Interview by Carol Wright | Photographer: Kat Soriano
Keara Sullivan did not start posting on TikTok to go viral, but her specific and unique bits resonated with users, and she soon found herself amassing a loyal following. Sullivan talked to NYOTA about her comedy inspirations, using her Notes app to brainstorm and trusting her instincts.
Has comedy always been something that’s interested you? Were you someone who started watching sketch comedy shows at a young age?
Yes, for sure. I don’t remember a time in my life when making people laugh wasn’t my absolute favorite thing to do. I come from a funny family and there was always a lot of laughter in my house growing up. When I was little and too young to stay up late and watch Saturday Night Live, my parents would go to the video store and rent DVD compilations like “SNL: The Best of Steve Martin” or “SNL: The Best of Alec Baldwin,” so I was aware of comedians and sketch comedy at a very young age. And the second I became aware of comedy as a profession, it was basically all I wanted to do.
Who are some comedians that you think informed your sense of humor?
I feel like my comedy persona, if you had to break it up, is one part Steve Martin, one part Fran Lebowitz, and one part David Mitchell. Steve Martin was huge for me. I would watch his DVD over and over as a kid – I was totally obsessed with him. He puts on this really funny persona of someone who is dumb, arrogant, and totally oblivious, and yet he still manages to come off charming and endearing. I think some of my comedy definitely follows in that tradition; but on the flip side, there’s another part of my comedy that kind of assumes the voice of what I can only describe as “fed-up grump who thinks they’re the smartest person in the room,” and I can trace that back very clearly to Fran Lebowitz and David Mitchell.
What motivated you to start posting on TikTok and other platforms?
Honestly, I would not be on TikTok today if it were not for the COVID pandemic. I started doing standup and going to open mics during the fall semester of my junior year in college. But come March of my Spring semester, we were in lockdown and I couldn’t try out any of my material in person anymore. So I essentially just used TikTok as a way to test out and get a sounding board for my standup material and then I gained a following and the rest is history!
Posting commentary, specifically comedic commentary on TikTok can be quite difficult since you have to find followers that share your sense of humor. How did you start to build an audience online?
I’m not sure I have a good answer for this because it’s not so much that you find followers, it’s more like they find you. I also don’t do anything like TikTok live streams, which I know other creators have used to build a following with great success. My method has just been to always trust my instincts on what I think is funny and post pretty consistently – and it seems to have worked!
I think one mistake online creators sometimes make is going really broad with their comedy so it can potentially reach the widest audience. In my experience, the more specific your bit is, the more universal its reach. I remember one time I made a TikTok talking about how weird it feels to find out someone has a twin in adult life, and it was so specific that I honestly thought no one would relate, but then it went viral!
Do you have a usual brainstorming process or video planning process?
The “Brainstorm” section of my Notes app on my laptop is essentially where 95% of the magic happens. I am adding to it pretty much every day. Sometimes I’m just adding a phrase or topic that I think is funny and could be material for a joke and other times I’m adding fully formed jokes. The other 5% of my brainstorming process occurs on a word document that is titled “Mega Dumb Shit.” This is an organized list of all the words and phrases and things and people that I just think are inherently funny. I have everything, from “Old Crone” to “Mole People” to “The concept of Smurfettes” to “Flashbulb memory” on there. It’s a very helpful reference!
For videos such as ‘Pandora’s box releasing situationships,’ how did that come to life? Were you having this thought and decided to whip out the camera?
First, I had the idea to use the myth of Pandora’s Box as kind of a base format for a joke. I went into my usual Notes app and wrote “Why did Pandora have to open her goddamn box and release (x) onto the world?” Then, I thought about what would be the funniest thing to put into the “(x)” part of the joke. Nothing came to me immediately, so I kicked it around for a few days and eventually landed on situationships.
I write a lot of my jokes that way. I make the skeleton of the joke first, then I add in a punchline, but sometimes it’s the other way around. I find some concept that I think is inherently really funny and leave it in my Notes app until I figure out how to format a joke around it. As someone with ADD, I find it’s better for me to step away from a joke for a bit if nothing comes to me immediately rather than try to push through. As such, I usually have 15 to 20 possible half-written jokes in my Notes app at any given time.
In the future would you hope that a platform such as TikTok could lead to acting or other opportunities?
Yes, I do! I’d love to act and my dream is to be a showrunner for my own comedy TV show someday. I majored in film at NYU so being a part of the entertainment industry has always been a part of the plan for me. TikTok has already opened so many doors for me creatively and career wise so I definitely don’t underestimate its power.
What advice do you have for aspiring content creators?
I’m not sure I’m the right person to give advice on this because I genuinely didn’t start making TikToks with the hopes of becoming a content creator – it’s never been my end goal. I’ve always seen social media as more of a tool or stepping stone to further my comedy career aspirations and even though I make TikToks pretty regularly these days, I don’t see myself as a content creator at all. I’m just a comedian who likes to post her jokes online sometimes! But maybe that’s the advice that I would give to aspiring content creators: think about what you want to do beyond the reaches of social media! Nothing lasts forever, platforms can disappear at any time, and it will be better for your mental health all around if you don’t see social media as the be all and end all of your career.
This story first ran in NYOTA’s Digital Issue. Read more from the issue here.
