Comedy

Richard Belzer -- famous for his work on 'Law & Order' and in the standup comedy world -- has died ... this according to his close comedy pals.

News about Belzer's death spread like wildfire Sunday morning, with none other than Laraine Newman -- an original 'SNL' cast member, who worked alongside Belzer from the mid-'70s through the '80s -- confirming the latest.

She wrote, "I'm so sad to hear of Richard Belzer's passing. I loved this guy so much. He was one of my first friends when I got to New York to do SNL. We used to go out to dinner every week at Sheepshead Bay for lobster. One of the funniest people ever. A master at crowd work. RIP dearest."

Comedian Marc Maron also sent his condolences, calling him an original and "one of the greats." Other tributes are pouring in from all over showbiz, although details about his passing haven't been officially released just yet.

Belzer was most known for portraying Det. John Munch on 'Law & Order: SVU', dating back to 1996. He'd starred in over 300 episodes of the fan-fave cop series ...  playing the quick-witted and razor-sharp Munch for several years. His character was written off in 2016.

His famous police character had also existed even before 'SVU' came around ... Munch had existed in another TV universe -- namely, on the classic hit 'Homicide,' where he starred opposite Ned Beatty, Daniel Baldwin and other big actors for seven straight seasons.

Prior to his stint in network TV, Belzer was a renowned comedian ... as we mentioned, he appeared on 'SNL' during its inception period -- but he also did a lot of standup and sketch comedy on his own, plus ... he hosted variety shows/specials as well.

Beyond his esteemed work with Dick Wolf and co. ... Belzer had several other acting credits under his belt. Some other famous shows he'd been on include ... "Moonlighting," "Miami Vice," "D.C. Follies," "Monsters," "The Flash," "Nurses," 'Lois & Clark,' "The X-Files," "Arrested Development," "The Wire," "30 Rock," "American Dad" and many, many more.

His film resume was impressive too ... he'd starred in "Scarface," "Fame," "Fletch Lives," "The Bonfires of the Vanities," "Species II," "Man on the Moon," "The Puppet Masters" and others.

The last we got Belzer in the street, he was shooting jokes from the hip ... talking conspiracy theories and showing off that legendary dry humor he was known for. Super nice guy.

Belzer is survived by his wife, Harlee, and his extended family. He was 78.

Judd Apatow hilariously mocked the DGA Awards Saturday night and the actors who were part of it ... it's really funny!

Apatow hosted the 75th awards ceremony, but it wasn't broadcast anywhere -- no video at all.  He groused the damn show wasn't even on the radio ...“This show is being live-streamed to the back of this room. This show is so irrelevant, it’s shocking Elon Musk hasn’t bought it yet.”

Apatow lasered in on Austin Butler, who had said he had trouble shaking the Elvis twang.  Judd warned the world ... Austin's next role could be the lead in "The Jerry Lewis Story."

And then there was Tom Cruise, who famously does his own stunts even though he's north of 60. Judd said, “Tell Tom that Thelma and Louise didn’t exactly jump over the cliff themselves. Tom, have you heard of CGI?”

But he wasn't done, suggesting Tom's stunts have the markings of a Scientology ad.

And then there's this ... “I believe our friend Aubrey Plaza is here. I can’t believe you have a worse seat than Fkboy Island. You gotta talk to your publicist.”

Judd then referenced his famous daughter ... “Sam Levinson is here tonight. He’s the writer-director-creator of Euphoria. My daughter Maude is on that show. It’s very successful. My only frustration, I kind of want her to have a baby. She said, ‘dad, I play a 16-year-old on a high school TV show.’ I’ve seen the show. I don’t think it would be that weird to have a little crack baby on that show. Your baby can play the crack baby, a two-salary situation on that show.”

Bill Maher did it again ... he didn't just call out politicians for being increasingly hateful toward each other, he offered a solution -- do it like the movies!!!

The "Real Time" host made a compelling point ... it's only a matter of time before we see fistfights on the House floor. After all, we've seen video after video of brawls erupting in parliaments around the world, and the trajectory of Washington D.C. leads right to that doorstep.

