Speaker 1: Hi, guys, welcome to That's Messed Up an SVU podcast.
Speaker 1: This is a very special episode where Lisa and I
Speaker 1: just wanted to take a minute and obviously recognize the
Speaker 1: passing of a man, a myth, a legend, Richard Balzer,
Speaker 1: who played John Munch on SVU for thirteen plus seasons
Speaker 1: with little recurring comebacks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we all just love him so much, and
Speaker 2: it's been so nice to see everyone posting photos and videos.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean we obviously you guys know how our
Speaker 1: podcast works were usually in the time machine. We're currently
Speaker 1: in a hotel room together, and we didn't want to
Speaker 1: wait like three weeks to react to this or to
Speaker 1: like let you guys know that we're thinking about it,
Speaker 1: So we decided to just put out this little sort
Speaker 1: of celebration episode just quickly to talk about him and
Speaker 1: see and you know, it has been really sweet how
Speaker 1: everyone's been coming together sharing memories and pictures and and just.
Speaker 2: Fin and Munch are what we talk about so much
Speaker 2: in the early years, and the humor that they brought
Speaker 2: and the little comedic moments and Ie looks and rolls,
Speaker 2: and you know, he knew. We talked about this yesterday
Speaker 2: on stage, like he knew how to talk shit in
Speaker 2: every language, Yeah, just a little sass.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like fully cursed a woman in Greek, knows how
Speaker 1: a little bit of Yiddish, a little bit of Russian probably,
Speaker 1: and he.
Speaker 2: Has a soft spot, you know, he's connected with certain
Speaker 2: victims and yeah, really was there for Marley mat Malin. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and got slapped by Carol Kine.
Speaker 3: That's definitely a highlight for me, Like.
Speaker 1: The Jennifer Esposito episode, the Marley Mattlin episode, the episode
Speaker 1: where Legacy where he goes and reads the Little Girl
Speaker 1: after and he talks about his neighbor he had growing
Speaker 1: up that he never helped and he just was had
Speaker 1: such amazing range where he could go from the like
Speaker 1: there's literally this iconic scene everybody's been sharing online where
Speaker 1: he it's called hysteria and he talks about like women
Speaker 1: being tree for hysteria in like the eighteen hundreds, and
Speaker 1: then he basically spells out the word orgasm and it's
Speaker 1: like a huge joke in court, and he goes from
Speaker 1: these moments of being like so knowledgeable but funny into
Speaker 1: the really like deep, sweet sensitive moments of relating to
Speaker 1: victims and stuff, and I just thought the guy had range.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know what else had of range?
Speaker 2: His glasses, Yes, a lot of different shades of tint.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that he was alive for the Transitions lenses
Speaker 1: phase of Society.
Speaker 2: And I hope you know that Munch ended up in
Speaker 2: Maryland with a bar.
Speaker 1: You know, he did so on the last episode, on
Speaker 1: the most recent episode, which is so crazy and a
Speaker 1: lot of you have mentioned this in the comments the
Speaker 1: episode Dutch Tears, which was the Finn centric episode, Like
Speaker 1: Finn got a full episode that was really all about
Speaker 1: him and he was like the main character. He talks
Speaker 1: to Kevin Kane, the new character who plays Bruno, about
Speaker 1: my old partner he works hired, he bought his own
Speaker 1: bar back in Maryland, and he used to always use
Speaker 1: humor as a way to like deflect and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: And it was like crazy because it was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: he's like totally talking about Munch. I think actually Kevin
Speaker 1: Kane even says Munch's name at one point and then
Speaker 1: and then he passed away like two days later. It
Speaker 1: was like really really wild that they sort of gave
Speaker 1: him like one last mention on the series and then
Speaker 1: he died.
Speaker 2: I wonder if they knew, and just you know, he
Speaker 2: posted like he had the best week of his life
Speaker 2: and then this horrible news and just to remember to
Speaker 2: celebrate when the highs are high, because.
Speaker 3: The lows are coming.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so don't be humble, fucking go have fun
Speaker 2: and celebrate your big wins.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I like everyone's like everyone was like no,
Speaker 1: oh no. I mean, he did have health problems for
Speaker 1: a long time. I hope he's not in any pain now.
