Showbiz411

Richard Belzer (picture with dog below) celebrated his birthday on Thursday by having lunch with best pal Paul Shaffer at Michael’s. Shaffer drove in from upstate New York since “Late Night with David Letterman” only has a three day tape schedule during the summer.

“It could be How Munch Met Your Mother,” Belzer joked. And then, to make him feel really old, a diner came up and told Belzer he saw him open for Warren Zevon in 1979. “Thirty years ago,” Belzer sighed…

Also at Michael’s on Thursday: Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, with his book editor, Alice Mayhew...movie producer Meryl Poster…and media man Gerry Byrne...plus Peggy Siegal showing pictures of her summer aboard various yachts in Europe…

Eddie Izzard (pictured) celebrated his Emmy nominations last week at Oceana restaurant on West 49th St. “Believe: the Eddie Izzard Story”– directed by Sarah Townsend– tells the comic actor/performer’s life’s tale, and it’s a good one.

I think Eddie–who is a superstar in the UK and has a strong following in the US–could be a character on “The Office.” In real life, he’s a “straight transvestite”– he likes put on a dress occasionally. At lunch, put on by Epix, he wore a blue blazer, white shirt with cufflinks, and nice trousers, however…

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.