Richard Belzer

A successful comedian in nightclubs and television who dabbled in acting, Richard Belzer achieved his greatest fame relatively late in his career playing New York Police Detective John Munch, a cynical investigator with a more than academic interest in conspiracy theories. As a standup comic, Belzer was a sharp, quick-witted performer whose cynical humor was loaded with social commentary and occasional detours into observations on pop culture (for years, his manic impression of Mick Jagger was one of his most famous bits). Thanks to John Munch's long run on the TV shows Homicide: Life on the Streets, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Belzer's acting remains in frequent circulation on television, and his stand-up act was preserved on his 1997 album Another Lone Nut. Richard Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 4, 1944. He said he grew up in an abusive household and started cracking jokes as a way to distract his mother from her anger. After graduating from high school, Belzer attended junior college but was expelled for leading student demonstrations, and for years he supported himself with a variety of jobs, including newspaper reporting, selling jewelry, working on the docks, and as a census taker. Belzer married for the first time in 1966, but in the early '70s, his mother died after a long struggle with breast cancer. His father fell into a deep depression and eventually committed suicide, and the stress led to Belzer and his wife splitting up in 1972. Belzer felt he needed to make some changes in his life, and chose to give his dreams of a show biz career a shot. After a short spell as an acting student, Belzer landed a gig performing in comedy sketches that were shown at a New York video theater called Channel One. The success of the Channel One shows led to founder Ken Shapiro making a feature film version of their best bits, released in 1974 as The Groove Tube. Belzer appeared in several sketches in the film, including a tale of scruffy marijuana salesmen called "The Dealers," and when the film became a hit, Belzer suddenly had a nationwide audience. After the success of The Groove Tube, Belzer became a steady presence on the New York comedy circuit, branching out to clubs around the country, and landed a steady gig as the warm-up comedian for Saturday Night Live's weekly broadcasts, and also made occasional guest appearances on the show. He was also a writer and voice actor for the National Lampoon Radio Hour; he appeared on National Lampoon's 1977 album That's Not Funny, That's Sick, and more of his Radio Hour sketches would be found on a series of CDs issued by National Lampoon in the 2000s. In addition to working as a comic, Belzer continued to act in films and on television, playing small roles in the films Fame, Night Shift, and Scarface and appearing on the TV series Moonlighting and Miami Vice. He was also cast in music videos by Pat Benatar, Mike + The Mechanics, and Kansas. In 1984, he hosted a short-lived talk show, The Richard Belzer Show, and in 1986, he launched another chat show called Hot Properties. The most memorable episode of the latter featured Hulk Hogan and Mr. T promoting a Wrestlemania event; Hogan put Belzer in a facelock that caused him to pass out, and he suffered head injuries when he fell to the floor. Belzer filed a lawsuit against Hogan; the wrestler opted to settle out of court, and Belzer said the payment was enough for him to buy a small estate in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera. After landing recurring roles on the shows The Flash (1990-1991) and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994), Belzer was cast on Homicide: Life on the Street, playing a smart, cynical police detective named John Munch. Between 1993 and 1999, Belzer appeared on 122 episodes of the series as Munch, and producer Dick Wolf was enough of a fan of Belzer's work that he had Munch transfer from Baltimore to New York and make guest appearances on another police procedural series, Law & Order. Beginning in 1996, Munch made four appearances on Law & Order, and when Wolf created a spin-off, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, he made Belzer part of the team, playing Munch alongside his partner Odafin Tutuola, played by rapper turned actor Ice-T. Munch was already a fan favorite before joining L&O:SVU, and the new show gave Belzer's character an even greater showcase, and he would appear on 326 episodes before retiring from the show in 2016. Belzer also made guest appearances as Munch on The X-Files, The Wire, and Law & Order: Trial by Jury, as well as playing him for laughs on Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. During his downtime from playing John Munch, Belzer continued to book occasional stand-up appearances; he shared Munch's interest in conspiracy theories (in particular the assassination of John F. Kennedy), and this informed his 1997 cable special Another Lone Nut, which was given release as a comedy album by Uproar Entertainment. In 2000, Belzer published his first book, UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe, and he would go on to write four more books on forbidden knowledge, as well as two novels, 2008's I Am Not a Cop and 2010's I Am Not a Psychic. After leaving Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2016, Belzer maintained a low profile, spending most of his time at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer with his wife, actress Harlee McBride, whom he wed in 1985. Richard Belzer died at his home on February 19, 2023, at the age of 78; his friend Bill Scheft, a novelist and comedy writer, reported that Belzer's typically pithy final words were "F–k you, motherf–ker."
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