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Richard Belzer died in February.
We werent friends but were friendly; I was more a fan than anything else.
In the late 70s and early 80s, I saw him perform many times.
The boos and angry shouts immediately peppered the air.
Watching him play whack-a-heckler for his entire set was a lesson.
He was cool in his delivery and precise with his words, never showing fear or anger.
He exited with the same strut he entered with and to more applause than jeers.
He never gave up the stage.
But what made the room fill with comics was his crowd work.
His New York speaking rhythm pulsed with New York phrases: Yeah, right.
Whatre you gonna do?
You know what Im saying?
I loved whenever a tourist in the Catch audience would finally snap and shout, You talk too fast!
Richard would whip back, You listen too slow, pal!
and resume his high-speed delivery.
Another favorite was him dismissing a drunk: Why dont you go outside and practice falling down?
Within the context of his freewheeling style, even a stock line sounded off the top of his head.
I left mine in the machine.
He would take a drag of the cigarette, exhale, then say, Anybody can quit smoking.
It takes a real man to face cancer.
Richard didnt just go after hecklers who confronted him.
It didnt take much to set off his hair-trigger lip.
But Richard seemed to rule the stage without any of that need.
Richard was admired and respected by so many of us, a true comics comic.
But that crown can be crushing.
I had heard he grew tired of watching lesser comics swim like dolphins while he was fighting the undertow.
His crowd work was easygoing, even friendly.
He even dropped his standard black suit, white shirt, and tie for a sweater.
(The Belz in a sweater!)
Richard and I did some area gigs together.
One show was in a big bar one exit too far from the city.
It really was an improvisational work of art, a comedic Jackson Pollock using audience blood.
My high-school friend in attendance remembered it as viciously funny.
you could put a sweater on a tiger, but sooner than later, somebodys likely to get mauled.
