Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and appearing made him a hip sensation within the Nineteen Seventies and later a beloved visitor star on sitcoms together with “Roseanne” and “Arrested Growth,” has died, his daughter mentioned Friday. He was 80.
Mull’s Daughter, TV author and comedian artist Maggie Mull, mentioned her father died at dwelling on Thursday after “a valiant struggle towards an extended sickness.”
Mull, who was additionally a guitarist and painter, got here to nationwide fame with a recurring function on the Norman Lear-created satirical cleaning soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and the starring function in its spinoff, “Fernwood 2 Night time,” on which he performed the host of a satirical speak present.
Mat Hayward/Getty Photos for Netflix
“He was identified for excelling at each artistic self-discipline possible and likewise for doing Crimson Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull mentioned in an Instagram submit. “He would discover that joke humorous. He was by no means not humorous. My dad might be deeply missed by his spouse and daughter, by his associates and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and —the signal of a really distinctive particular person— by many, many canine.”
Melissa Joan Hart, who acted alongside Mull within the sequence “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” paid tribute to him on Instagram on Friday, calling him “an exquisite man who I’m higher for understanding.”
“I’ve such fond reminiscences of working with him and being in awe of his large physique of labor,” she wrote.
Fellow “Sabrina” actress Caroline Rhea described Mull as “brilliantly humorous and type” in her personal social media submit.
“Your impression on the world won’t ever be forgotten,” Rhea wrote. “What a present it was to know you Martin.”
Recognized for his blonde hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut. He studied artwork in Rhode Island and Rome. He mixed his music and comedy in hip Hollywood golf equipment within the Nineteen Seventies.
“In 1976 I used to be a guitar participant and sit-down comedian showing on the Roxy on the Sundown Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me,” Mull advised The Related Press in 1980. “He forged me because the spouse beater on ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.’ 4 months later I used to be spun off by myself present.”
Within the Nineteen Eighties he appeared in movies together with “Mr. Mother” and “Clue,” and within the Nineties had a recurring function on “Roseanne.”
He would later play personal eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Growth,” and could be nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for a visitor activate “Veep.”
“What I did on ‘Veep’ I am very happy with, however I would prefer to assume it is in all probability extra collective, at my age it is extra collective,” Mull advised the AP after his nomination. “It’d go all the best way again to ‘Fernwood.'”
Different comedians and actors have been usually his largest followers.
“Martin was the best,” “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig mentioned in an X submit. “So humorous, so proficient, such a pleasant man. Was fortunate sufficient to behave with him on The Jackie Thomas Present and treasured each second being with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.”