"This is one conspiracy in which I have been a willing participant," says Belzer, a renowned conspiracy theorist, of his 19-year, crossover portrayal of Munch. In fact, Belzer has played Detective Munch on a world record-setting 11 different television series: "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Law and Order: Trial By Jury," "Homicide," "The X-Files," "The Beat," "M.O.N.Y.," "Sesame Street," "The Wire", "Arrested Development", and "30 Rock".
The veteran standup comic, actor and author was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Due to his "uncontrollable wit," Belzer was thrown out of every school he ever attended. Prior to his career in showbiz, Belzer worked as a teacher, census-taker, jewelry salesman, dockworker and a reporter for the Bridgeport Post.
After cutting his teeth on stage and as MC at Catch a Rising Star, the legendary NYC comedy mecca, Belzer began his on-screen career with a starring role in "Groove Tube," now a cult classic. Belzer's comedic talents have since been featured in every entertainment medium from off-Broadway ("The National Lampoon Show" with Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and John Belushi) to radio (Brink and Belzer on WNBC) to film ("Fame," "Author, Author," "Night Shift" and "Scarface"). For his first foray into the literary world, he co-authored "How to Be a Standup Comic" with future "Borat" director and writer, Larry Charles, and Catch a Rising Star owner Rick Newman.
Belzer also appeared as himself as the MC at "Catch" in the Andy Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon." His other film credits include "Species II," "Get on the Bus," "Girl 6," "A Very Brady Sequel," "North," "The Bonfire of the Vanities" and "The Big Picture." This year he starred in "Polish Bar" with Judd Hirsch, currently winning awards on the film festival circuit. In 1997, Belzer starred in his first HBO comedy special, "Another Lone Nut", and released a comedy CD of the same title. He's hosted an ABC primetime special called "When Cars Attack", starred in the six-part comedy Showtime series "The Richard Belzer Show", and hosted the live Lifetime talk show "Hot Properties" and Court TV's "Crime Stories." Last year he narrated the Animal Planet special "The Uprising".
A world-renowned conspiracy theorist, Belzer is the author of "UFOs, JFK and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe", a best-selling anthology considered to be a definitive tome of the genre. He subsequently hosted "The Belzer Connection", a series of prime time conspiracy-themed specials for SyFy.
Belzer recently co-authored the first two books of a Noir-ish crime fiction series featuring Belzer himself as the mystery-solving protagonist. "I Am Not a Cop," and the sequel, "I Am Not a Psychic," are currently being developed as a TV series.
During the off season Belzer lives with his wife Harlee McBride in a medieval village in southwestern France.
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