Martin Mull, comedic actor of Roseanne and Arrested Development fame, dead at 80

Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and performing made him a hip sensation within the Nineteen Seventies and later a beloved visitor star on sitcoms together with Roseanne and Arrested Improvement, has died, his daughter stated Friday. He was 80.

Mull’s daughter, TV author and comedian artist Maggie Mull, stated her father died at house on Thursday after “a valiant battle in opposition to a protracted sickness.”

Mull, who was additionally a guitarist and painter, got here to nationwide fame with a recurring position on the Norman Lear-created satirical cleaning soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and the starring position in its spinoff, Fernwood 2 Evening, on which he performed the host of a satirical discuss present.

“He was identified for excelling at each inventive self-discipline possible and in addition for doing Purple Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull stated in an Instagram submit.

“He would discover that joke humorous. He was by no means not humorous. My dad can be deeply missed by his spouse and daughter, by his mates and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and — the signal of a really distinctive particular person — by many, many canine.”

Identified for his blond hair and well-trimmed moustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut and studied artwork in Rhode Island and Rome. 

His first foray into present enterprise was as a songwriter, penning the 1970 semi-hit A Woman Named Johnny Money for singer Jane Morgan.

He would mix music and comedy in an act that he delivered to 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 instructed The Related Press in 1980. “He solid me because the spouse beater on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. 4 months later I used to be spun off alone present.”

His time on the Strip was memorialized within the 1973 nation rock traditional Lonesome L.A. Cowboy the place the Riders of the Purple Sage give him a shout-out together with music luminaries Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.

“I do know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull are hangin’ on the Troubadour,” the music says.

On Fernwood Tonight (generally styled as Fernwood 2 Evening), he performed Barth Gimble, the host of a neighborhood discuss present in a midwestern city and twin to his Mary Hartman character. Fred Willard, a frequent collaborator with very comparable comedian sensibilities, performed his sidekick. It was later revamped as America 2 Evening and set in Southern California.

He would get to be an actual discuss present host as an alternative choice to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Present.

Mull typically performed barely sleazy, considerably slimy and infrequently smarmy characters as he did as Teri Garr’s boss and Michael Keaton’s foe in 1983’s Mr. Mother. He performed Colonel Mustard within the 1985 film adaptation of the board recreation Clue, which, like many issues Mull appeared in, has develop into a cult traditional.

The Nineteen Eighties additionally introduced what many thought was his greatest work, A Historical past of White Folks in America, a mockumentary that first aired on Cinemax. Mull co-created the present and starred as a 60 Minutes type investigative reporter exploring all issues milquetoast and mundane. Willard was once more a co-star.

He wrote and starred in 1988’s Rented Lips alongside Robert Downey Jr., whose father, Robert Downey Sr., directed.

His co-star Jennifer Tilly stated in a submit on X Friday that Mull was “such a witty charismatic and sort particular person.”

Within the Nineteen Nineties he was greatest identified for his recurring position on a number of seasons on Roseanne, during which he performed a hotter, much less sleazy boss to the title character, an overtly homosexual man whose associate was performed by Willard, who died in 2020.

Mull would later play personal eye Gene Parmesan on Arrested Improvement, 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 suppose it is in all probability extra collective, at my age it is extra collective,” Mull instructed the AP after his nomination. “It’d go all the best way again to Fernwood.”

Different comedians and actors had been typically his largest followers.

“Martin was the best,” Bridesmaids director Paul Feig stated in a submit on X. “So humorous, so gifted, 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.”

Mull is survived by his daughter and musician Wendy Haas, his spouse since 1982.