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Stephen Lynch's bio: Although Lynch was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, he grew up in the suburbs of Saginaw, Michigan. He attended Western Michigan University, where he learned to play the guitar, and was a drama major. As a child in Michigan Lynch performed in community theater, and has experience in musical theater from high school, university and, later, summer stock.

Considering himself a musician first and a comedian second, Lynch cites great singer/songwriters Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell as his childhood inspirations, rather than comics. The mockumentary This is Spinal Tap was his greatest inspriation, and led him to decide his career path.

After moving to New York City in 1996 with the intention of becoming an actor, a friend and comedy club owner suggested Lynch play some of the comic songs he'd written at university for an audience. He soon found great success in comedy clubs and other venues around the city (notably Catch a Rising Star and Caroline's), and became a regular on radio shows such as Opie and Anthony. Over the next few years, he toured colleges, universities and nightclubs around the country, avoiding as much as possible the comedy club crowd, which he has stated is not to his taste. He periodically satisfied his love of the stage by returning to Michigan and doing summer stock.

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 hugely famous locations such as the House of Blues, The Town Hall and the esteemed Kennedy Center). 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. In addition, Lynch was voted by an Atlanta, Georgia columnist as one of America's sexiest men, and has acquired a devoted following of besotted female fans.

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 the last tour of Hedberg's before his death.

He has also appeared in five short films, including The Love Seat in 1999 and The Confetti Brothers in 2001. 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.

Lynch is set to play the title role of Robbie Hart in the upcoming Broadway musical version of the 1998 New Line Cinema film (starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore), The Wedding Singer, which will open on Broadway on April 27th, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The musical, Lynch's Broadway debut, co-stars two-time Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti in the Barrymore role of Julia Sullivan. The April 2006 opening follows a successful preview run in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre which ran from January 31st-February 19th. Previews began in New York on March 30th.