Speaker 1: And he also was living the like end of his
Speaker 1: life in I think Boseles, France. I'm sorry if I'm
Speaker 1: saying it wrong, like France with a bunch of dogs
Speaker 1: and like great food. Like we talk about this at
Speaker 1: our live shows, but Diana Neil came on to our
Speaker 1: New York show was talking all about how when she
Speaker 1: went to visit Bellzer in France, he had like drawers
Speaker 1: of condoms and joints. And I think he was about
Speaker 1: like living life and enjoying it and his.
Speaker 3: Last words were fuck you, motherfucker.
Speaker 1: So like, I just think he lived a really cool
Speaker 1: life and I hope that the end of it was
Speaker 1: you know, even though he had health problems. I hope
Speaker 1: he sort of enjoyed his last days. He used to
Speaker 1: live in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side. I
Speaker 1: used to see him with his dog reading outside this
Speaker 1: cafe on my block, and I never wanted to bother him,
Speaker 1: so I never said anything. But I'm glad I've seen
Speaker 1: him in the wild.
Speaker 3: At least. He's such a cool dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm also, what's the memory I have is when
Speaker 2: like Cragan's in trouble so, oh it's nine, it's alternate, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's Cynthia Nixon episode. But he gets like paint all
Speaker 2: over his outfit, so he has to put on am
Speaker 2: and then he like fucks up huge because everyone went
Speaker 2: on a man chase for this baby who ended up
Speaker 2: not being real, and then Craigan had to come back
Speaker 2: and be like you're done, You're done, munch. And it
Speaker 2: also is cool that he wore that white suit, so
Speaker 2: we have like.
Speaker 1: Such a yeah, I fancy episode was called Wonderland Story
Speaker 1: and that's where he wears his white and everybody's telling
Speaker 1: jokes about his ex wife's white ex wives and stuff,
Speaker 1: so he gets like a good send off.
Speaker 3: But then he's back.
Speaker 1: He gets to meet Noah, like I did love that scene.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people have been posting that too, Like,
Speaker 1: you guys got to stop posting these montages where there's
Speaker 1: sad music over it. They're making me cry.
Speaker 3: Oh it's the crap.
Speaker 2: Wait tell them the cute little Munch thing with Noah
Speaker 2: that Noah maybe Noah goes by Munch.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it goes by Munch and it's so adorable.
Speaker 3: This is such a funny Nate Munch.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So if you have a fig milkshake in your town,
Speaker 2: go get one and one out and big shakes. Make
Speaker 2: a fig shake at your house. Send us photos of
Speaker 2: your fig shakes. Which what I even where do you
Speaker 2: even get one?
Speaker 1: I mean it feels like it's something you would get
Speaker 1: at like a Jewish DELI doesn't it like and am
Speaker 1: I just yeah, like egg creams or something where I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't want this, right, I don't want an cream.
Speaker 3: I think I want this.
Speaker 2: But I love a cherry lime Ricky. Yeah, that's another
Speaker 2: New York I also just love.
Speaker 1: Like I guess it's like, obviously when somebody passes away,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna hear a ton of negative stuff, but
Speaker 1: you just everybody seems like they loved him, like he
Speaker 1: was this uber mench and he just was cool and
Speaker 1: nice like all the cast members, Danny Pino, Kelly Giddish,
Speaker 1: like all of them. Danny Pino won't stop posting. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's like writing poems and like well.
Speaker 2: And comics too, Like a lot of older comics are
Speaker 2: posting photos with him, and he's really respected in the
Speaker 2: comedy community out outside of the Dick Wolf universe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope it's like like in terms of the show,
Speaker 1: I hope it's like a little bit of a like
Speaker 1: just everybody posting all of his funny moments and stuff
Speaker 1: is a little bit of a remembrance that the show
Speaker 1: used to have a little bit more lightness to it.
Speaker 1: And hopefully I feel like with Kevin Kane's character, they're
Speaker 1: trying to bring back some jokes.
Speaker 3: But listen, we can't get started.
Speaker 2: I really don't like the New Girl and Octavity together,
Speaker 2: I mean, and this is what Mounch would want us
Speaker 2: talking shit about new cast members. And so I'm sure
Speaker 2: I'll grow to love them, but I really hate their
Speaker 2: over acting.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it just really bothers me. But I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'll love it we'll get more into it that
Speaker 1: on a regular episode. But yeah, I mean, we're just
Speaker 1: posting this so that you guys know that we're feeling
Speaker 1: sad with you, and of course we and be present.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Another thing I loved about him is they.
