Interview: The Naked Truth Behind The Skivvies

It’s a little hard to believe that Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina of The Skivvies, the versatile duo known for performing in their underwear, first met at a children’s theater production.

Since forming an immediate friendship, however, these Broadway veterans have combined their show-stopping vocals and multi-instrumental talents to bring wholly unique arrangements to stages across the U.S.

Letting it all hang loose at The Smith Center in Las Vegas on April 5, Nick and Lauren revealed some of their secrets with us.

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You first met performing together in a national children’s theater production, acting out Rudyard Kipling stories. When did you know you had a future together?

Nick: We knew on the first day we met that this person has a very similar sensibility about music and humor. We quickly connected and became best friends.

Lauren: We’re not only best friends, but a 24-hour business, where we get ideas for arrangements and text each other in the middle of the night.

How did you progress from writing arrangements for fun, to becoming The Skivvies?

Nick: We were getting together to create some sort of quirky arrangement of a pop song with our own spin on it. We really liked the results we got, and we decided to put it on YouTube.

We were deciding what to wear, and since we had stripped down the song musically, I told Lauren, “You could just wear your underwear!” And she said, “We could do a whole stripped-down series!”

This has led to performing your live show in the nation’s top venues. How do audiences react when they see you in your underwear?

Lauren: At this point, they know what they’re getting themselves into. To us, it feels like a big pajama party or a bathing suit party. It isn’t full of raunch or bawdiness. It’s not like a burlesque show.

We just like to titillate the audience, but at the same time it’s all about the music. The Skivvies is not only fun and silly. There’s an empowerment that comes from singing in your underwear.

You perform a wide variety of genres. How do you choose your songs?

Nick: It depends on the story we’re trying to tell and what we’re feeling. We love to do mashups.

Lauren: When we make an arrangement, we try to connect themes of different songs. For example, we’ll take a theme like America, and there are so many pieces of music that cross genres that can cover that topic. We find a way to weave them together, and that’s why we’re so fluid with genre crossing.

What do you see as the future for The Skivvies?

Lauren: We’d love to make a TV show or comedy show, somewhere in between Flight of the Conchords and The Monkees and Broad City. We’ve both been starting to write pilots for it, and we have ideas for music videos, but it’s just a matter of raising the funds and taking the time.

You both look amazing onstage! How do you stay in shape for your shows?

Lauren: Nick is a gym rat. He loves to work out and has a very good regimen of keeping himself in cardio and weight training. I do yoga and eat well, and when you’re carrying a giant cello around the city, that helps keep you in shape.

Nick: Lauren’s mom is a dancer and her genes are blessed.

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The Skivvies perform at Myron’s at The Smith Center on April 5. 

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