What the Hell Happened To: The ‘Shoes’ Guy [ANSWERS INSIDE!]

As reporters/journalists/chroniclers of all things “new media,” NMR is often people’s source for questions, such as: “What the hell happened to the ‘diarrhea jacuzzi girl’?” Frequently, there aren’t any answers because they dropped offline and stopped making/showing up in videos. But these people/animals/objects are an important part of the culture. And so, as often as we can, we track them down so that you can get some closure in your life. Join us as we search for answers in our recurring weekend feature “What the Hell Happened To __________________?”

This week, we find out what the hell happened to The “Shoes” Guy:

Liam Kyle Sullivan seemingly had the world by the ankles. His “Shoes” video had 54 million views and the world was eagerly expecting a follow-up, maybe “Handbags”? And then, like the destruction of Alderaan: SILENCE. So what happened? Was he blown up by the Death Star? Did he stop making YouTube videos as the result of a bet he made over who would perform better: him or Kanye West? Well, as it turns out, he sort of did make follow ups to “Shoes.” A whole bunch of them.

Right around the same time, Sullivan had another monster hit with “Muffins,” which revolved around a saccharine sweet old lady pitching hellish muffins:

The vid scored 21 million views though it never had the omnipresence that “Shoes” enjoyed. After that, Sullivan continued on YouTube, scoring one more major hit with Kelly, the blonde female character he plays in “Shoes.” A video called “Let Me Borrow That Top” featured Kelly and a bevy of celebs scored 20 million views. From there, Sullivan’s channel dropped into the lower millions/upper hundreds of thousands. All things considered, he had a full career on YouTube, even winning a People’s Choice Award for the “Shoes” video.

On January 5, 2013, Sullivan uploaded his last video to his channel, the final piece of a series on the 12 Days of Christmas. With only 19,000 views, it was safe to say that the bills weren’t being paid by Adsense alone anymore.

Fortunately, he was also a television actor and has made appearances on “Gilmore Girls,” “Alias” and “8 Simple Rules” as well as Dino Yacht Club, VH1’s “I Hate My 30s” and “Interns” in 2014. Mainly, the reclusive performer has stayed out of the limelight, last posting to his Twitter account in September.

In May of last year he announced he was closing down the merchandise shop that accompanied his YouTube channel. And he seems to have been up to little in the public eye since. He has a People’s Choice Award, so don’t expect to see him working at Footlocker any time soon, but Jonathan Brandis got real quiet on social media like this right before …

Liam, NMR is here if you need us. We want you back, making us laugh. Don’t go making any permanent solutions to temporary problems. You need a few bucks or a back rub, you let us know first.