About two years ago my wife and I were trolling for something to watch on TV. Even though we had cable at the time, as you might have experienced… there's still nothing on… ever. Well, this one particular night we happened upon Comedy Central and wound up in the middle of one of their shows that features comedians in a half hour segment. This particular episode starred some guy named Stephen Lynch. The name wasn't familiar, but we stopped anyway thinking the guy looked like he might be funny. After all, he was holding a guitar and I've always had an affinity for the creativity of musical comedians. But I wasn't prepared for Stephen Lynch.

On the surface, he seemed like just your average, normal kinda guy. His music sounded simple and pleasant… until we started listening to the lyrics. Once we realized he was singing about retarded friends and hermaphrodites, we knew we were in for something… a little bit special. Every song he performed had the potential to offend someone… heck… everyone! From that night on, I was a Stephen Lynch fan. I kept an eye out for other appearances but there never seemed to be anything on TV. It wasn't until a few months ago that I found out that he had a series of CD's out, and even better… a DVD. So I immediately set about looking into reviewing them so I could share the man's… special style of comedy. But as I wasn't prepared for Lynch's style that night on Comedy Central, I definitely wasn't prepared for his brand of humor… uncensored.

The first CD I popped into my car's player was entitled "Superhero." It was actually his 2nd release, but it was closest to the top of the pile. The morning I chose to listen to it I was on my way to class way on the other side of town. I had time to listen to the entire thing and laughed for the whole 45 minute drive… and had to stop thinking about it in class for fear of laughing while I was in there. The very first song was called "Talk to Me," and by the time I got through the first few lines I knew that I was going to be shocked by every one of them. The titles can occasionally be… misleading. What started out as a seemingly simple song about making someone angry and wanting them to talk to you turned into a song about being caught masturbating by your father… at the age of thirty. After that, every single song on the CD proved not only what an incredibly talented singer/songwriter but also that he displayed a keen and creative sense for writing lyrics… no matter how perverse or over the top offensive they happened to be.

Most of what he does might not be as funny if he was a grunged out hippie type, but when you hear the songs being sung by this seemingly 'clean-cut, all-American choirboy looking guy' (as his picture seems to imply), you are so disarmed that you're only choices are to laugh or be delivered into a slack-jawed state of shock. The entire CD, as a matter of fact all of his CDs, hit me with some of the most deliciously deviant, yet innocent sounding songs I had ever heard. He can sing about abortions, Catholic priest pedophilia, or the wished for death of his grandfather, with all the giddiness of a school kid. And the language that comes out during Lynch's repertoire would make a sailor blush. I lost count of all the expletives (perhaps I needed South Parks' "S*** Counter", only modified for much worse words…)

Fortunately, it’s very difficult for me to be offended, so it was very easy to sit through songs like "Superhero", which allows the audience to suggest ideas for superhero names… none of them I can repeat here. Or "For the Ladies", whose final line causes the audience to gasp in a collective shock. Or even "Down to the Old Pub Instead", which is a happy little Irish tune that recommends spending time at the pub instead of facing the possibility of red wings. (If you know what that is… great… if you don't… look it up yourself.

Of course, there are a couple of songs on "Superhero" that anyone can listen to, such as "Taxi Driver", which offers one of the most heartfelt, accurate and beautiful renditions of the musings of a New York Cabbie. Then there's… oh wait. That's the only one that is user friendly, but only barely.

Going back in time a little, I can tell you his first CD, "A Little Bit Special" is just that. These are mostly studio produced (hence no audience), and the songs offered here are every bit as bitingly satirical. I especially loved… ahem… "Gerbil", "Hermaphrodite" and "Jim Henson's Dead." I'll just let your imagination run wild on those for a while. This is also the CD that introduced the world to the song "Special." This is one of the first songs I heard on the Comedy Central concert, and if this little Ode to mental retardation doesn’t bring a tear to your eye then it should at least make you want skeet shoot the disc. (I went with tear to my eye… from laughter…)

His third CD, "The Craig Machine" follows in the tradition of "Superhero' by recording the songs in front of a live audience. I'll admit that this works better than the studio produced, but only because hearing the audience's reaction and how Lynch plays off of them adds to the inherent enjoyment of the music. Again, there wasn't a bad song to be had, though I especially liked "Classic Rock Song", in part because it sounded so much like… a classic rock song. The lyrics just drove it home. Then there was "Halloween", which I thought was the most disturbingly funny song on the whole CD. The very idea of singing about the torture of children by the neighborhood Jeffrey Dahmer gave me chills… but damn it was funny.

If you want to give Stephen Lynch a try, but aren’t sure if you can handle the rougher material, he has recently released a CD compilation of clean versions of some his songs. I haven’t heard this one, but I'm sure they’re almost as funny as the uncensored versions. If you wanna try the rougher side of Lynch, go for any of his other CDs (or his DVD - "Live at the El Rey") but again I will warn you, the Comedy Central show, for those of you who might have seen it, is NOTHING compared to what the guy does in his uncensored mode. His sick and twisted sense of humor goes far beyond that of mortal men (and women!!) and many of you 'intellectually challenged' folk out there might not enjoy his act. For you, I can only feel a profound sense of sorrow because your lives will probably never feel the unbridled joy of having your father catching you masturbating.

CD Track Listings:

A Little Bit Special:
Lullaby (The Divorce Song)
Half a Man
Bitch
Intro (Gortengar Special)
Special
A Month Dead
Priest
Hair
Intro (Super Karate Monkey Death Car)
Gerbil
Walken 1
R.D.C. (Opie's Lament)
Mother's Day Song
Intro (Curly McDimple)
Hermaphrodite
Tall Glass O' Water
Walken 2
In Defense of a Peep Show Girlie
Jim Henson's Dead
Intro (A Tribute to Multi Grain Bun)
Gay
Walken 3

Superhero:
Talk to Me
Dr. Stephen
Priest (Bonus Live Version)
Country Love Song
Superhero
What if the Guy From Smashing Pumpkins Lost His Car Keys?
Mother's Day (Bonus Live Version)
Taxi Driver
For the Ladies
Grandfather
Bowling Song (Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God)
She Gotta Smile
Best Friend's Song
D&D
Down to the Old Pub Instead

The Craig Machine:
Vanilla Ice Cream
Baby
Halloween
Love Song
Craig
Beelz
Albino
Mixer at Delta Chi
Little Tiny Moustache
Pierre
Whittlin' Man
Classic Rock Song
Not Home
Voices in My Head

Website
Website

We'll give everything Stephen Lynch does an A.