Stand-Up Comedy

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Nice one on the Marc Maron shout out, will check out this week 

And RIP to Belzer, hadn't heard about his passing either.

[StoutAndAle]

There's a clip of him being choked out by Hulk Hogan, on his '80s chat show, to prove that wrasslin' wasn't fake or something. An odd one.

The Hulkster put The Belz in a choke/sleeper hold - Belzer lost consciousness, Hogan let him go (not sure if it was out of malice or that he didn't now RB was out cold) and as Belzer went down he cracked his head open on a desk or the floor or something. Bizarre. 

[StoutAndAle]

To tie everything that I've mentioned up very neatly today. Marc Maron's weekly newsletter just dropped with an nice obituary for Richard Belzer.

The Belz.

So many deaths, People.

I guess that's what happens. Wait. I'm sure that's what happens. To all of us.
 
I'm at an age where I see a lot of the people I knew and looked up to in the generation or two before mine die. It's a natural thing. It is the norm. It's not as hard as seeing peers pass somehow but it's sad and jarring when the news comes in.
 
Richard Belzer, The Belz, is dead. He was 78.
 
Belzer was a like a mythological being to me when I was kid. In the early to mid-seventies when I was starting to become obsessed with standups and funny people I read an article. I think it was in Rolling Stone. It was about the original Catch a Rising Star, the club in NYC. It was all about the house MC, Richard Belzer. In my recollection it described him as an edgy, button-pushing, drugged up maniac of a comic. I was fascinated with anyone who was a drugged up anything. The article describe him doing a Mick Jagger impression and basically being a menace of a clown on stage in between acts. I was blown away by just the idea that this guy existed. I hadn't heard of him or seen any of his comedy. It was kind of hard to come by. The concept of Belz was burned into my mind.
 
At some point I saw the movie The Groove Tube and there was Belz in the cast with a pre-SNL Chevy Chase. He was in a sketch called The Dealers and to this day I think he actually vomited in the car. This just solidified him in my mind as a rebel and cool fuck up.
 
After I started doing comedy and meeting some of the older guys I would hear stories here and there about him but he stayed the badass in that story in my mind for a long time.
 
He was never a huge comic but he was The Belz.
 
When I got to LA in the mid-eighties and took the job as a doorman at The Comedy Store I was amazed and thrilled to find out that Richard was a regular there and doing spots. The Belz was around. I remember meeting him in the kitchen of the Store and just feeling beside myself. It was fucking Richard Belzer. The guy from that article. The myth.
 
I would see him do sets all the time and I got to know him. I was busy losing my mind on cocaine but he understood. He never judged. He was one of the nicest guys I've met in this business. He kind of looked out for me a bit. He would drive up in his Eldorado and always wore a suit. Class act. We would get high in the back and talk and he'd tell stories sometimes. Because of that story I read when I was a kid I always felt like he somehow was part of the reason I did comedy.
 
I didn't watch Homicide or Law & Order so I don't know him as Munch but I knew him as a sweet guy, a funny guy, a real mensch who I looked up to.
 
We were in touch here and there over the years and I'm sorry we weren't closer and I'm sorry he never did the show [WTF w/ Marc Maron].
 
I will remember Richard fondly and with love and respect.

[mickO)))]

Ah that's shite about Belzer. I never knew about his stand up until he popped up in a Hicks documentary a few years ago, I only knew him from Law & Order and the like.

There's a clip of him being choked out by Hulk Hogan, on his '80s chat show, to prove that wrasslin' wasn't fake or something. An odd one.

The Munch character came from Homicide Life on the Street and he only left SVU maybe 4 or 5 years ago.

He sued Hulk Hogan over that incident from what I remember when I looked into it years ago Hogan dropped him on purpose because he made some remarks about wrestling being stupid and fake or something along those lines.

[Carnage]

Yeah, that rings a bell. He certainly made the most of it at the time.

I knew he was in Homicide, never watched it though.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Nice one on the Marc Maron shout out, will check out this week 

checked it out sooner than expected! great show, plenty of laugh out loud moments

[Carnage]

Marc Maron's new 1-hour special "From Bleak To Dark" is really great. The pacing, his delivery/demeanor, the tags and call-back are work perfectly together.

Just watched it, it's pretty good. The stuff about his partner was mighty.

[StoutAndAle]

checked it out sooner than expected! great show, plenty of laugh out loud moments

It's up there with "Thinky Pain" and "This Has To Be Funny..... Right?!" as his best work. I think that this might even be his best special. I've watched "Thinky Pain" about ten times though so "From Bleak To Dark" needs a few re-watches.

Just watched it, it's pretty good. The stuff about his partner was mighty.

Yeah. That Lynn Shelton section is something else. The jabs at Joe Rogan's acolytes are pitch perfect as well.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I'm home with food poisoning today (some of you may be pleased to hear  ) so going to watch Thinky Pain. Never seen it.

[mickO)))]

The Maron special sounds like exactly the same set he did in Vicar street last October minus of course the Irish references.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I'm home with food poisoning today (some of you may be pleased to hear  ) so going to watch Thinky Pain. Never seen it.

Well, it's definitely in my head now. Just saw this photo of Iommi and Plant and instantly thought to myself, "What is with those fuckin' shorts!?" 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Complete.Black.Sabbath/posts/10160846730863254/

[Carnage]

Just watched the new Bert Kreischer special, Razzle Dazzle. It's not very good, the big idiot persona is a lot less charming than I'd found it previously.

[StoutAndAle]

Just watched the new Bert Kreischer special, Razzle Dazzle. It's not very good, the big idiot persona is a lot less charming than I'd found it previously.

There's a solid case to be made that Bert Kreischer is intellectually challenged. Or has some form of stupidity that has yet to be given a name.

I heard him (and I use this term loosely) interviewing Russell Howard recently and the man doesn't have 3 brain cells in his head or the ability to stay focused on one thing for more than 5 seconds.

That said - and this is according to Neal Brennan on his excellent new podcast, The Blocks - Bert Kreisher made $25 MILLION dollars (!!!) in 2022 so I guess he can't be that dumb.

[Carnage]

Yeah, he's definitely there for comedy value in the 2 Bears 1 Cave podcast. By contrast  I listened to and old WTF one with Bill Burr last night and they were just so sharp & rapid fire in comparison.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Watched the new Chris Rock Netflix special. Some good laughs, but overall mehhhh.