Kelly, the foul-mouthed Valley Girl with a penchant for shoes, is coming back with a vengeance.
Liam Sullivan, the sketch comic best known for creating the character from the award-winning "Shoes" video, is readying a new Kelly video called "No Booty Calls," which will be released next week.
"I’m trying something different," said Sullivan in a phone conversation Tuesday. "This Kelly video is pretty verbose — and actually rhymes."
And this time, he’s got some help.
Sullivan, who single-handedly produces his hit YouTube videos, just announced the details of a newly inked partnership with indie film site iklipz this week. Iklipz will back the production of eight new Sullivan shorts in exchange for first crack at hosting them. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
To kick the partnership off in style, Sullivan will launch "No Booty Calls" on May 27. Kelly, his quirky female character with the peculiar catchphrases, goes clubbing in the new video. (Watch the promo, embedded above.)
Sullivan, who has been touring with comedienne Margaret Cho, said the plan is to roll out new videos regularly over the summer. He’s working on additional Kelly videos and a series of web shorts featuring new characters, including the purple-suited man who appears in his "Shoes" video, which has been viewed more than 16 million times on YouTube.
The new videos will premier on iklipz and Sullivan’s personal site before launching on YouTube with an iklipz logo.
Sullivan says he’s happy with the arrangement, mainly because he gets to keep doing what he’s good at — producing funny, viral videos — without the meddling or copyright negotiations that would come with, say, playing Kelly on a prime-time TV show.
"I’ve built an online audience for the last two years, without any distribution deal," said Sullivan. "I know people used to have to jump through hoops to get their content out, but it’s not like that anymore. I definitely don’t want a suit telling me what is and isn’t funny."
See also:
Underwire 2.0: Jenna Wortham’s Del.icio.us feeds ; The Underwire on Twitter and Facebook .
