William Patrick Niederst (born September 5, 1970), better known as Liam Lynch, is an American filmmaker, singer, musician, songwriter, and puppeteer.
While studying at LIPA in Liverpool, United Kingdom, Lynch co-created, co-wrote, directed, scored, and produced the 1998 MTV comedy puppet series The Sifl and Olly Show. His 2003 album Fake Songs featured the song "United States of Whatever", which peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia and the United Kingdom. He has since become more known for directing music videos for acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Royal Blood, Tenacious D, Spinnerette, No Doubt, Eagles of Death Metal, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and They Might Be Giants.
Lynch directed the 2006 film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny after working with Tenacious D in 2002, having directed the music video for their song "Tribute". He also directed several short films that played as part of their live show, as well as the documentary On The Road with Tenacious D. He also wrote the original music used in the 2002 MTV animated series Clone High and co-wrote a song in the 2003 film School of Rock, as well as directing Sarah Silverman's 2005 stand-up comedy film Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic.
Early life
Lynch was born William Patrick Niederst in Petersburg, Virginia, on September 5, 1970. Before pursuing a career in the arts, he worked various jobs such as a restaurant dishwasher, a Blockbuster employee, a car washer, a box factory worker, a telemarketer, and a wax museum tour guide. The song was later featured on Lynch's 2003 album Fake Songs, produced by his own company 111 Productions, which led to the song peaking within the top ten of the charts in Australia and the United Kingdom. The song later gained a Guinness World Record for being the shortest song to peak within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, clocking in at just 1 minute and 25 seconds. on an unpublicized date in the wheel house of the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. In 2006, he had his pet cat cloned, making it the sixth cat ever to be cloned; the company who performed the cloning was later absorbed into ViaGen Pets. He is unable to burp.