Richard Belzer, stand-up comic and tv detective, dies at seventy eight
John Munch, the character he played, became among the longest functioning on tv.
Big apple – Richard Belzer, the longtime stand-up comic who turned just one of TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in “Homicide: Existence on the Street” and “Law & Order: SVU,” has died. He was seventy eight.
Belzer died Sunday at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, in southern France, his longtime friend Bill Scheft said. Scheft, a writer who had been working on a documentary about Belzer, said there was no known cause of death, but that Belzer had been dealing with circulatory and respiratory issues. The actor Henry Winkler, Belzer’s cousin, tweeted, “Rest in peace Richard.”
For more than two decades and across 10 series – even including appearances on “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development” – Belzer performed the wise-cracking, acerbic homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories. Belzer first performed Munch on a 1993 episode of “Homicide” and last performed him in 2016 on “Law & Order: SVU.”
Belzer never auditioned for the role. After hearing him on “The Howard Stern Show,” executive producer Barry Levinson brought the comedian in to read for the part.
“I would never be a detective. But if I were, that’s how I’d be,” Belzer once said. “They write to all my paranoia and anti-establishment dissidence and conspiracy theories. So it’s been a lot of fun for me. A dream, really.”
From that unlikely beginning, Belzer’s Munch would become 1 of television’s longest-running characters and a sunglasses-wearing presence over the small screen for more than two decades. In 2008, Belzer published the novel “I Am Not a Cop!” with Michael Ian Black. He also helped write several books on conspiracy theories, about things like President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
“He made me laugh a billion times,” his longtime friend and fellow stand-up Richard Lewis said Sunday on Twitter.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Belzer was drawn to comedy, he said, during an abusive childhood in which his mother would beat him and his Older brother, Len. He would do impressions of his childhood idol, Jerry Lewis. “My kitchen was the toughest room I ever worked,” Belzer told People magazine in 1993.
After being expelled from Dean Junior College in Massachusetts, Belzer embarked on a lifestyle of stand-up in New york in 1972. At Catch a Rising Star, Belzer turned a regular performer and an emcee. He made his big-screen debut in Ken Shapiro’s 1974 film “The Groove Tube,” a Tv satire co-starring Chevy Chase, a film that grew out in the comedy group Channel 1 that Belzer was a part of.
Before “Saturday Night Live” changed the comedy scene in New york, Belzer performed with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and others about the National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1975, he became the warm-up comedian for the newly launched “SNL.” While many cast members quickly grew to become famous, Belzer’s roles were mostly smaller cameos. He later said “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels reneged on a promise to work him into the show.
But Belzer became one of several era’s top stand-ups. He was known especially for his biting, cynical attitude and his witty, sometime combative banter with the audience. As among the list of most influential comedians on the ’70s, Belzer was a master of crowd work.
“My style evolved from dealing with drunken people at twelve, a single, two in the morning and trying to be like an alchemist and get the lead of their lives and turn it into golden jokes,” Belzer told Terry Gross on “Fresh Air.”
Belzer would later write an irreverent self-help book titled “How to Be a Stand-Up Comic” with advice on things like how to to apologize to Frank Sinatra when you made fun of him onstage or how to deal with hecklers. A person of his favorite lines was: “I have a microphone. You have a beer. God has a plan and you’re not in on it.”
Belzer often performed a stand-up comedian in film, including in 1980s’ “Fame” and 1983’s “Scarface.” He had small roles here and there, including in “Night Shift” in 1982, and “Fletch Lives” in 1989. But Munch would change Belzer’s career.
As ”Homicide” co-creator Tom Fontana said, “Munch was the spice in these dishes,” Belzer told the AV Club. “Munch was based on a real guy in Baltimore who was a star detective, in a way. He would come onto grisly murder scenes, start doing one-liners, because someone had to break the tension. So Munch served a very important function. Not only was he a dissident who said what was on his mind, he kind of had the gallows humor that’s needed in a homicide squad.”
When “Homicide” wrapped in early 1999, Munch called Dick Wolf to see if the character could join another NBC series, “Law & Order,” where Munch had popped up in a few previous episodes. Wolf already had his leads for “Law & Order,” but he wanted Belzer to star in a spinoff. That fall, “Law & Order: SVU” premiered, with Belzer starring alongside Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni in a storyline written as though Munch had transferred from Baltimore to The big apple.
“Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch is 1 of television’s iconic characters,” Wolf said in a statement.
“I first worked with Richard around the ‘Law & Order’/‘Homicide’ crossover and loved the character so much,” Wolf said. “I wanted to make him on the list of original characters on ‘SVU.’ The rest is history. Richard brought humor and joy into all our lives, was the consummate professional and we will all miss him very much.”
Belzer is survived by his third wife, the actress Harlee McBride, whom he married in 1985. For the past 20 years, they lived mostly in France, in homes he purchased partially from the proceeds of a lawsuit with Hulk Hogan. In 1985, Belzer had Hogan as a guest on his cable Tv set talk show “Hot Properties” to perform a chin-lock on him. Belzer passed out, hit his head and sued Hogan for $5 million. They settled out of court.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Belzer died in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, not Bozouls, as Scheft originally told The Hollywood Reporter.
