Stephen Lynch (musician)

Lynch was born in Abington, Pennsylvania.^[1] His family later moved to Saginaw, Michigan. Lynch would perform in community theatre and musical theatre while attending Arthur Hill High School and Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy. He stayed in Michigan until he graduated from Western Michigan University with a B.A. in drama in 1993. At Western Michigan University, he began writing comedic songs.

Considering himself a musician first and a comedian second,^[2][3][4] Lynch cites singer/songwriters Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell as his childhood inspirations, rather than comics.^[2] He was inspired to go into show business after seeing the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.^[5] The first song that he wrote was a country song titled "Beefy Burrito".^[6]

After spending his first year out of college with friends in California,^[7] Lynch moved to New York City in 1996 with the intention of becoming an actor.^[8] Upon his arrival, a friend at the West Bank Cafe on 42nd Street suggested Lynch play some of the comic songs he had written while attending university for an audience.^[9] He soon found great success in comedy clubs and other venues around the city (notably Catch a Rising Star^[2] and Caroline's^[10]), and became a regular on radio shows such as Opie and Anthony.^[2][5] Lynch spent his early years in New York City doing what he called "totally mindless work" as a temp worker. He quit such temporary jobs permanently, signing with What Are Records? in 2000 and Vision International in 2002. The latter still books all his concert dates.^[7] Over the next few years, he toured colleges, universities and nightclubs around the country, avoiding as much as possible the comedy club circuit, which he has stated is not to his taste. He periodically returned to Michigan to do summer stock.^[11][12][13]

During his March 6, 2009 appearance on The Bob and Tom Show, Lynch mentioned "Steel Toast" as the name of the band in which he first performed.

As a result of the duality of his act, Lynch turned heads in the music industry as well as on the comedy circuit. He attracted extra attention usually not available to comics by playing venues more often suited to music than to comedy (eventually graduating to locations such as the House of Blues, The Town Hall^[4] and the esteemed Kennedy Center).^[10] He gained great national exposure with his Comedy Central Presents special in 2000, one of the highest rated in the network's history. He has made appearances on Comedy Central's Premium Blend, The World Comedy Tour and The World Stands Up. He has also made four appearances on Last Call with Carson Daly, and has performed at the prestigious Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada.^[5]

Lynch has opened for comedians Jay Mohr, Jeff Foxworthy, Steven Wright, Bobcat Goldthwait and Lewis Black. In the summer of 2004, he went on a tour co-headlining with Mitch Hedberg. The tour was such a success that they added an extra leg and ran into 2005. This was Hedberg's last tour before his death.

He has also appeared in five short films, including The Love Seat in 1999 and The Confetti Brothers in 2001.^[11][14][15] Both films were written and directed by Kirker Butler. The Confetti Brothers, a satire, screened to packed houses at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. It continues to play the film festival circuit.^[16]

In April 2006, Lynch starred as Robbie Hart in the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer, which ran on Broadway from April 27, 2006 through December 31, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.^[9] This musical production was based on the 1998 New Line Cinema film The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. The musical, Lynch's Broadway debut,^[15][9] co-starred two-time Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti in the role of Julia Sullivan, played by Barrymore in the film. The April 2006 opening followed a successful preview run in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre which ran from January 31 through February 19. His performance has earned him nominations for Drama League and Drama Desk awards,^[12] as well as a nomination for the coveted Tony Award.^[17] According to interviews after, he stated that, due to the rehearsals for the show, he had forgoten most of his own songs.

In 2007, Lynch returned to the road again, touring with comedians such as Bob Saget, Frank Caliendo, Louis C.K., Carlos Mencia and others on the Opie and Anthony Traveling Virus Comedy Tour 2007.

During the tour, Lynch played some new material, including:

• A mostly ad-libbed song titled "Little Gay Robot"
• "Peanuts", which is based on the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts
• "Dear Diary" Several fictional diary entries detailing the impending misfortune of famous people throughout history (including Anne Frank and Christopher Reeve)
• "I Am Not A Jukebox", telling people how he's "not a fucking jukebox" and what you should do if you want him to be one
• "Waiting", a song about waiting for the results of an AIDS test
• "Medieval Bush"
• "Prettier Than You"
• "Three Balloons"
• "Dirty Sanchez" (with David Josefsberg)
• "Sidekicks" (also with David Josefsberg)
• "Purple Rain"

Lynch starred in his second Comedy Central Presents special in January 2008.

Lynch performed on his first European tours in 2008, headlining concerts in Sweden, Norway, Holland, Finland, Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany. All but two of the 17 shows sold out, despite never playing a majority of the markets. Lynch attributes this success to YouTube.

His newfound European popularity resulted in appearances at six festivals in August and September 2008. He played in the UK at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, headlining the Alternative stage at each site. He also appeared at the Lowlands Festival in Holland on August 17th, Edinburgh Edge Festival (during Fringe) on August 24, The Pimm's Summerfest in Holland Park, London on August 28, and Bulmer's Comedy Festival in Dublin at the Olympia Theater on September 1 and 2.

In an email sent out on his mailing list it stated that Lynch would return to Europe next summer after he had "finished recording another album".

The album is titled 3 Balloons and was released in early March 2009. It contained "10 previously unreleased songs, including 2 that have never been performed in public."

"3 balloons", Stephen Lynch's 2nd studio album, was released officially on the 10th of march with the following tracks: 1. Waiting 2. Fishin' Hole 3. Dear Diary 1 4. Crazy Peanuts 5. 3 Balloons 6. Dear Diary 2 7. Medieval Bush 8. History Lesson 9. Dear Diary 3 10. You (Prettier Than) 11. The Ballad of Scarface 12. America 13. Dear Diary 4 14. Hallelujah

Family and friends prove to be an important influence on Lynch's work and career. He married Erin Dwight on a private beach on Lake Michigan in September 2003,^[12] and she is generally the first person to hear his original ideas for songs. Her effect upon his material is such that if she does not laugh at the initial concept, he will scrap the idea completely.^[3] Dwight recorded a short film while her husband was away touring, called Lynch and Teich in Brooklyn, to show that she missed him. This was included in the extras on his 2004 concert DVD, Live at the El Rey. She also co-created the cover concept for his latest album, The Craig Machine, with her mother, Kalamazoo photographer Fran Dwight.

Lynch has a younger brother, Drew, who also writes comedic songs. Lynch and his brother occasionally tour together. Their parents are a former priest and a former nun.^[18][7] Both parents became teachers.^[9] Lynch has stated that religion was not forced upon him growing up, and, although he was raised Roman Catholic, he no longer attends church. His upbringing included liberalism as well as religion, which is reflected through his father's past as part of a singing duo that attended many peace rallies and antiwar protests during the Vietnam War.^[7] Like his sons, Lynch's father is a stage actor as well as a singer, and musical talent and interest runs in their family. Lynch's earliest work in the theater was performing with his father in local community theater productions in Saginaw as a child. The first live musical he saw was Man of La Mancha, a community theater production in which his father played the role of the Padre.^[9][12]

As Lynch's repertoire of material includes some duets and also a few songs for three voices, close university pals and fellow comedians Mark Teich (of The Second City) and Rod Cone (of The Rod Cone Situation) are also very frequent guests on his tours, and he rarely tours alone. He has also done shows with former Wedding Singer castmate David Josefsberg.^[19]

As of July 2008, Stephen Lynch resides in Manhattan, New York with his wife.

• Official site
• Template:MySpace
• Official Flickr Photo Page
• Review of live performance in Atlantic City
• Stephen Lynch at IMDb
• Stephen Lynch at the Internet Broadway Database