Spring Break
The Daily OrangeQ&A with Stephen Lynch
By Darren Benda
Posted: 3/4/08, 1:44 AM EST Section: Feature
The Daily Orange: Who's your biggest comedic idol, and who do you pattern most in your comedy?
Stephen Lynch: Well I could give you some names of people in comedy I enjoy. I liked the late Mitch Hedberg, who I toured with. He was from a new generation of comics that I thought were really unique and smart, and I learned a lot from him. Everybody says Richard Pryor, but really he was the best. Woody Allen…I'm not really that familiar with his standup, but I like his writings.
D.O.: I've read that you've called yourself a musician first, a comedian second. Is this true? If so, why is that?
S.L.: That's just what I consider myself. I've always done music, as I grew up in a musical household and singing since I was a kid. I have even played guitar since high school. But comedy was just something; it was a way of making music I wrote sort of stand out and be different. I just figured that I had a knack for it, since I used to make all my drunken and stoned friends laugh in college. So I sort of accidentally stumbled upon it, that's why I consider what I do different. I'm more of just a songwriter, I feel. But people come to laugh, and I have to deliver laughs. But I don't know the first thing about the true art of standup comedy. I wouldn't know where to begin if I had to stand up in front of a mic and a brick wall and tell jokes.
D.O.: Tell me about your writing process. Is it all original? Off the top of your head? Or do you sit around with your friends and come up with new material?
S.L.: I used to have to sequester myself in a room somewhere. That's sort of how it used to be, but now that it has gotten serious to the point where I make a living out of it, and I want everything that I write to be good or at least to a certain standard that I set to myself. Unless I get really lucky, just sitting around with my friends. But I really have to work at it, and you say 'all right I'm going to write for a few hours a day.' But sometimes you just stare at a wall for a couple of hours. But then that one day, that idea comes to you, and once the idea hits, you're off and running.
Stephen Lynch: Well I could give you some names of people in comedy I enjoy. I liked the late Mitch Hedberg, who I toured with. He was from a new generation of comics that I thought were really unique and smart, and I learned a lot from him. Everybody says Richard Pryor, but really he was the best. Woody Allen…I'm not really that familiar with his standup, but I like his writings.
D.O.: I've read that you've called yourself a musician first, a comedian second. Is this true? If so, why is that?
S.L.: That's just what I consider myself. I've always done music, as I grew up in a musical household and singing since I was a kid. I have even played guitar since high school. But comedy was just something; it was a way of making music I wrote sort of stand out and be different. I just figured that I had a knack for it, since I used to make all my drunken and stoned friends laugh in college. So I sort of accidentally stumbled upon it, that's why I consider what I do different. I'm more of just a songwriter, I feel. But people come to laugh, and I have to deliver laughs. But I don't know the first thing about the true art of standup comedy. I wouldn't know where to begin if I had to stand up in front of a mic and a brick wall and tell jokes.
D.O.: Tell me about your writing process. Is it all original? Off the top of your head? Or do you sit around with your friends and come up with new material?
S.L.: I used to have to sequester myself in a room somewhere. That's sort of how it used to be, but now that it has gotten serious to the point where I make a living out of it, and I want everything that I write to be good or at least to a certain standard that I set to myself. Unless I get really lucky, just sitting around with my friends. But I really have to work at it, and you say 'all right I'm going to write for a few hours a day.' But sometimes you just stare at a wall for a couple of hours. But then that one day, that idea comes to you, and once the idea hits, you're off and running.
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