Laugh, then rock out

Chris Serico • The Journal News • Jan. 6, 2011 • Photo: Seth Harrison/TJN

If it weren’t for a 3-inch piece of masking tape marked “Munch,” it would look like any other door, one floor above an unassuming hallway at Chelsea Piers. But it opens to the humble dressing room of Richard Belzer, whose “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” character, Sgt. John Munch, has appeared on more TV series than any other in history.

More recognizable, albeit for the wrong reasons, is his longtime buddy and Tappan resident Joe Delia, an unintentional Mick Jagger look-alike who politely informs curious crew members of his identity while waiting for Belzer in the commissary. Some of Belzer’s castmates — Dann Florek, Christopher Meloni and recurring guest star Robert Klein, who lives in Briarcliff Manor — are among the passers-by to recognize Delia, an impressive musician in his own right.

Shortly after 3 p.m., the scampering paws of a tiny poodle-fox terrier mix named Bébé signal the arrival of Belzer, sporting his signature sunglasses and a black T-shirt as he greets Delia warmly. They intended on meeting about an hour earlier, but call times can be fickle in show business.

During a 20-minute break from hairstyling, makeup, a photo shoot and filming a semi-comedic scene with co-stars Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay on the police precinct set down the hall, Belzer opens his door to Delia to discuss their friendship and their joint music and comedy shows at the Turning Point in Piermont Saturday night.

“Joe has always had a good sense of the history of comedy, and also how to marry music and comedy together,” Belzer says. “So it’s the perfect creative marriage of someone who could actually carry out what I envisioned in my mind that I wasn’t capable of doing myself. And that’s what good partners do.”

Delia agrees. “I think the essence of our friendship has been music and comedy,” he adds. “And, as Richard said, just getting along so well with each other.”

With performances beginning at 7:30 and 10 p.m., Belzer will open with stand-up, then lend his voice to Delia’s band, Thieves, for blues-rock covers and originals.

“It’s very exciting, and it’s also inspiring me to get back into my music,” Belzer says. “We’re all trying to stay young here.”

Thieves have been playing to packed houses in the Hamptons and in Manhattan, where they last gigged with Belzer about two months ago at P&G Café.

“There was no comedy; it was just straight music,” Delia recalls. “Richard came up halfway through the show. We sang a couple of tunes together, Richard sang a couple, and it was great.”

In the late ’70s, Delia was backing Pat Benatar at Catch A Rising Star, a Manhattan club where Belzer was honing his comedy. Years before they collaborated for HBO and Showtime specials, the pair fused comedy with music on a New York City boat called the Binghamton.

“One night our sound man had a nervous breakdown and starting throwing amps into the river,” Belzer recalls. “I’d made some comment about the sound, and for some reason, the guy was on the verge of a nervous breakdown anyway. And I remember this guy, screaming, and throwing these speakers into the river.”

Delia and Belzer cracked each other up while chatting about their earliest memories of each other’s performances. “It was just pure and funny,” Delia says, recalling a stand-up set. “That’s Richard. Always has been.”

“Yeah, I laugh when I hear him play,” Belzer retorts. “No, what I was impressed with, early on, was his ability to play any kind of music, not just rock ‘n’ roll.”

A keyboard impresario, Delia has had plenty of experience in the music industry. As a teenager, his band, The Bruthers, was represented by Sid Bernstein, who also happened to manage the Beatles at the time. Delia’s played with Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi; toured with Benatar, Chuck Berry and Stevie Wonder; and recorded piano tracks for Dusty Springfield, Grace Slick and Janis Ian.

A former composer-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, Delia spent the bulk of the last 25 years scoring major motion pictures, including “Bad Lieutenant,” “The Tao of Steve” and “King of New York,” but since his son, Jake, became a teenager, he’s found more time to record and tour with his band, Thieves.

“We went through the process of finding the right people, which has been the greatest challenge of all: finding people who had similar interests and motivation,” he says. “It’s really evolved beautifully. I think we’re all in it for the right reasons, which is to play the music that we want.”

Delia provides piano, Hammond organ and vocals for Thieves. Accompanying him are brothers Steven “Muddy” Roues (bass, harp and vocals) and Billy Roues (guitar and lead vocals), who’ve jammed with B.B. King, among others. Thieves also features Lisa Freud on vocals and percussion, Paul Undersinger on drums, PJ Delia on background vocals, and — whenever he’s available — Belzer on vocals, too.

“We’ve really written a body of work in the past three or four months,” Delia says. “Once we got through the first stage of being a blues band playing Muddy Waters and Lightning Hopkins and all of this stuff, it started taking on its own personality and its own originality, which is really great.”

The band’s working on the final mixes of a new album, which Joe Delia hopes to release via iTunes this year. He touts two new originals, the feisty “Fire In My Belly,” which bounces with a Jagger-like swagger, and “Montauk Moon,” whose narrative and vibe channel Springsteen’s “The River” and “Brilliant Disguise.”

Belzer says he’s impressed by his friend’s dedication.

“It’s kind of inspiring to be around someone who’s so diligent about their craft,” he says. “It kind of shames me into working a little harder.”