Weird Al, Tenacious D and Adam Sandler: The genre of musical comedians may be funny, but they all seem to lack any real harmony. Enter Stephen Lynch, a comical lyricist of sorts, who can — get this — actually sing. (No, really. He recently starred as Robbie Hart in the Broadway version of The Wedding Singer.)
Last Thursday, Lynch played to a packed crowd of college students at Berklee, alternating between his own album hits and audience-inspired improv. Lynch performed popular tunes like the social-commentary “Vanilla Ice Cream,” a song about racism — and then proceeded to list celebrities who shared his preference for black women. Thomas Jefferson, anyone?
Lynch’s use of audience feedback made the night memorable. In “Superhero,” Lynch included a verse about an STD-free man at the suggestion of a concert-goer. Among his anything-but-PC repertoire, “Little Tiny Mustache” (in which Lynch muses that his girlfriend may be a Nazi) had the crowd in stiches.
Sans the raunchy lyrics, profanity and hot-button topics, Lynch’s music is technically sound. He delivers his punch lines with strong vocals and nice guitar riffs.
Lynch connects well with college-aged humor, but let’s just say that his show definitely isn’t PG-13.
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