[Liam had just remarked how embarrassing it might have been if no one had thought "Shoes" or "Muffins" was funny]

Inferno: I occasionally crack jokes in class, and you can't win every single time.

Liam Sullivan: Well, enjoy it, too. Sometimes I'll laugh at things that no one else thinks are funny.

I:Yeah, I've gotten in trouble doing that.

L: You ever get the giggles and you can't stop? And people are like, "What's so funny?" and you're like, "He, he just said…cat." And they're like, "What? That makes no sense!" And you're like, "Yeah, I know, it doesn't." It's great.

I: I heard you met Weird Al. Did you meet him at the People's Choice Awards?

L: Actually, no. I'm opening for Margaret Cho on her national tour; he came to the show in L.A. I got to meet him, I took a picture with him and put it up on my blog. And I was like, "I met Weird Al! This is the best day of my life!"

You know, it's funny. I can't remember what year it was, but it was his album, "Dare to be Stupid." I never really thought about that; I just thought it was funny. Then an acting teacher once told me, "You have to dare yourself to suck, because if you're afraid of failing or sucking on stage then you won't do stuff that's really cool; you'll do stuff that's safe." And that's true in life, too. So I was like, wow, Weird Al really had a handle on that. And he's a really smart guy, really down to earth. It was a neat day.

I: I read a little bit about your performance history. It sounds like there wasn't a lot of work, or you weren't hitting things for a while, and then you sort of flipped what you did after having tried for a long time.

L: I think timing was good too, because four or five years ago, I don't think this kind of exposure on the Internet was really there yet. Before [YouTube], I was struggling as an actor, doing parts here and there, doing commercials and some TV roles.

While you're waiting for the phone to ring, you read, you do things with friends, you pick up a camera and you go and you do free shows; you keep yourself busy. Because if you're just sitting there, staring at the phone, you think, what would an actor do? They would act. So go act. Do something. And if nobody has a script for you, write your own. So that's just what I started doing, and a lot of my friends were doing the same thing. We all helped each other with our projects.

When I had a few videos - "Muffins," for instance - I sent it to Flamedance. And "Shoes" also. And they got rejected! So I was like, oh, well I guess there's nowhere for me to really do anything with this stuff. Then YouTube happened, and here we are. I got lucky.

I: That's really funny. Actually, I watched "Muffins." I know that she has blood on her mouth for the last 20 seconds of the video.

L: It's a really inappropriately long amount of time.

I: And it got in my head. I'm sure the people who rejected that must have thought about it at night, when they were trying to go to sleep. I'm sure they remembered it, you know?

L: Well, for whatever reason they rejected it, it didn't sit there, inaccessible.

I: I think it's really great that you kept going.

L: What else am I going to do, you know? The alternative is to quit. My friend Megan made this great - what are those things that say "Home Sweet Home?" Is that crochet? Needlepoint? - needlepoint, in that ["Home Sweet Home"] style, in a frame, and it says, "Just quit. Give up." You know, it's a joke. When you think about it, when you're going and going and going, and ugh, "Well, I guess I could quit." You think that way, things come into perspective, like, "Well, it's not so bad; I made these little successes here and there. If I just keep going, enjoying myself, I won't worry about it."

Sometimes, you do feel like quitting. And you think, "What would happen if I quit? What would I do?" And then you're like, "Well, I don't know. Why don't I keep doing what I'm doing! At least I know how to do what I'm doing. Like, if I quit and try something else, what am I going to do?"

I: I feel like that about school sometimes.

L: Well, I dropped out of college. I should have learned this lesson years ago. It took me a while to figure that part out.

I: What part? College?

L: No, just the "quit, give up" philosophy. I guess it's reverse psychology.

I: It must be really great that you've surrounded yourself with people who you can work with, who encourage you. I would figure that, at least in the beginning, you've had people around you who weren't 100 percent supportive.

L: Actually, I've been lucky there. My family has been really supportive. Even when I dropped out of college, they were like, "OK. Hang in there, kiddo. You've got talent; you're going to do something. We don't know what it is and we don't understand it, but we're behind you." The family has been amazing. They've gone through me having like, no money, and calling them and being like, "I don't have any money! What am I going to do?" And they're like, "Don't panic, just relax." Not that they would send money my way; they were really good at just supporting me emotionally and mentally.

My friends, too. All my friends out here in L.A. are in the same boat as me, trying to do comedy, or do acting. So I've been lucky, I've gotten a good support system. That's part of why I'm still going.

I: I have one more question: it's about the sexual-orientation thing. First, I heard you're engaged?

L: Yeah.

I: I know there's lots of speculation about your sexuality. I was trying to think if there was a way that I could ask you about your sexual orientation. I mean, with what I know of Margaret Cho, I'm almost inclined to assume that any man who opens for her is gay. And then I see the "Kelly" video. But I wasn't sure. And I haven't noticed any hostility coming from you as a result of people thinking that you're gay, which I think is amazing. It seems like you are extremely not homophobic.

L: I'm straight, but I consider "gay" a compliment. I think that a lot of people in the gay community are courageous and open and they're very different; you could consider them 'abnormal.' And I can connect with that because I've always been kind of 'weird' and 'abnormal' myself. I'm not, like, a 'normal person.' So I think I connect with being sort of an oddball, or with being someone that isn't accepted because they're weird.

When someone calls me "gay" or a "faggot" or something like that, it doesn't - what are you saying, you know? What are you really saying? I put it in one of the videos. I had Chris, Kelly's brother, use "gay" as an insult: "Kelly's songs are totally gay!" He realizes what he's saying, because Susan (the lesbian aunt) is sitting right there. And she could probably kick his ass! You know? So he realizes what he's saying, and he tries to sort of back-pedal: "Not gay-gay, but stupid-gay." And people make that distinction sometimes, and it's like, well what does that really mean? Then [Susan] says, "Why don't you explain what you mean?" And then you never hear his explanation because of course, there isn't one.

It was something that I felt, "Aw, I could put that in the video; that's kind of fun." Because I've been like, well what you're trying to say is that I'm not masculine, or I don't have balls, or I don't have courage, or I'm not macho, or whatever. But that's not true. There are a lot of gay men and women who are very courageous; they speak out; it must take a lot of balls.

Look what Ellen DeGeneres did. I remember seeing the concert that she did, after she came out - it had been a while, after her show got cancelled. This one woman stood up, and Ellen goes, "Yes, sir!" And the whole place cracked up because the girl looked like a guy. But then this really amazing moment happened when the girl started talking and said, "You inspired me to come out," and she started to cry. And Ellen then ushered up to the stage and gave her a hug. It was really touching. I mean, to come out. They have to tell their parents that they're gay. And some people might get fired! Ellen took a risk.

I think defining "gay" as, you know, some little coward that runs around, it's not accurate. Think of a better insult, is what I would say. Or an insult, because it's not an insult, really.