Martin Mull, whose witty, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip-hop sensation in the 1970s and a beloved guest star on sitcoms like “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday. He was 80.
Mull’s Daughter, TV writer and cartoonist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after “a brave battle with a long illness”.
Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, gained national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and the lead role in its spinoff, “Fernwood 2 Night,” in which he played the host of a satirical talk show.
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“He was known for excelling in every creative discipline imaginable, including his role in Red Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “He thought that joke was funny. He was always funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and colleagues, by fellow artists, comedians and musicians, and — the sign of a truly exceptional person — by so many dogs.”
Melissa Joan Hart, who co-starred with Mull on the series “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” paid tribute to him on Instagram on Friday, calling him “an amazing man who I know even better.”
“I have such fond memories of working with him and I am in awe of his vast body of work,” she wrote.
Fellow “Sabrina” actress Caroline Rhea described Mull in her own social media post as “brilliantly funny and kind.”
“Your impact on the world will never be forgotten,” Rhea wrote. “What a gift it was to get to know you, Martin.”
Known for his blond hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut. He studied art in Rhode Island and Rome. He combined his music and comedy in hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s.
“In 1976, I was a guitarist and a sit-down comic, appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip, when Norman Lear came in and heard me,” Mull told The Associated Press in 1980. “He cast me as the wife beater in ‘Mary.’ Hartman, Maria Hartman.’ Four months later, I was spun off from my own show.”
In the 1980s he appeared in films such as “Mr. Mom” and “Clue” and in the 1990s he had a recurring role on “Roseanne”.
He would later play private investigator Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development” and be nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for a guest role on “Veep.”
“What I did on ‘Veep’ I’m very proud of, but I’d like to think it’s probably more collective, at my age it’s more collective,” Mull told the AP after his nomination. “It would can go all the way back to ‘Fernwood.'”
Other comedians and actors were often his biggest fans.
“Martin was the best,” said “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig an X post. “So funny, so talented, such a nice guy. Was lucky enough to perform with him on The Jackie Thomas Show and cherished every moment of being with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.”
