Much More Than Munch: An Appreciation Of The Late Richard Belzer

Richard Belzer died Sunday at his home in the south of France, but his reported last words proved he remained a quintessential New Yorker: “F*** you motherf***er.” He was 78.

With no apologies to Marvel, the Belz had both his own cinematic universe and metaverse long before those became part of the zeitgeist. The M in his MCU stood for Munch. Detective John Munch.

Dick Wolf said Sunday: “Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch is one of television’s iconic characters. I first worked with Richard on the Law & Order/Homicide crossover and loved the character so much, I told Tom (Fontana) that I wanted to make him one of the 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 first played Munch in 1993 for NBC’s Homicide: Man on the Street, opposite Ned Beatty. Most TV viewers knew his character from Law & Order: SVU, but his Munch also appeared on episodes of The X-Files, Law & Order, The Beat, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Arrested Development, The Wire, 30 Rock, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Belzer as Munch also appeared in Muppet form on Sesame Street, and potentially existed in many other shows, because Munch seemed omnipresent, if not always present with a punchline. Belzer also wrote a novel in 2008, I Am Not A Cop!, which just so happened to include a character named Richard Belzer who also was an actor portraying a TV cop named Munch.

The Belz spoke with me back then to promote his book, telling me: “I never asked anyone to be on their show. So it’s doubly flattering to me to see me depicted in a script and that I’m so recognizable and lovable as the sarcastic detective and smart ass, so it’s very fun for me.”

“The reality and celebrity converges,” Belzer said back then. “Much to my delight, because he is a great character for me to play. It’s fun for me. So I’m not upset about typecast at all. It’s a dream for me.”

His final appearance as Munch came in 2016 during a Season 17 episode of SVU, where he shows up to babysit the son of Mariska Hargitay’s Benson. Longtime SVU showrunner Warren Leight wrote Sunday: “Richard Belzer was the first actor to welcome me when I started at SVU. Open, warm, acerbic, whip smart, surprisingly kind. I loved writing for Munch, and I loved being with Belz. We sensed this would be his parting scene.”

But Belz was much more than Munch.

Born Aug. 4, 1944, in Bridgeport, Conn., he moved to NYC in his 20s and made a name for himself early in his comedy career as the house MC at Catch A Rising Star, back when the hosts also headlined. Belzer also performed with a sketch group that made the 1974 cult comedy film, The Groove Tube, and wrote and performed with The National Lampoon Radio Hour, many of whose members became the original cast of Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels hired Belz, too, but as the audience warm-up comedian. Belz would get on camera a couple of times in those early years, though, either as a background extra, doing stand-up, or even a bit behind the anchor desk.

RIP Richard Belzer. Belz was SNL's original warmup act before the show and at one time was considered for a spot in the cast. It never materialized but Richard can be found in the background of many an original era episode, did a standup spot and, in particular, this cold open. pic.twitter.com/3a0IX08iii

— That Week In SNL (@ThatWeekInSNL) February 19, 2023

By the early ’80s, Belz began showing up on even bigger screens, including as a pimp in Night Shift, but more often in his more natural habitat as a comedy MC in films such as Fame, Scarface, and Mad Dog and Glory.

He had his own band, The Belzonics, who’d perform backing him in both comedy clubs and concerts.

He also had a morning radio show in NYC at the time, and showed up on an early episode of Late Night with David Letterman to tell jokes and stories in his typically sardonic style.

On TV, he starred in his own short-lived series on Cinemax in 1984, as well as a cable talk show called Hot Properties in 1985, where his personality put him on the wrong side of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Hogan choked him out onstage, letting him fall on the floor and crack open the back of his skull. That Belz even had a home in France to die in was thanks in large part to the out-of-court settlement Hogan paid Belz following that incident. As Belz explained to Bob Costas years later.

Belzer survived not only that, but also testicular cancer, managing to joke about both in his HBO special, Another Lone Nut. The title also referred to his love of conspiracy theories. He wrote multiple books on the subject.

Which meant that having some folks question his own death on Sunday left the Belz with the last laugh.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.