Liam Kyle Sullivan
Liam Kyle Sullivan (born July 17, 1973 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American comedian and actor.
Career
Sullivan has had featured roles on major television shows such as 8 Simple Rules, Gilmore Girls, Alias, as well as the film The Convent released in 2000.
Much of Sullivan's work has been in sketch comedy and live theater performances. He began in several comedy showcases in the Boston area and was a part of the Los Angeles-based ACME Comedy Theater and Another Showcase Showdown, or "A.S.S.".
He also began doing the "Liam Show", his solo sketch show. Sullivan drew from a stable of recurring characters that he played, including Kelly, a shopaholic young woman and a parody of the Valley girl persona [[1]]. He also started "Liam Shows" on the Internet and filmed several sketches for his website.[[2]]
Skits
"Shoes"
Sullivan, in character as "Kelly", filmed a video for a song he wrote for the character called "Shoes". The song incorporates elements of techno and electroclash, and the video features several other actors and comedians. Sullivan played Kelly (in drag) as well as her father and her twin brother.
After the music video for the song "Shoes" was spotlighted by comedian Margaret Cho, Sullivan's work began getting virally circulated on the Internet. It became a popular video at YouTube, getting over 10 million hits, and garnered Sullivan press attention. [3][4] It also spawned a catchphrase with Kelly's pronunciation of words replacing a soft i sound with a soft e sound (i.e., bitch becomes betch and dick becomes deck). Since then he has been a part of Cho's burlesque touring show.
Additionally, the introduction of the video features Kelly's family, which spoofs a Conservative Christian family that has a picture of George W. Bush above their living room couch. The father at one point references a statement found in Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" music videos, asking Kelly "What are you gonna do with your life?"
On February 15, 2007, the "Shoes" video was shown in a very heavily-edited format on MTV's Total Request Live show. They brought it down to less than a minute, showing no actual song lyrics other than "these shoes cost $300/Let's get 'em"', grossly misrepresenting the actual video.
"Muffins"
Sullivan is also known for the two-minute sketch "Muffins."
The sketch is done in the style of a poorly done television commercial. Sullivan, once again in drag, appears as a grandmotherly bakery chef and as Donnie, her grandson. Sullivan blinks only once during the entire sketch — when he is describing the "bits o' glass muffin." It appears as though he blinks when saying Lemon-Poppyseed Muffin, although it only appears so as he is looking down at the muffin.
The following is a list of the muffins:
- Raspberry
- Cranberry
- Apples
- Cinnamon
- Pecan
- Pumpkin
- Nut
- Date Nut
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffin
- Banana
- Orange
- Peach
- Strawberry
- Blueberry
- Boysenberry
- Almond
- Choco Choco Chip
- Carrot
- Gooseberry
- Pumpernickel
- Fish (Fish head in a muffin)
- Paperclip (Paperclips in a muffin)
- Ink (Ink covered muffin)
- Bird (Pink feathers in a muffin)
- Shampoo (Shampoo on a muffin that appears like whipped cream)
- Star Wars Muffin (A Han Solo action figure in a muffin)
- Bullfrog
- Crickets
- Cigarette (A muffin with a smoking cigarette in it. Liam then coughs)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict muffins (He has one muffin in each hand and acts as if the two are fighting)
- Bits O' Glass Muffin (Liam smacks his lips and replied, "Ow". The first time he blinks.)
- Asbestos (Liam says, "Asbestos, I'm baking muffins asbestos I can", laughs at his joke and stares blankly into space.)
- Monkey (He throws a muffin in the air; it presumably lands in his other hand with a splat)
- Al Jarreau Muffin
- Elephant
- Pencil (A pencil sticks out of the top of the muffin)
- Newspaper (Newspaper in a muffin)
- Fire (A paper on fire inside a muffin, presumably the newspaper of the previous muffin)
- Imaginary Muffin (Liam holds out his hand but there is nothing in it, the Imaginary Muffin)
- Cartoon Muffin (An animated muffin was added in editing. The muffin then lifts into the air and Liam watches)
- Blood (A blood filled muffin. Liam has blood around his mouth)
Afterwards, when Sullivan asks which muffin Johnny would like, he claims to have lost his appetite. Sullivan's face then grows a serious expression and threatens: " you'll eat a muffin. You'll eat it and LIKE it."
"Txt Msg Brkup"
A music video that involves Kelly receiving a text message on her cell phone informing her of a breakup. The rest of the music video involves her lashing out at her "X.B.F." or ex-boyfriend. Sullivan plays Kelly, her brother, father, and grandmother. Margaret Cho makes a notable cameo alongside Sullivan in the video.
"Love Letters"
This video involves a man (voiced by Sullivan) writing numerous "Love Letters" to 4 recipients: Carbs (Carbohydrates), Fruits, Vegetables and his wife's "pussy". The letters for the carbs show love, while the letters for the fruits and vegetables convey dislike. The man also writes a letter to his wife's vagina which is for an apology. The last letter is voiced by a female pretending to be a pie writing to his penis asking why she hasn't heard from him.
"Pleasant Valley Road"
A video which shows an old man played by Sullivan standing by a tree in a park. He tells the viewers come to a place called "Pleasant Valley Road" of "Santa Rosa". He then speaks about how he and his girlfriend had a "warm picnic under the sun," and right as he was about to ask her to marry him, she broke up with him. He then attempts to hold back tears for an entire minute until the video ends.
Recordings and other media
In July of 2006, Sullivan released a full CD, "Shoes", with a whole album of tracks recorded by "Kelly". [5]
The character of Kelly also now has an official fansite, Betchslap.com
Kelly's song are now available on iTunes. The videos are not currently for sale on iTunes.
See also
External links
- Liam Kyle Sullivan at IMDb
- A Liam Show
- Betchslap.com, Kelly's Official Fansite
- Interview with Liam Sullivan from That Other Paper
- Interview at Crave Online