Skweezy Jibbs describes himself as “that person that tells the craziest stories … but always has proof”. He backs up his often absurd and unbelievable anecdotes about his life with ample picture and video evidence online, and it’s garnered him a viral audience all around the world.
I was honored to interview him about his comedic past, his hobbies, and of course the making of his new movie Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie. Co-produced with the makers of Portlandia, the film screens at the Varsity Theatre in Ashland on Nov. 12, and will feature an in-person, live Q+A session with Skweezy himself.
“I don’t know if anyone’s done what I’m doing before,” he said, referring to the live aspect of his film screening. “Actors don’t go on the road with their movies, they want to act! They’ll come to a premiere or something, but that’s about it. I’m selling all of the tickets myself, making deals with the theaters … part of these first eight shows are testing how this will work, because I am going to do this for a U.S. tour.”
Southern Oregon University’s Digital Cinema program routinely rates among the best film schools in the country by MovieMaker magazine, and Ashland supports a bustling, lively culture of actors and producers alike in the film and theatre industries. When asked what he would like to share, as both an actor and producer, with SOU film and theatre students, Skweezy said the most important thing to learn from his production process is to maintain a delicate balance between seriousness and lighthearted fun.
“I’ve got friends in the industry, I’ve been on movie sets as a guest, and it can be really toxic,” Skweezy admits. “A lot of that is no one’s fault, really, because it is crazy, intense… if anything [messes] up, you gotta start over, and then you’re bleeding money. I’ve seen other projects that were fun, but they were too fun, and there was an element of seriousness that needed to happen that didn’t. I wanted my main goal to have a set where everyone was respectful and had a good time, but it wasn’t just a party; we’re all professionals, we knew what had to be done.”
He also realized something radical about film in the process of making his movie.
“Everything about how it’s done has changed,” he said. “Nobody knows how to get movies to make money, how to get butts in the seat, everything has changed.”
According to Skweezy, everyone is wondering how to compete with social media.
“I’ve spent the last year talking with professional filmmakers and distributors,” he said. “We can’t get people to come to the movies, and Gen Z doesn’t come at all. Nobody wants to pay for content. But what I’m realizing is, we sold out six of the eight shows … and the thing is, you’ve gotta think outside the box. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, going on the road, giving people a real experience. … You gotta just be experimental.”
Being such a monumental force on the Internet comes at a price, and it’s that all eyes are on you, whether you like it or not. Skweezy handles the pressure with grace.
“I have complete control over the movie, and my content, for better or worse,” he said. “t’s only been literally two people who have treated me poorly. I don’t mind it at all… it’s crazy, the places I’ve been. I was in Kenya, and people came up to me in Kenya that wanted to say hi. Every time I go to Mexico and Mexico City… but it can be intense. I do deal with generalized and social anxiety, but I’ve learned to separate, Okay, is this a real danger, or is this something my brain is telling me is real?.
Though he lives through many fantastical and hilarious scenarios, Skweezy is only human. He tackles mental health struggles in his personal life in an interesting way.
“I do have this special gift of being able to externalize and being open about things,” he said. “One of the things I’m open about, and you’ll see when you see the movie – I get into trauma, and mental health stuff, in a way that fits with the movie – but I have this ability not everyone has where I can be open about that kind of stuff, and it doesn’t shatter me.”
Skweezy links part of his ability to cope with mental stress to generational change.
“My pop can’t talk about that stuff, and when he has, he shuts down for days,” he said. “I’m the opposite. I can have deep conversations about real things with people. I don’t dwell on those hardest things in life. I’ve had people come up to me, some on the college campuses and some at the premiere, and open up to me about their own mental health stuff. It just makes me super happy, because I didn’t have anyone like that when I was younger. … I was crippled by my mental health situation. I wanna figure out a way to connect with men, or those who identify as men, or anybody who feels like they can’t open up about their feelings.”
In addition to his film career, Skweezy is a DJ. He started DJing for an audience on social media by going live during the pandemic, and has begun picking it up again recently, but having practiced his skills for years, he had something beautiful to impart about the experience.
“I take the same approach to DJing that I do to everything I do,” he said. “I don’t do anything unless I like it, and I want to do it. If I like something, I’m passionate about it, it’s in me forever. I trend more towards making myself happy with the music, but it’s the same as anything else: it’s all about the work. There’s no shortcut for that. That hasn’t and never will change.”
It’s clear that the usage of AI is on the rise, and being a creative himself, Skweezy had some real opinions on the matter. Regarding artificially generated content, especially in creative projects, Skweezy is highly critical.
“ChatGPT isn’t the solution,” he said. “It’s gonna give you something just good enough, but even if AI becomes super good and accurate, everyone’s work is gonna seem exactly the same, because it’s all processed by the same algorithm. It’s about finding the little things that set you apart from everyone else.”
Skweezy wanted us all to know just one last thing. “I’m doing a student discount. Regular tickets are 15 bucks, but I’m gonna do a student discount for Ashland where they’re only 10. It’ll be the promo word ‘STUDENT’, and hopefully that takes the edge off; but I still gotta pay the bills! … Come see Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie. It’s gonna be fun!”