I recently smoked some chicken thighs, and attempted to crisp the skin on the grill after the smoke. I ended up crisping the skin like a potato chip. It was brittle and pretty much fell off the thighs, and turned out to be VERY good all by itself.
My grandmother used to skin her chicken before frying it, but she would boil the skin, let the water cool, and then add the chicken fat that solidified in with her frying grease. It added that extra bit of flavor that none of the family could match.