Dick Ballantine is a fictional character played by actor and comic
Richard Belzer
Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is a retired American actor, stand-up comedian, and author. He is best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/Sergeant, and DA Investigator John Munch, whom he has portrayed as a regular cas ...
on segments of ''
The National Lampoon Radio Hour
''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from ''National Lampoon'' magazine.
The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974. Orig ...
'', aired on some 600 U.S. radio stations between 1973 and 1975. The character is an ersatz radio call-in host.
His callers, played by other ''Radio Hour'' regulars including
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...
, were subject to Ballantine's tart-tongued responses to their predictably obtuse opinions, typically capped by his addressing them sarcastically as "Babe". In one exchange, Murray's call-in character expresses irritation that inmates of a
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
maximum security hotel, recently the scene of the
Attica Prison riots, are being given connubial visiting privileges which he disagrees with. Belzer's character inquires if the caller knows what the phrase "
boned up the ass" means. When Murray admits that he does not, Belzer pithily suggests that he has no idea what he is complaining about.
In another exchange,
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...
, playing a man with a clipped
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
RP accent, tells Ballantine that he has wrongfully accused a hired servant of stealing some personal property and asks if there some way he can contact him to apologize. The caller describes the wronged individual as "a
colored
''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow Era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur, though it has taken on a special meaning in Sout ...
man" to which Ballantine pointedly asks "What color is he?"
Several of these radio bits were released on
National Lampoon records in the mid and late 1970s, including ''
That's Not Funny, That's Sick
''That's Not Funny, That's Sick'' is an American album of sketch comedy that was first released as a vinyl record in 1977. It was a spin-off from ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The album is a collection of sketches, several of which were taken ...
'' and ''
The White Album
''The Beatles'', also referred to colloquially as the White Album, is the ninth studio album and only double album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. Featuring a plain white sleeve, the cover conta ...
''.
Male characters in radio
Fictional radio personalities
Comedy radio characters
National Lampoon (franchise)
Radio characters introduced in 1973
{{fict-char-stub