Liam is touring with Margaret Cho - who's made appearances in a couple of his videos already - and will be performing with her at The Chicago Theatre on Apr. 26. I got to talk to him about his work, his past experiences and his incites, and let me just say: he's hilarious, and I won't be surprised if we see a lot more of him in the future.

Inferno: First off, how did you come up with these characters? What inspired you to come up with "Kelly" and the family?

Liam Sullivan: Well actually, Kelly came from me playing - picturing myself with braces. I was trying to picture braces on my teeth, and how [doing a "Kelly" impression] Ah'd tawk li-eek thot, you know? And then I had the character. I have a bunch of characters that I'm still kind of figuring out what to do with. But I often will just drop into the voice whenever I feel like it and start goofing around. Especially when I see advertisements - when people are trying to get you excited about their product - I start doing this old man who's really sad. He's trying to get you really interested, but he's obviously in a lot of pain about something. So I did a video with that guy, in "Pleasant Valley Road," and it's dark. [The old man's pain] keeps popping up, like [in an old man's voice] "Oh, look at these wonderful…corn, just sweet and delicious…" And then it turns out that he's horribly allergic to corn and it kills him. But I just have fun with my voice, and playing around with different characters. Then I try and put them all together in the same room; play Kelly off of them. You know, who would Kelly's brother be? Well, he'd probably be the exact opposite of her; that'll be really fun, to see them fighting. And then the parents, what kind of parents produce a girl like Kelly? Well, conservative ones. Ones who are, you know, really big into George Bush and the job he's doing, or really unhappy about John McCain but are going to vote for him anyway. They don't feel he's conservative enough, but they like him talking about Iran. I try to come up with characters that serve as foils for each other.

I: I got a huge kick out of George Bush on one wall, and white-angel Jesus on the other wall [in the living room from the skit at the beginning of the "Shoes" video].

L: When I put those things in that room, I was like, "OK, these define these people." Really quickly, you can kind of understand who they are.

I: And then the picture of Mel Gibson in the kitchen.

L: I like that he's laughing.

I: Why?

L: I don't know. It just struck me as really funny. Put a picture up of him just laughing his head off; it was really funny to me, and pretty nuts. I think [when we made the skit] was right after he got arrested for DUI and started blasting off about how Jews are killing - I think it was right after that. I was like, "Let's put a really jubilant Mel Gibson up there."

I: So you've told me how you came up with the family, as far as it having started with Kelly. You built a family to sort of supplement who she would be.

L: Actually, we just sort of came up with the family pretty much on the spot. I had an idea of who they were going to be, and then I asked my friend Pam [who plays Kelly's mom] to come over. That was actually the first time I ever performed as those characters, that shoot [for "Shoes"].

I: Where are you from? Where did you get exposure to these kinds of conservatives?

L: Well, actually I'm from Massachusetts, which is actually one of the most liberal states, but there are conservatives there, too. "You can't say that or do that," or "That's wrong;" or when I was a kid, any teacher would think I was crazy, "Sit still" and "Pay attention." I was coming from that "Don't swear," "Don't dress provocatively,", just "Say 'please' and 'thank you.'" I just wanted Kelly to have real obstacles in her way. Because if she had parents that were like, "Oh, go ahead, get some shoes, that'd be great," - you know? - that wouldn't be funny, it would be stupid. It was more...I don't know, maybe it was the last eight years of the Bush administration...

I: Definitely. There are people who are kind of like that.

L: Yeah, and then you blow it out a little, because it's a satire or a parody or whatever you want to call it. Not even political stuff, just little things, like the way [Kelly's parents] are at her all the time. Her mom calls her a "whore" right to her face. I mean, that's pretty blatant. Just a general dissatisfaction with her. And she hasn't really even done anything; she just kind of looks different at that point. It isn't until later when she really, you know, "Wow!" She's sort of a crazy person. But, she just wants a pair of shoes, you know?

I: I know that lots of people love your videos, but what do you feel has been the overall reaction to your work? What effect do you feel you're having on them?

L: Well, hopefully I'm just giving them a good laugh, you know? I didn't really set out to make any big statement or anything like that, or to get people to think. If they do, that's wonderful; it's a by-product, though. I do, however, think there's a lot of validity in 'laugh,' because the 'laugh' is the best part of your day. If it gets you through a little moment, if that's all you needed - "It's not that bad, maybe I could just laugh a little bit and relax and get on" - I think that's great. That's basically what I'm going for, and I'm glad I got it.

I: And we're glad you've got it, too!

Thought the interview was over? Well, you're wrong. Check back next week for the second installment of Liam Sullivan's interview to read the inspiring things he has to say about courage, persistence and homosexual stereotypes.