Craig List

With his dreamy good looks, impressive falsetto voice and obvious musical talent, Stephen Lynch has the chops to be a legitimate singer-songwriter. But Lynch decided a long time ago to devote his time to performing songs about things like Nazis, abortions, anal sex, Satan, albinos, date rape -- you know, the fun stuff.

"I do have songs about Nazis and abortions," admits Lynch. "I don't think I have a song about date rape -- but, I don't know, you just gave me an idea." Great.

Lynch writes and performs surprisingly catchy ditties that start off sweet and enchanting, lulling the audience into a false sense of security. Then he sucker-punches them with a depraved left turn, such as when he ends a love song to his girl, aptly titled "Love Song," by matter-of-factly adding, "And also, I have herpes." (He'll unleash the twisted tunes from his new album, The Craig Machine, when he stops by the Verizon Wireless Theater this week.)

"Ever since I started writing songs, back in my college days," says the 34-year-old native of Saginaw, Michigan, "the whole point was to make my friends laugh. We all did it. You sit around on a Tuesday night, drink a couple of beers, and someone would bring out a guitar and you'd obviously start to be funny. And I kept doing it. My friends went off and got real jobs, and I didn't."

It's apropos that, next spring, Lynch will make his Broadway debut in the musical version of The Wedding Singeras Robbie Hart, the lead character (played in the film by that other guitar-wielding, frat boy-friendly comic, Adam Sandler). The role, which calls for a guy with killer comedic timing who can sing, play guitar and front a band, is a natural fit for Lynch. But before he takes on the Great White Way, Lynch is hitting a few stages, where he'll sing his fractured but funny, discomfort-causing tunes.

"Someday I'll put out an album of non-funny tunes," he says. "I'm gonna have to grow a beard and do it all undercover."