Return to Liam Sullivan

Say the word ‘shoes’ to anyone that has spent any amount of time on Youtube.com and the person will more than likely start repeating the thumping beat and chorus verse from the video featuring comedian Liam Sullivan as his most popular creation Kelly question for the perfect shoes. Sullivan is a stand-up comedian that has worked in the Los Angeles area and abroad, most recently touring with comedienne Margaret Cho on her ‘Beautiful’ tour, created Kelly and her bizarre world in 2006. Since that time the videos have gone viral and been voted top internet videos in magazines and on entertainment websites. His latest video ‘No Booty Calls’ can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP_BsSUXGx8 Now with an expanding comedy career, a loyal Kelly following, and a clothing line that has even crept into Hot Topic stores, Sullivan is right on the brink of being a huge break out comedian. iF MAGAZINE chatted with the twisted but funny genius about his creative process and what’s up next in his online wonderland.

iF MAGAZINE: How do you feel being so recognized for basically doing a drag character?

LIAM SULLIVAN: I don’t consider what I do that different from what comedians used to do in the past playing female characters. I remember Jamie Foxx used to do this really outlandish woman on IN LIVING COLOR. I don’t think what I’m doing is that new, but I wouldn’t really like to compare myself to the great comedians that have come before me.

iF: There’s obviously some magical combination of your acting and writing in the Kelly videos that has really caught on. Any ideas as to what makes it click?

SULLIVAN: I don’t know but if it ain’t broke don’t look at it too close.

iF: Your new video ‘No Booty Calls’ is out now, what can you tell me about that?

SULLIVAN: [Laughs] It’s totally nuts. I wanted to do this video but I didn’t have a concept for it, because it was just a duet. How interesting could it be to just have Kelly talking and then the ex-boyfriend talking on the phone? Basically he asks her for a booty call and she says no for four minutes. It’s loosely inspired by the song, ‘I Gotta Man’ by Positive K, which is a really obscure reference. So then, I decided to have Kelly go to a party and all of these people can join her side. It’s very similar to ‘Text Message Break-up’, but the ex-boyfriend has more of a voice. It’s not physically confronting him like she did in that one. This time he’s playing ‘Guitar Hero’ and looking like an idiot.

iF: So how do you go about filming your videos?

SULLIVAN: I invited all of these people out and we actually partied during the shooting of the video. I didn’t really because I had to work, but everyone else was yelling, ‘Yeehaw!’ It was basically a lot of people just having fun.

iF: Your videos have Stormtroopers from STAR WARS, and dancers, and zombies, and a wide variety of interesting background players. Are these all people you know?

SULLIVAN: Yeah pretty much. The Stormtroopers are from an organization called the 501st Legion. They donate their services at function and then you donate charity in their name. I found them online and contacted their local chapter. Everyone else were friends or friends of friends. It still has that feel of ‘hey guys you want to shoot a video?’

iF: Kelly is the most well-known character that you have created, but do you have new ones that you are working on that will be given life soon?

SULLIVAN: Actually, I want to do a lot more with Aunt Susan, Kelly’s aunt from ‘Let Me Borrow That Top’. I have some songs written for her that I want to do and I also have about ten characters that I am toying with and trying to figure out what to do with. One of them is an action hero that makes movies called ‘Drop the Gun’, ‘Let the Girl Go’, and the sequel ‘Let the Girl Go Dammit.’ All of his movies are cliché titles and he’s disillusioned and doesn’t know how to break out of it. There’s something there, and they’re all little kernels of something.

iF: Where do your characters come from, do you just see something and get an idea or have a dream or something along those lines?

SULLIVAN: I have had dreams where I have woken up and written it down because it was a great idea. Usually, it’s from riffing with my voice by myself and improvising on my own with whatever is going on in my head. Then eventually some character or side of myself, or some voice starts talking and I follow it where ever it was going to go. That’s how Kelly got going, I was talking like I had really big braces for some reason and it became this teenage girl that had an attitude. Once I have the characters then I can build the story or the script. Usually I don’t work in concepts like saying a piece is high concept and relies on physical comedy.

iF: Margaret Cho has a new show on VH1 this year, will you be on it?

SULLIVAN: I don’t think so. They’ve already wrapped the first season and I didn’t get a chance to be on it. Margaret and I talked about having me on the show, but we didn’t know what to do. Hopefully they’ll get a second season and I can be a part of that.

iF: You had the show I HATE MY 30’S, any more TV plans?

SULLIVAN: No, but I’m open to it. [Laughs] But, I really like the internet for its freedom and you can do what ever you want, throw it up there and it lives or dies based on whether fans love it or hate it. That’s kind of cool. The I HATE MY 30’S show, I got before ‘Shoes’ even hit, I did it with most of my friends that you can see in my videos. We did eight episodes and we were psyched out of our minds and then we got cancelled. That was a Hollywood story there. [Laughs] It happened after Kelly, and we had to convince them to include Kelly in an episode. We had gotten picked up before all of that happened. They were confused as to who Kelly, then once they saw the online response to ‘Shoes’ they were excited about having her on. It was kinda cool to get her on the show because it was like having a celebrity, but it was actually still me. [Laughs]

iF: What’s the ratio of gifts that Kelly gets compared to gifts you get from fans?

SULLIVAN: It’s 100 to 0. [Laughs] I get messages and pictures and things like that. Little gifts and things; Kelly gets all of them. A fan at a show gave me a huge coffee table book on shoes and someone made me a bracelet.