Stephen Andrew Lynch (born July 28, 1971) is an American comedian, musician and actor who is known for his satirical songs mocking daily life and popular culture. Lynch has released four studio albums and four live albums along with a live DVD. This 2004 DVD, Live at the El Rey, was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
He has appeared in two Comedy Central Presents specials and starred in the Broadway adaptation of The Wedding Singer, earning multiple award nominations. Lynch released a double-disc album, Lion, in 2012, and a live concert video, Hello, Kalamazoo, in 2016. Like Lion, 2019's My Old Heart was half recorded in studio and half from a live concert. The A to Z Entertainment website has written, "His unique blend of musical based comedy has earned him fiercely loyal fans around the world who live to experience his sold-out live shows." His albums have sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world, and he is touring again ("The Me Tour") in 2025.
Early life and education
Lynch was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. His family later moved to Saginaw, Michigan. He has a younger brother, Andrew, known as Drew (not standup comic Drew Lynch, who is unrelated), who also became a stage actor. Their parents, Leo R. and Judith (Hayes) Lynch, were a former priest and a former nun. Both parents became teachers,
Lynch would perform in community theater and musical theater while attending Arthur Hill High School and the Center for the Arts and Sciences (now the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy), from which he graduated in 1988. to Western Michigan University, from which he graduated with a BA in drama in 1993. While attending Western Michigan University, he began to write comedic songs.
Considering himself a musician first and a comedian second, Lynch cites singer/songwriters Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell as his childhood inspirations, rather than comedians. The first song that he wrote, at age 15, was a country song titled "Beefy Burrito". In it, a cowboy breaks up with his girlfriend, then goes to a diner, where his entrée reminds him of his lost love. then working summers from 1993 to 1995 at The Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, Lynch moved to New York City in 1996 Upon his arrival, a friend at the West Bank Cafe on 42nd Street suggested Lynch play, for an audience, some of the comic songs he had written while attending university.), and became a regular on radio shows such as Opie and Anthony. In 2002's award-winning Pillowfighter, he played Chet Sheplynn, a folklorist/folksinger.
In 2004, Lynch recorded a concert at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, joined by his brother Drew Lynch (not the identically named "stuttering stand-up comedian" Drew Lynch) and his friend Mark Teich as backup singers. It was released as the Live at the El Rey DVD. The DVD includes a commentary track, a clip from one of Lynch's earliest live performances (featuring "Jim Henson's Dead"), a clip of Lynch recording "Lullaby" in the studio for his first album, A Little Bit Special and a short film recorded by Lynch's wife, Erin Dwight, titled Lynch and Teich in Brooklyn.
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. co-starred Tony winner 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 Tony, Drama League, and Drama Desk awards.
Lynch starred in his second Comedy Central Presents special in January 2008. He also performed on his first European tours in 2008, headlining concerts in England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. All but two of the seventeen shows sold out, despite never playing a majority of the markets. Lynch attributes this success to YouTube. His newfound European popularity — he became known as "the Beyoncé of Scandinavia" He explained in interviews with Lost Media, "I re-visited it recently to see if maybe I could put something together and I hated it even more, especially in comparison to the shows we were doing on the Lion tour. So it is unlikely that any of it will ever be released. Maybe a song or two, but never the full concert. Which sucks because we shot it on film and it cost me a small fortune, but I'm just too unhappy with it to put it out into the world. [...] Maybe I'll use some footage for extras on a future DVD, if DVDs are even a thing anymore. If not, it'll be like that Jerry Lewis holocaust clown movie and only be whispered about in certain circles."
In 2016, Lynch recorded a live show at the Little Theatre in Kalamazoo, Michigan, called Hello, Kalamazoo, which was directed by Kevin Romeo of Rhino Media. On March 17, 2019, Lynch confirmed via Twitter that My Old Heart would be released on June 14, 2019.
As Lynch's repertoire of material includes duets and a few songs for three voices, close university pals and fellow comedians Mark Teich (of The Second City; he died in 2021) and Rod Cone (of The Rod Cone Situation) have been frequent guests on his tours. More recently, he toured with Courtney Jaye, his co-performer for Lion. He has also done shows with his brother Drew and with former Wedding Singer castmate David Josefsberg.
In 2021, Lynch announced "The Time Machine Tour," a nationwide run, from August to the end of November, organized by his agent, Mike Berkowitz. He told interviewer John Liberty that he had tweaked the lyrics to "Time Machine" (a song about going back in time to kill Adolf Hitler in infancy, as well as other controversial figures such as Idi Amin and Charles Manson), to address COVID-19, which had prevented his touring earlier.
Personal life
He married Erin Dwight on a private beach on Lake Michigan in September 2003, He told an interviewer in 2011, "My wife is a soundboard for all my ideas. I don't go out to offend anyone, I just try to find an angle that is amusing in things that perhaps on the surface are not immediately funny. In the same way that Mel Brooks can poke fun at Hitler and The Holocaust for example, I can make comedy from things like AIDS tests or Anne Frank. It all depends on your approach. You just develop a feeling for what is okay and what isn't, but I don't have any qualms about my material. If I feel that I am picking on someone or being cruel, the chances are I wouldn't find it funny, so I wouldn't use it anyway."
His father's past included being part of a duo who sang at antiwar protests during the Vietnam War. Although he canceled several performances as a result, Lynch still performed at Central Michigan University on October 16. Stephen remembered, "He had this folk-music trio that was very much in demand in the Saginaw area, and even after the group 'retired,' he still supplemented his income by singing at weddings and retirement homes, that sort of thing. He was very much sought-after on the Saginaw 'oldies' circuit."