As for evidence ... it started when Obama was interrupted during a State of the Union address.  Then look at Biden's recent address ... Republicans, especially the crazy ones, were acting like it was a football game ... booing, jeering and so on.  How long before that contempt becomes physical?

So Bill's solution -- take a page out of Hollywood. He gives enough evidence to win a trial -- stars who were paired in some of the greatest movies of all time despised each other, wouldn't even look at each other, yet when it counted they delivered and no one was the wiser.

T.I.'s had enough of being the "King of the South" and he's touting his next album -- "Kill the King" -- as the official funeral for his famous tagline!!!

TMZ Hip Hop chopped it up with T.I. this week and, for now, he's adamant "Kill the King" will be his last solo album.

The ATL rap icon explains he adopted that regal label after hearing Mystikal refer to himself as "Prince of the South" on the 2001 album "Tarantula." Tip says he spotted a void for the throne and claimed it.

He then got the blessings of legendary peers Outkast, Scarface, 8Ball and MJG ... but Big Boi warned him the "Kang" title would come with a supersized can of worms, which T.I. admits it did.

The royal title sparked a short-lived beef with Ludacris' camp, among other debacles, and T.I. says he's fully confident with deflating his own ego.

There's no timetable to rush greatness, but he revealed Jermaine Dupri just blessed him with a banger so the album is coming along as we speak.

In addition to recording his last hurrah, T.I. has plenty of other projects in the works.

He recently signed on as a brand ambassador for Cignature, a lifestyle brand that provides smoking products to adults, and is also looking ahead toward the 20th anniversary of his classic breakout album "Trap Muzik" ... which will coincide with the Hip Hop 50th celebration in August.

For the 15th anniversary, T.I. and Grand Hustle debuted the now monumental, Trap Museum in Atlanta, but he's keeping details for the upcoming celebration under wraps for now.

Positive K, best known for his '90s hit "I Got A Man", is turning his hip hop roots into humor -- he's getting onstage to tap into the world of comedy.

The rapper's team says, Positive K's still in the biz of putting out new music, but now he's also using the stage for stand-up comedy, and his career is already taking off!

As a rapper, he's best known for his breakout 1993 top 20 single "I Got A Man" ... and he also had memorable collabs with hip hop legend, MC Lyte.

His debut album "The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills" has become highly regarded as a certified classic, especially for his ability to deliver a different rap style on each track and for adding humor ... and we're told that's exactly what planted the seed for his comedy career.

Positive K's Comedy Experience is already making the rounds in ATL ... having played the Uptown Comedy Corner, Atlanta Comedy Theater and the Laugh Factory. Earlier this year he put on a show to remember at the ATL Punchline.

He's even opened up for comedian Mike Epps, in addition to performing on some of the most legendary stages for comedy.

Sarah Silverman's comedy show in New Jersey got ugly before it even started -- an elderly Black man was kicked out of the venue for protesting the infamous skit she did more than 15 years ago ... in blackface.

The demonstrator, 71-year-old Michael B. Jackson, says he bought a front-row ticket to Sarah's Feb. 4 show at the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City ... and showed up in blackface. He says his intent was a peaceful protest, but it caused a huge issue.

Jackson says 20 minutes into Sarah's opening act, the comic ... Rory Albanese, decided to address him. He claims Rory incited the crowd, insulted and bullied him and asked security to toss him out of the show, despite him saying he did not want to be apart of the routine and sitting silently. Another source who was at the show claims he was heckling and was given a warning.

That's when a bunch of guards rolled up and told Jackson to move to a balcony seat. He refused to move, and pulled out his phone to record the interaction.

The video cuts out before things allegedly got physical -- Jackson claims he ended up in the hospital after being attacked by several security guards, who he says forcibly removed him from his seat, carried him to a back hallway, dropped him facedown on the floor and handcuffed him.

A rep for the casino tells TMZ ... Jackson only requested medical attention for anxiety after being evicted from the show, walking to his hotel room and coming back down to the lobby.

The casino says Jackson "presented himself as offensive" and they have the right to remove or relocate anyone from the property at any time. The statement went on, "Ocean prides itself with both a diverse workplace and customer base."

