Detective John Munch

Detective Munch is, perhaps, one of the most unique and amusing characters on TV. He has appeared in about 8 different TV shows, on 4 different networks, on more than 300 individual episodes. Seriously, he needs to have his own Munch show. Anyway, he is an acerbic and "intrepid" police sergeant portrayed by standup comedian and actor, Richard Belzer.

He made his first notable appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street on 1993. After the conclusion of the show's 7th season on 1999, the character was said to have retired from his original post and joined the sex crimes investigation unit in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His father had committed suicide when he was a kid, and he blamed himself at first because, he claimed, the last words he said to his father was that he hated his father's guts.

Munch is at least 50 years old (mid-50's), has recently passed the sergeant's exam on a bar bet, is Jewish, has been married four times, has been divorced four times (because the ex-wives couldn't quite match up with him in intelligence), is well-read, has an "obsession" with conspiracy theories, has been partnered with three detectives since his move to sex crimes (Brian Cassidy, Monique Jeffries, and Odafin Tutuola).

More often than not, his job description entails him to do something against his own sense of morality, but he usually gives in due to his dedication for his job.

He is well-loved by TV watchers, so much that some fans have chosen to make an online petition (and a couple of Youtube videos) upon knowing that Munch's 9th season in Law & Order: SVU will be cut down from 22 to 13.

Peek-a-Boo

Some of the shows munch has appeared in are:

External Links

For further reading, you may want to visit the Wikipedia article, Law & Order Wiki page, and Munch's IMDB profile. If you're up to some fun, watch the Belzervision vidoes made by Richard Belzer himself. Oh, and this completely crazy Belzer interview on the SVU set. :)