Cho
chose Kelly’s shoes
by Brian Jewell
arts writer
Thursday Apr 3, 2008
When Norfolk boy Liam Sullivan
opens for Margaret Cho in Boston this weekend, it won’t just be
his friends and family applauding. The L.A. based comic has become an
internet phenom thanks to a series of oddball music videos starring
Sullivan’s alter ego, teen diva Kelly. With mantra-like odes to
shoes and cute tops, Kelly has become a surprise "cewebrity."
Sullivan spoke with Bay Windows from Missouri about the strange
roads to success.
Q: Hey, how has the tour
been so far?
A: Really good. The crowds have been crazy.
Q: Well sure, you’re
an internet superstar. What’s that like?
A: It’s fantastic, There’s champagne and diamonds everywhere.
No, there’s nothing.
Q: Except maybe some scary
messages from teenagers on your Myspace page.
A: No, nothing too frightening. I’m having fun.
Q: I know you grew up in
Norfolk. Did you start performing around here?
A: Yes, I did theater around Boston. I did some stuff at the Huntington
and under studied at the ART. Then when I moved to L.A. I stared doing
improv and sketch comedy, because I hadn’t done that before. When
I figured out I could write, I started shooting my own videos. And that
was when Youtube hit.
Q: Perfect timing. So why
move into comedy? Did you want to be a solo act?
A: Comedy just came naturally to me, and doing wacky characters. I didn’t
know that. It took a while, acting in regular plays, to figure out what
I was doing.
Q: That’s interesting,
that’s the opposite direction of most comics I know.
A: Yeah, I never wanted to be a stand-up comedian. I just knew I liked
performing, so acting seemed like the direction to go in.
Q: Studying acting gives
you a really solid base for whatever you want to do.
A: The best thing I learned is to not worry about being awful. That’ll
prevent you doing anything.
Q: So tell me about your
drag character, Kelly. Where did she come from?
A: She’s a lot of different women I’ve known over the years,
rolled up into one. She’s a teen so she’s got a lot of angst
and rage. I came up with her firstly as an attitude, and then a voice.
And then the "Shoes" song hit me, and I paired it up with
the character. Before that she was just another Valley girl, but once
she had the song she became a rock star.
Q: What can we expect from
your stage show?
A: I do a couple characters. I do Kelly and her aunt Susan, who is this
masculine folk singer.
Q: Oh, from the video "Let
Me Borrow That Top."
A: Right. So she comes out and does a song.
Q: Is it about the woman-mystery
of her woman-being?
A: Something like that. It’s a love song. And then I show a new
video, that’s not on the internet yet.
Q: That’s so old fashioned.
A: I know, right? So I do about 20 minutes and show a couple videos.
I end with the Kelly video.
Q: Do people sing along?
A: They go a little bonkers. It’s so cool, people know who I am
from seeing those videos online.
Q: Sharing a bill with Margaret
Cho doesn’t suck. How did you connect with her?
A: It was really random. I met her husband because he had a robot costume
that I wanted to rent for the Shoes video. I didn’t know he was
her husband. So I rented it from him, and then I gave him a copy of
the video, and he showed it to Margaret! And then she booked me for
her Sensuous Woman show last year, and she’s been in two of my
videos now. So she asked me to open for her on this tour and I said,
"Hell yeah!"
Q: What was it like doing
The Sensuous Woman?
A: It was so great, because there were so many different kinds of acts.
Dirty Martini did this amazing burlesque piece called The Patriotic
Act, and there were other kinds of burlesque. There were all these surprises
in the show. And then Kelly came out and did her songs. Shoes and tops
are her sensuality.
Q: Well, I’ve been
told that shoes can be better than sex.
A: [laughs] I have no clever response.
Q: Come on, be funny! Dance,
monkey!
A: [laughs]
Q: You’re like, this
is the worst interview ever.
A: [laughs]
Q: Is your family coming
to see you perform? What do they think about the crazy family in your
videos?
A: They love it. They know it’s not them. They’re totally
supportive actually.
Q: That’s great. Not
all parents want their sons to do drag on the internet.
A: Yeah! Get on the internet, kid! It’s interesting being a cewebrity,
because people don’t know where they can fit you in to the industry.
So we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep plugging away.
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