Jackson claims Sarah was behind it all ... he says she "had the security goons at the Ocean Resort Casino in AC attack me and rough me up" because he wore blackface to protest her 2007 skit.

Sarah wore blackface for a bit on her TV show, "The Sarah Silverman Program." Jackson says the skit is littered with racist comments against African Americans thinly disguised as jokes.

Jackson believes he was kicked out for "racially motivated reasons" and feared for his life and well-being at the time. He claims police were called and gave him a ticket for trespassing. A rep for the casino confirms officers escorted him from the building when he refused to leave, and that's why he got the ticket.

Bottom line for Jackson, "Sarah Silverman feels it okay for her to wear back face, but no one else."

Folks who were there say Sarah addressed the incident when she got onstage -- explaining he was protesting the skit from 2007 and letting the audience know she'd never do something like that today. We're told she also said if Jackson was still in the crowd she would've apologized to him for the skit.

We reached out to Sarah's camp ... so far no word back.

"Pez Outlaw," Steve Glew is thrilled his incredible story is hitting the mainstream thanks to a new Netflix documentary ... but he's got his eyes on bigger things, and already has a big-name celeb he wants to see play him on TV.

Steve tells TMZ ... he's been waiting 25 years for his story to be made into a documentary, and he's in preliminary talks to create a narrative TV show about his life ... and he wants to cast Jack Black as himself.

Netflix is getting rave reviews for Bryan & Amy Storkel's doc on Steve, "The Pez Outlaw," the story of how he made a ton of money selling rare Pez dispensers back in the day.

While Steve doesn't want to jeopardize his potential TV series deal ... our sources tell us Steve's in talks with CBS Studios and Andy Samberg's production company, Party Over Here.

Steve tells us why Jack would be the perfect actor to play him ... explaining he's the right guy to capture all of Steve's idiosyncrasies and bring him to life.

The Pez story is pretty wild ... Steve went to Europe in the '90s and smuggled back tons of rare Pez dispensers to sell to American collectors ... with some folks shelling out as much as $11,000 for a single dispenser.

Steve says he thinks the Netflix doc will inspire more folks to get into collecting Pez ... and he tells us why he warned current collectors to buy whatever they have their eyes on ASAP, before the documentary came out.

"Saturday Night Live" jumped on the Chinese spy balloon caper ... insinuating we made a way bigger deal of it that it actually was.

Chloe Fineman played MSNBC's Katy Tur, conducting an interview with Bowen Yang, who was dressed as a large spy balloon that was bobbing in the ocean.

"Well, you got me, congrats, you shot a balloon," Yang mockingly said. Fineman's response, "Wow, balloon, I'm sorry you're in the water, but thank you for speaking to us."

Yang continued, “I entertain you people for four days, and then get shot by Biden. I can’t believe that I’m Joe’s Osama!"

Steve-O says Bam Margera has yet again fallen off the wagon -- which leaves him with no choice but to accept that his old friend might turn up dead one of these days.

As you know, Bam's been on the road with his 'Jackass' costar ... opening for Steve-O on the first leg of his comedy tour. Bam even brought his son Phoenix onstage with him at one of the stops. All seemed to be well -- that is, until Bam posted a shocking caption this week that spurred a hard truth from Steve.

Bam threw up a pic of himself, Johnny Knoxville and SO, writing ... "One arm is a best friend who had my f***ing back all along, another arm is a poser. A pro creation thief. If Jeff tremaine was in this photo, he would be to greedy to fit. F*** jeff. Remember I tattooed that on me long ago jeff? It’s because I knew who you were all along."

He added, "@steveo much love and respect."

Steve-O responded in a since-deleted comment ... which is pretty hard to read. He accuses Bam of staying up all night and getting loaded after the last show -- when he made the post -- and says he's now bracing for the prospect of hearing about Bam's passing, and there is nothing left he can do to save him.