Speaker 2: Were like, hey, can you please just film a scene please,
Speaker 2: just for a five hundredth and he's like, nah.
Speaker 3: I don't have Wi Fi. Yeah, and I love that. Yes,
Speaker 3: that's what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like, I think he was like living in France with
Speaker 1: good food, dogs, like just life on his terms in
Speaker 1: his final years, you know, And I think that's really great.
Speaker 1: And everybody just has such an outpouring of love and
Speaker 1: respect for him, and I think we are just joining
Speaker 1: our voices to that chorus.
Speaker 3: Of people that are obsessed with him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be wild for us to just go
Speaker 2: multi episodes without any talking about it, because even in
Speaker 2: our live shows, like anytime we mentioned him. Now, it's
Speaker 2: like he is such a big part of these episodes.
Speaker 3: So we're never gonna stop talking about Munch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he lives on through this amazing character that he played,
Speaker 1: and we're going to say through this amazing podcast and
Speaker 1: relaxed chart. No, this character he played because people are like, no,
Speaker 1: he was on homicide. He was on an episode of
Speaker 1: X Files as much like he's This character has spanned multiple.
Speaker 3: It's eleven eleven. Make a wish.
Speaker 1: It's eleven eleven, and our wish is for us all
Speaker 1: to remember Belzer forever and all the amazing contributions he made,
Speaker 1: and he'd really created a character that I think is.
Speaker 3: Unmatched, truly unmatched.
Speaker 1: And I mean, yeah, guys, this mini for letting us
Speaker 1: do a little minisode.
Speaker 2: Hopefully we'll do minisodes in the future for more joyous
Speaker 2: events and things.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you know, sometimes, but.
Speaker 1: We'll post this on our Instagram that's messed up pod
Speaker 1: and just you know, feel free to share munch memories
Speaker 1: in the comments or whatever. I feel like it's nice
Speaker 1: for people to share, you know, I don't know, happy memories.
Speaker 1: Your favorite conspiracy is yeah, your favorite conspiracy theories, et cetera.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, go spy on someone. I mean, okay, people are
Speaker 1: like it suckx he never got to do the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm like, he was never going to do the podcast.
Speaker 1: He was truly living without Wi Fi in on like
Speaker 1: the fringes of France. But I do want to know like,
Speaker 1: I guess we can will ask Neil Bear. We'll have
Speaker 1: like Neil Bear back. But like how much Munch was like.
Speaker 3: Was him?
Speaker 1: Because I didn't know that bells were in real life?
Speaker 1: Was a big conspiracy theorist. I always knew Munch was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I also knew he would not do the pod,
Speaker 2: but I definitely still had the fantasy of like smoking
Speaker 2: a joint with him. But then my friend texted me,
Speaker 2: now he's smoking a joint with God.
Speaker 1: Oh and people keep writing that him and Jurie or
Speaker 1: Boker hanging out in heaven together, and I really like
Speaker 1: that idea, his son wrote. Warbox Son wrote that and
Speaker 1: was like, you guys are probably giving each other hell
Speaker 1: right now up in heaven, Like and I love that.
Speaker 3: So oh I didn't see that. I love that box
Speaker 3: Son is kind of cute. FYI. Everybody is a neo
Speaker 3: baby or what's he doing?
Speaker 1: An actor? Musician, you know, kind of doing everything? And
Speaker 1: he his biocos and yes, I'm Jerry warbox On. At
Speaker 1: least he's not high. Yeah, yeah, so I guess I
Speaker 1: don't know Lisa's or anything else you want to add.
Speaker 1: We love you, guys, Thank you for listening. Thanks for
Speaker 1: all of you've been writing like sweet messages that the
Speaker 1: podcast it makes you has helped you through getting like
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that. We're all on like
Speaker 1: our Instagram page commiserating about this guy we all loved.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and have some fun today and and should be
Speaker 2: present and enjoy your good moments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, We'll see you guys at our next big, jumbo
Speaker 1: sized regular episode, Jumbo bye bye