Munch on that! Hard-boiled Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belzer played same detective role across 10 different shows including 30 Rock to have the longest run playing same character in television history
Iconic actor Richard Belzer rose to fame on the small screen as the legendary Detective John Munch after several years of being the warm-up comedian on Saturday Night Live.
The comedian is one of the only actors in the world to reprise the same role across four different networks in his lifetime his death aged 78 on Sunday.
Beloved TV detective John Munch appeared across ten different shows after first appearing on Homicide: Life on The Street on NBC from 1993 to 1999.
He was brainy but hard-boiled and came across as cynical but was always sensitive – making constant quips.
The comedian is one of the only actors in the world to reprise the same role across four different networks in his lifetime before his death aged 78 on Sunday
Beloved TV detective John Munch appeared across ten different shows after first appearing on Homicide: Life on The Street on NBC from 1993 to 1999
Describing his role, Belzer described his alter-ego as ‘Lenny Bruce with a badge’ – racking up more than 500 hours of programming as Munch.
DailyMail.com breaks down the various roles the iconic star played in his two decades in television:
Homicide: Life on the Street
Belzer started his small screen acting career as Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1993 until 1999 – with the actor being almost 50 when he first starred appearing as the grouchy Detective.
But he never auditioned for the role, he was brought in by executive producer Barry Levinson to read for the part.
The rest became history, with Belzer saying of his role: ‘I would never be a detective. But if I were, that’s how I’d be.
‘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.’
Belzer is pictured on the set of Homicide: Life on the Streets with Andre Braugher in 1996
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YMq56O9rYNw%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
Law &Order and Law & Order: SVU
Belzer then went on to play Munch in the crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – delivering an iconic line where he ‘mistakenly’ answered the phone and said Homicide before he corrected himself to say SVU.
Munch appeared on four seasons of Law & Order, before reprising the role for 16 seasons and 242 episodes on Special Victims Unit.
His final appearance on the show was in 2016, alongside co-star Mariska Hargitay – who played Olivia Benson – saying goodbye to her son Noah and telling them to ‘take care of each other’ before walking out of the door.
Hargitay, 59, honored her costar in an emotional Instagram post, writing: ‘Goodbye my dear, dear friend. I will miss you, your unique light, and your singular take on this strange world.
‘I feel blessed to have known you and adored you and worked with you, side by side, for so many years.’
He played the role of Det. John Munch on 11 different shows over 22 years, including Law and Order: SVU. He is pictured here on set with Mariska Hargitay
The X-Files
Belzer switched networks to Fox, to appear on the X-Files in seasons one and three as Detective Munch.
He interrogated John Byers in the show in 1997 – part way between his performances on NBC – in Munch’s hometown of Baltimore.
There were no callbacks to Law & Order as the show had not yet been made, despite many of his other performances making nods to his multiple reprisals of the show.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=u_YmxCoKMS8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
He interrogated John Byers in the show in 1997 – part way between his performances on NBC – in Munch’s hometown of Baltimore
The Beat
Detective Munch popped up on The Beat – a United Paramount Network show – for one episode.
He appeared on the show in 2000 after being asked to appear by Tom Fontana, who was an executive producer on Homicide.
The pair regularly worked together, with Belzer constantly agreeing to the various roles – so long as he could continue to be Munch.
Detective Munch popped up on The Beat – a United Paramount Network show – for one episode. It was based on the NYPD
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Munch reappeared again in a spin-off of the popular NBC show Trial by Jury for one series between 2005 to 2006.
He appeared on the first episode of the season, with several over Law & Order actors joining him on screen.
The show was a continuation of the Law & Order season fifteen episode ‘Tombstone’.
It covered the prosecution of a man accused of shooting a detective and murdering key witnesses in the case.
Belzer would go on to reprise the role in Law and Order: Trial by Jury, working with ICE-T
Belzer, left, played the role of Detective John Munch for 22 consecutive seasons
Arrested Development
Belzer managed to get himself in another Fox show, Arrested Development, in October 2012.
The star played a Professor of Scrapbooking and acted as though he was Munch taking on a new job role.
His class is held in is a police booking room with the word ‘scrap’ written on paper and slapped above the normal sign on the door to make it the ‘scrap booking room’.
His big break came as Detective John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AQlkYof_V2w%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
The Wire
Detective Munch briefly appeared on HBO’s The Wire in a partying scene – standing behind the bar drinking a jug of beer.
He is taking his fellow officers for coming to the bar and advertises hot wings for happy hour the next day.
Belzer then appeared for another cameo in season five of the series, telling a bartender he can’t force regulars to pay the entire tab – quipping: ‘I used to run a bar, I know how things work.’
The line was a clever throwback to his appearance in season one, where he was seen behind the bar running the show.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_6ufVdsQiZw%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
30 Rock
In an episode of 30 Rock, Belzer and Ice-T show up as their Law & Order:SVU characters for a joke.
However it is not just an incidental cameo like some of the others, because it isn’t a real episode of SVU – with Belzer appearing as himself in the series finale.
He appears in character when Jenna Maroney, played by Jane Krakowski, lands a role on ‘SVU’ as a corpse during the episode aired in 2011.
Belzer appeared as the detective with ICE-T in an episode of 30 Rock which aired in 2011
https://youtube.com/watch?v=W5MlSJpb1t0%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26start%3D2%26hl%3Den-US
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Netflix’s iconic The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt had yet another cameo for Belzer to perform as Munch.
He only appeared for a split second talking on the TV, during an episode that was released in 2015.
Ellie Kemper and other characters watch a fictional episode of Law & Order for a spinoff episode.
Munch appeared on the screen for mere seconds, with Kimmy referring to the show as ‘Law squiggle Order’
Netflix’s iconic The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt had yet another cameo for Belzer to perform as Munch
Sesame Street
Belzer appeared as a green pupped on Sesame Street in 2006
A skit of Law & Order: SVU was created by Sesame Street, which was called Special Letters Unit and included several characters based on the show.
It is the only time that the character is not played by Belzer himself, rather a green puppet – which donned his signature sunglasses and hair style.
The episode was release in August 2006, and appeared on Went – helping Munch to rack up yet another channel on his resume.
This puppet returns in Elmopalooza as the ‘Richard Belzer stunt puppet’, accompanied by Belzer himself.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1SlB8CiGJ0%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
A skit of Law & Order: SVU was created by Sesame Street, which was called Special Letters Unit and included several characters based on the show
Source: Read Full Article