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Randy Hodgins and Steve McLellan’s lifelong love of comedy was kindled when they met more than 40 years ago in graduate school in Seattle. While managing family and professional work responsibilities, they hosted a one hour comedy radio program on Saturday mornings for 10 years on a small radio station in Olympia, WA and also co-authored two books on northwest popular culture – Seattle on Film (1995) and Wet and Wired (2000). Stuck at home during the early days of the pandemic with hundreds of comedy albums, cassettes and CD’s gathering dust on their shelves, they launched Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy in May 2020, a weekly mini-program featuring a different comedy icon, with biographical bits and a nice slice of the comedy that made them famous. From standup stars, to stellar sketch teams, to novelty music maestros -- they are all part of our Legends.
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Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
While today he is best remembered for an iconic television character, today's Legend also has deep roots as a stand-up comic -- one with a particularly biting and intelligent approach. We're talking about Richard Belzer, who surmounted a difficult childhood through comedy. After moving to New York as a young man Belzer immersed himself in a burgeoning satirical scene, cutting tracks for the National Lampoon Radio Hour, serving as the warm-up comic for SNL, and even acting as the opening act for Warren Zevon on his Excitable Boy tour. Today, Belzer has a whole different fan base who discovered him during his 23 year run as Detective John Munch in the long-running Law and Order television franchise (beginning with Homicide: Life on the Streets). As played by Belzer, Munch was sarcastic, whip-smart, cynical, prone to conspiracy theories, and highly entertaining -- just like his creator. As always, find extra clips below and thanks for sharing our shows!
Want more Belzer?
Belzer's first appearance on Letterman broke him with a much wider audience and is a great sample of his style. https://youtu.be/r5uK9pGIzW8?si=G-_nnBFyVuv2kCds
Belzer's character John Munch on Homicide: Life on the streets was streetwise, cynical, and very funny. Here's a cut of some of Munch's best asides. https://youtu.be/7wOxN3P0BDo?si=8vpXiMm37mLmFY3t
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