadn’t considered.
“I am so grateful for the education I received from Farmington schools because you can’t do what you don’t know exists,” she said. “I was so lucky to be introduced to editing at such a young age because of the resources at TV-10.”
After graduating, Lyon attended the University of Michigan, majoring in film and television studies. She honed her skills further with summer internships at MTV in New York City and a job at the university’s television station. Her big break came when she moved to New York, intending to work for MTV.
But things changed.
“My contact for the MTV job was let go between the time I graduated and when I headed to New York. I was in New York without a job,” she said.
Instead, she landed at Crew Cuts, a video editing company, initially answering phones.
“It was a crushing blow not to get the MTV job. But eventually, I started doing some editing at Crew Cuts,” she said. “At the time, Crew Cuts wouldn’t let me edit a normal commercial like a Pizza Hut commercial, but because ‘SNL’ didn’t pay very well, they’d let me do those parodies. Working at ‘SNL’ set me on this comedy path that I’m still on.”
At “Saturday Night Live,” Lyon’s editing career flourished, working on digital shorts, parody commercials and music videos.
“The turnaround time on those parodies was insane,” she said. “Millions of people are watching, but they’d just let me do it.”
Her working relationship with Mulaney began during her time at “SNL.” In 2015, he asked Lyon to edit his Netflix special, “The Comeback Kid.”
“That launched me on a new aspect of my career — editing stand-up specials,” she said. Lyon has since edited specials for Amy Schumer, Tig Notaro and Alex Edelman, among others. She also has worked on projects like Mike Judge’s stop-motion animated comedy “In The Know” for Peacock, “That Damn Michael Che” for HBO Max, “Portlandia” for IFC, and contributed to the critically acclaimed “The Bear” for FX on Hulu.
Editing comedy specials takes a particular editing knack.
“If I do my job correctly, the viewer feels like they watched the show from start to finish. In reality, we film three specials, and then I stitch all of those specials together to make it feel like one seamless show. There’s some art to putting it together,” she said.
Now residing in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Zack, and their two children, Lyon marvels at how technology has transformed her work.
“When I started, we needed very expensive equipment in a studio,” she said. “Now, it’s just software. I can work remotely with someone in Australia and make edits together.”
Lyon’s Emmy win comes during a pivotal moment for women in her industry.
“Not many women were editing when I first began,” she said. “In the last three years, the Emmy for editing has gone to women. Being at the Emmys, half the nominees were women.”
Looking ahead, Lyon hopes to delve into animation and half-hour sketch comedy.
“With animation, you cut the story before they draw it. We use storyboards. You cut all the dialogue and music first before they shoot it,” she said. “You have more control as an editor. I’d love to do more of that.”
For Cobb, seeing his former student’s success is a joy.
“My wife and I were over the moon when we heard Kelly had won the Emmy,” he said. “We’ve watched much of her work. We’re big ‘SNL’ and ‘Portlandia’ fans, and we wait to see her name in the credits.”
From her days editing the senior class video yearbook to receiving one of television’s highest honors, Lyon’s journey is a testament to her talent, persistence and the power of early mentorship.
“From that moment in TV-10 class to my Emmy win, you can trace it right back to North Farmington High School,” she said.
