Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, perhaps best known for his work as Sgt. John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Belzer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a Jewish family, the son of Francis and Charles Belzer. His father was a candy and tobacco retailer. Belzer grew up with his parents and older brother Leonard. As a youth, Belzer worked as a paperboy and was "kicked out of every school he attended." Nonetheless, Belzer attended and graduated from Andrew Warde High School in the neighboring town of Fairfield, Connecticut. Both parents died while he was young; he was 18 when his mother died of cancer and 22 when his father committed suicide.

After high school, Belzer worked as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post. He attended Dean Junior College in Franklin, Massachusetts, for two semesters and part of a third before the school asked him to leave for leading too many student demonstrations. According to one interview, he was majoring in physical education. After leaving college, Belzer enlisted into the Army. For a brief period, he studied and then later taught yoga. One of his earliest comedy routines included a character "Yogi Yogi, the Yodeler", a contestant in a yodeling contest.