Richard Belzer dies at 78

[Modren]

Originally Posted by Slashfilm

Richard*Belzer, the stand-up comedian, prolific performer, and the man who brought us police detective John Munch,*has died at the age of 78. The news originally broke via "Saturday*Night Live" original cast alum Laraine*Newman, who knew him from his time as the warm-up comedian for the series,*tweeted her sadness at his passing. The news was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, which was told by a longtime friend (who did not wish to be identified) that Belzer died at his home in Bozouls, France. "He had a lot of health issues," said THR's source. "And his last words were, 'F*** you, motherf***er.'"

https://www.slashfilm.com/1204384/ri...as-died-at-78/

[antennahead]

"And his last words were, 'F*** you, motherf***er.'"

Priceless

[Jay H.]

He used to do his stand-up act on Late Night with David Letterman. Funny guy. What a shame.

[Jay H.]

If Richard Belzer And Jack Nicholson Went To Burger King | Letterman - YouTube

[Zechs Merquise]

Loved him on Homicide. Shame his character was mostly wasted on SVU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uPNo7QLhBU

[RFK]

Time for a viewing of The Groove Tube.

[Walter Kafka]

Loved Homicide. Felt it didn't get as much attention as The Wire.

[DukeTogo84]

I'll always remember him for this.

HULK HOGAN,RICHARD BELZER, MR T- INFAMOUS ACCIDENT LIVE ON TV 1984 - YouTube

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by Walter Kafka

Loved Homicide. Felt it didn't get as much attention as The Wire.

Well that depends on your metrics. Homicide at least won some primetime Emmys. The Wire only got nominated for two episodes and didn't win a single one in five years of broadcast

[badfingerboogie]

Always loved a slice of Munch whenever he showed up in whatever - from Homicide and SVU, to appearances on The X-Files and The Wire.

RIP.

Also, Homicide in HD when?

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Night Shift baby!

[avs commenter]

He played the same character in like 10 different shows which was pretty cool

[Dr. Seymour Love]

He came out of that late 70's/early 80's NYC standup scene that birthed Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Gilbert Gottfried, and many others. He also has a lot of memorable short scenes/cameos in stuff like Fame and Scarface. He was married to the actress who played Young Lady Chatterley. I think she also played the coroner on Homicide for several episodes, or maybe it was some other cop show he was on. In his later years, he moved to France and started writing books about conspiracy theories.

[MikeK84]

Damn. I am gonna miss the guy: he was apparently the basis for the Robert De Niro character in “The King of Comedy.” He minded me a lot of my dad (also named Richard): both were tall and lanky with a biting wit. Belzer was great in pretty much everything: from “Night Shift, Fame, Scarface,” and of course on Law & Order S.V.U.

[JamesOttoSweetHeart]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but where did the name "Munch" come from? Was his character a person who loved to eat?

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

[Poya]

Because of him, The Wire and X-Files are in the same universe.

RIP Belzer.

[Batmon77]

Always loved his Fame scenes.

[wildhoney66]

he showed that clip i noticed and didn't even mention you could see blood on the ground in a small pool. this was back when he had good hair and later on he got that awful haircut around season 4 i think? of SVU. i have season 6 on dvd and i have 2 episodes left to watch which i am doing tonight but my point is i went ages upon ages without watching it and than right when i pick up my season 6 dvd set he passes away how f.. up is that?

i really dunno where the name came from but i'm sure you can find out someplace on the net, it's shocking there are no Law & Order forums on here though you'd think there would be

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by JamesOttoSweetHeart

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but where did the name "Munch" come from? Was his character a person who loved to eat?

No

I dunno where 'Munch' came from precisely but a lot of the character names from the Homicide TV series were supposed to be serial numbers filed off analogues of the names from the Homicide book (by David Simon) that it was based on.

For example: Harry Edgerton -> Frank Pembleton
Gary D'Addario -> Al Giardello
Geraldine Parrish -> Calpurnia Church
Latonya Wallace -> Adena Watson

John Munch was based on a Detective named Jay Landsman. So Jay to John is obvious, I would guess that 'Munch', coming from 'Monk' was supposed to evoke 'Landsman' without, you know, actually being 'Landsman'

[antennahead]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

I'll always remember him for this.

HULK HOGAN,RICHARD BELZER, MR T- INFAMOUS ACCIDENT LIVE ON TV 1984 - YouTube

I happened to be home watching his show live that day when this incident happened. It was bizarre. At first, I thought it was scripted, until you look closely, and you can see the blood on his collar and jacket from where his head split open. Hulk cut off his oxygen until Belzer passed out, then he flipped him on the floor. Apparently they were pissed that Belzer had been mocking the sport as fake.