While Steve might've nixed the comment, his feelings haven't changed -- telling TMZ he'll never stop being there for Bam if he wants to actually achieve sobriety. But if not, he says he's done all he can ... and that there's nothing more he can do to try and make him want to recover. He decided to delete the comment after a few minutes and had nothing else to add.

As we've reported ... Bam's been on a very turbulent journey over the past year or so, hopping in and out of rehab facilities -- oftentimes under a court order -- and continuously finding himself in situations where he's partying his face off and drinking to excess.

It's sad. At this point, even his closest allies who remain in his corner are starting to wane.

Michael Blackson says Eli Apple is ruthless with the Twitter fingers ... telling TMZ Sports he's not one bit surprised about his nephew's trash-talking antics -- 'cause it "runs in the family!!"

Apple made headlines throughout the playoffs for speaking his mind on social media ... going after opposing teams and gloating each time the Bengals came out victorious.

The actor-comedian told us he was cheering on his kin against the Kansas City Chiefs on championship Sunday ... but admits if he were Eli, he would have waited until after he won a Super Bowl ring to get at his contemporaries.

"I was rooting for him," Blackson said. "I always believe in talking smack once you get that ring. Once you get that ring, then you can talk smack."

Michael said despite what some people say about Eli, there are a lot of cornerbacks who want to be in his position -- playing in back-to-back AFC title games and the SB last season.

Michael also told us his thoughts on the big game -- he says the first-ever Super Bowl between two black quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, and Jalen Hurts, "means a lot."

"Finally, Black quarterbacks are getting recognized," Blackson said. "At one point, nobody thought running quarterbacks would make it to the Super Bowl."

MB expects the game to be a high-scoring affair ... and predicts the Eagles will defeat the Chiefs, 28-24, but says you can never count out Mahomes.

"Patrick Mahomes is a kid that never goes down," Blackson said. "This guy finds ways to stay in the game and finds ways to win the game. We have to contain him. He runs all over the place."

Tiffany Haddish says she's shocked there's a push to get her written out of the long-anticipated "Girls Trip" sequel -- but she's defiant, telling us there's no way she'd miss it ... no matter what Twitter haters think.

Tiff seemed genuinely surprised outside The Ivy Tuesday evening when she was asked what she thought about the instant backlash when it was announced last week "Girls Trip 2" was finally going to be made ... and with the OG cast of Tiffany, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Regina Hall.

Well, she makes it crystal clear that as long as her costars want her to do the movie ... Tiffany WILL be there, regardless of any controversy.

The issue is, some fans think Haddish should not be included this time around, because of the child molestation lawsuit that was filed last year against Tiffany and Aries Spears.

As we reported, the suit was dismissed and the plaintiff even publicly forgave Tiffany ... saying she knows the actress would never harm her or her family.

As for the sequel to the 2017 comedic hit ... Tiffany told us she "can't be concerned with what other people think. I gotta be concerned about how I feel" ... and she says she's feeling really good about herself these days.

BTW, even though it's been announced the film will be set in Ghana, and everyone's on board ... Tiffany seems less than convinced it's actually gonna happen. As she put it, "Y'know every year they say this."

"Saturday Night Live" poked fun at the classified documents scandal engulfing President Biden, but the most biting humor was reserved for his Veep.

'SNL's Mikey Day played Attorney General Merrick Garland, kicking things off with a speech about how former Trump VP Mike Pence found classified docs at his Indiana home. Kenan Thompson, as an FBI agent, followed with a few wisecracks about Pence.

Then came the bit about Kamala Harris ...comedian Ego Nwodim, playing an FBI agent, bluntly said: 'Come on now. Joe Biden won't even give this woman a pen. You think she has classified documents? Please, Kamala Harris with classified documents."

Ego then walked away as Day returned to the mic, adding..."Well, we had to at least check."

Funny skit, but it also had to sting, since it implied Joe didn't trust Kamala enough to share the nation's secrets. Harris, as you know, has been dogged by criticism about her competence in her role as second in command.

Steve-O's new opening act for the first 9 shows of his comedy tour is Bam Margera ... and the 'Jackass' alums hit the stage together to workshop some new material.

