A successful comedian in nightclubs and television who dabbled in acting, Richard Belzer achieved his greatest fame relatively late in his career playing New York Police Detective John Munch, a cynical investigator with a more than academic interest in conspiracy theories. As a standup comic, Belzer was a sharp, quick-witted performer whose cynical humor was loaded with social commentary and occasional detours into observations on pop culture (his manic impression of Mick Jagger was for years one of his most famous bits). Thanks to John Munch's long run on the TV shows Homicide: Life on the Streets, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Belzer's acting remains in frequent circulation on television, and his stand-up act was preserved on his 1997 album Another Lone Nut.