Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is an
American stand up comedian, writer and actor, perhaps best known for his work as Det. John Munch, on Homicide: Life on the Street
and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Biography
Early life and education
Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to a Jewish family of Francis and Charles Belzer, a candy and tobacco retailer.[1] His cousin is actor Henry
Winkler. Belzer grew up with his parents and older brother Leonard. As a youth, Belzer worked as a paperboy and was
"kicked out of every school he attended". Nonetheless, Belzer attended and graduated from Andrew Warde High School in the
neighboring town of Fairfield, Connecticut. Both parents died while he was young:
His mother died of cancer when he was 18 and his father committed suicide when Belzer was 22.
After high school, he worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post. He attended Dean Junior College in Franklin, Massachusetts for a year and a part of a semester before being asked to leave for
leading too many student demonstrations. According to one interview, he was majoring in Physical Education. After leaving
college, Belzer was encouraged by his father to enlist in the Army. For a brief period, he studied and then later taught
yoga. One of his earliest comedy routines included a character "Yogi Yogi, the Yodler" a contestant
in a yodeling contest.
Stand-up comic
Belzer terminated his enlistment early. He married Gail Ross, a union that ended in divorce.
Belzer relocated to New York City, and moved in with singer Shelley Ackerman, and began working as a stand-up comic at Pips, The
Improv, and Catch a Rising Star. He
participated in the Channel One comedy group that satirized television and became the basis for the cult movie
The Groove Tube, in which as the co-star of the ersatz t.v. show, "The
Dealers".
Belzer was the audience warm-up comedian for Saturday Night Live in its
premiere season and made three guest appearances on the show in 1976 and 1978. (However, despite appearing as such in the film
Man on the Moon, Belzer was not the first host of the show.)
Film acting
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Belzer became an occasional film actor. He is noted for his small roles in
Fame, Night Shift, and
Scarface. Belzer (billed as "Richard Brando") went on to provide the voice
of "The Breather" in the box-office flop "Student Bodies". In addition to his illustrious film career, Belzer has enjoyed a
special place in radio history as a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio
Hour, a half-hour comedy program aired on some 600 U. S. stations from 1973 to 1975. Several of his sketches were released on
National Lampoon albums drawn from the Radio Hour including several bits in which he portrayed a pithy call-in talk show host
named, 'Dick Ballentine'. In the late 1970s he co-hosted Brink & Belzer on 660AM WNBC
(New York City). He is also a frequent guest on "The Howard Stern Show".
Hulk Hogan incident
In 1985 on his cable TV talk show Hot
Properties, Belzer said wrestling was fake and insisted Hulk Hogan put a wrestling
move on him. Hulk Hogan put Belzer in a front chin lock or sleeper hold, which caused
Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to his scalp which
required him to be hospitalized briefly. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million, and later settled out of court. Belzer used the
settlement (rumored to be $1.5 million) to purchase a cottage in France, where he and his wife
Harlee live when he's not working in the U.S. On October 20, 2006 on Bubba the Love
Sponge it was claimed (with Hogan live on the phone) that the settlement totalled $5 million, half from Hogan and half
from Vince McMahon.
Belzer used the incident in his HBO special Another Lone Nut as part of his stand-up
routine.
Television
In the 1990s, Belzer appeared frequently on television, including a movie role in which he appeared as an LAPD detective in A Very Brady Sequel.
He was a regular on The Flash television show. In several episodes of
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,
he played Inspector William Henderson. He followed that success with
starring roles on Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999) and
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999 - ), playing
the same character (Det. John Munch) in both series.
In addition, he has also played Det. John Munch in episodes of six other series:
Munch is the only fictional character played by a single actor to appear on seven different television shows. These shows were
on three different networks: NBC (Homicide: Life on the Street, the Law & Order
shows), FOX (The X-Files, Arrested Development), and
UPN (The Beat).
He also appeared in Comedy Central's broadcast of the Friars Club roast of Chevy Chase.
Belzer was honored by the New York Friars Club and the Toyota Comedy Festival
June 9, 2001 as the honoree of the first ever roast that was open
to the public. Comedians and friends on the dais included Roast master Paul Shaffer,
Christopher Walken, Danny Aiello,
Barry Levinson, Robert Klein, Bill Maher, SVU co-stars Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T, and Dann
Florek, and Law & Order’s Jerry Orbach.
Personal life
Belzer married actress Harlee McBride in 1985. His previous marriages were with Gail
Susan Ross (1966-1972) and Dalia Danoch (1976-1978). McBride made two softcore pornography
movies: Young Lady Chatterley (1977) and Young Lady Chatterley II (1985). She also had a recurring role in
Homicide as Alyssa Dryer.
Belzer testified on behalf of a criminal who was running from actual Baltimore police and ran onto the set of Homicide:
Life on the Street. The criminal surrendered to the actors. Belzer said the look on the man's face was adequate
punishment.
Health problems
Belzer survived testicular cancer in 1984. His HBO
special and comedy CD Another Lone Nut[2] pokes fun
at this, as well as his status as a well-known "Conspiracy Theorist."
Books by Richard Belzer
- UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Believe, ISBN 0-345-42918-4
- How to Be a Stand-Up Comic, ISBN 0-394-56239-9
- Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics, and the People (By Belzer and Marjorie Mowlam), ISBN 0-340-79394-5
Quotes
- During the Friar's Club Roast (Comedy Central, Sunday December 1, 2002) of
Chevy Chase, Belzer said, "The only time Chevy Chase has a funny bone in his
body is when I fuck him in the ass."
- When appearing on The View (ABC 1999, 2003, 2004) Belzer said, "How you bitches doin'?"
- On an appearance by Ann Coulter on Bill Maher's
Real Time (HBO, 2004, 2005, 2006) Belzer said, "She is a Fascist party doll."
References
External links
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