We got video of Steve-O shocking the packed house at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem, Oregon last Sunday -- and Bam's surprise appearance drew huge applause from the crowd.

In the video, Steve-O helps Bam work on some jokes ... comparing Bam's life to Britney Spears' and telling a few stories from rehab.

Steve-O told the crowd he's bringing Bam along for "The Bucket List Tour" because he was terrified Bam was going down a path that would end in an early death. He said he wants his buddy on the road with him to see if it's possible for him to lead a healthy life and find a happy ending.

Remember ... Bam recently revealed on Steve-O's podcast he was pronounced dead in a hospital back in December, when he had 4 seizures and a nasty blood infection.

Bengals super fan Gary Owen REALLY loves Joe Burrow ... so much so, that the comedian tells TMZ Sports he'd be thrilled if the Cincinnati quarterback ever wanted to hook up with his family members!!

Let's be honest -- the thought of relatives getting freaky in the sheets is enough to weird anyone out ... but Owen is an exception when it comes to Joey B, 'cause he says his obsession with #9 has led him to welcome the idea with open arms.

"If somebody in my family wants to sleep with him, do it," Owen joked to TMZ Sports. "Do it. Like, you don't ever want to think of any females in your family sleeping with anybody. But Joe Burrow?? Yeah, I'll drop you off. What time do you need me to pick you up??"

Owen was in Buffalo to watch his beloved team beat up on the Bills in the divisional round ... and he said he will 100% be in Kansas City for the AFC Championship game on Sunday.

But it's not just Burrow that has Owen raving about his Bengals -- he says the defense also deserves a ton of credit, even with their hands full against a dominant Chiefs offense.

"I've never been more confident in a team," he added.

Bill Maher has a confession -- something he's kept under wraps for years -- he flies private, and if anyone expresses outrage they can suck it, because they'd do it too if they could.

The "Real Time" host bore down on climate change and how ridiculous the "everyone pitch in" concept has become. As Bill says, we gotta do something, but shopping with a laundry bag isn't gonna do the trick.

Bill says, "Humans are not good people," and when asked to pitch in to save the environment, their response is, "What's in it for me?"

We are now talking about banning gas stoves, yet people are more than happy to pollute the earth with Amazon deliveries, because it's so damn convenient. Cell phones use more energy than refrigerators, but getting rid of your cellphone ... hahahahaha.

Now the confession ... Bill Maher flies private. There it is -- he's a polluter/offender, but at least he's honest about it.

He regales us with image after image of socially conscious people -- some huge environmental activists -- who are more than happy to jump on a private jet -- because they can. Just a few -- Oprah, George Clooney, Leo DiCaprio, Paul McCartney, Harry and Meghan, Sting, Beyonce and Jay-Z, and on and on.

Jay Leno isn't letting a few broken bones stop him from getting back on his motorcycle ... telling us he's got no plans to quit riding despite a recent scary accident.

Jay tells TMZ ... everyone's telling him to stop riding motorcycles, but "when you're 72, crashing a motorcycle is better than slipping in a walk-in bathtub."

As we reported ... Jay recently revealed he crashed his vintage motorbike January 17, suffering a broken collarbone, two fractured ribs and two cracked kneecaps during the accident -- an incident that flew under the radar.

Jay tells us he still plans on riding motorcycles despite the accident, because ... "Once men get past the age of 40 you can't teach them anything!"

The TV host says he didn't even realize how badly injured he was after flying off his motorcycle when he was clotheslined by an unmarked wire stretching across a parking lot ... he says he actually drove himself to the doctor, where he was diagnosed with broken bones.

As for the bike, Jay says it kept going after he was knocked off ... crashing into a building. He tells us the bike is at his famous Burbank garage and he plans on fixing it.

Jay's shouldering the blame for the incident ... telling us he's not going to sue whoever strung up the wire without hanging a flag from it, because he's not a "lawsuit guy."

The former 'Tonight Show' host is having some pretty scary accidents of late ... back in November, he sustained severe facial burns and other injuries in a car fire at his garage.

Jay insists he's fine, though ... telling us he plans to perform Sunday night at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, CA for a sold-out crowd.