William Patrick Niederst, known professionally as Liam Lynch, was born on September 5, 1970, in Petersburg, Virginia. At age 23, he was accepted into the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), where he co-created The Sifl and Olly Show, an MTV comedy puppet series that aired from 1998 to 2000. His song "United States of Whatever" was featured during the first season of the show and later released on his 2003 album Fake Songs, produced by his company 111 Productions Inc. The song peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia and the United Kingdom, earning a Guinness World Record for being the shortest song to peak within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart at just one minute and twenty-five seconds. He directed several music videos for acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Tenacious D, and No Doubt. He also directed the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) and collaborated on Sarah Silverman's stand-up comedy film Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic.
