Martin Mull, the comedic actor best known for his roles on Fernwood 2 Night and Roseanne, died on Thursday, June 27. He was 80. Mull had a long and active career and received both a Grammy nomination and a Primetime Emmy nod.
His daughter, TV writer and producer Maggie Mull (Family Guy) shared the news of his death on Instagram.
“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” she wrote. “He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and — the sign of a truly exceptional person — by many, many dogs.”
Mull was born in Chicago on Aug. 18, 1943. He moved with his family to North Ridgeville, Ohio when he was two. They lived there until he was 15, when his family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut.
Mull had his first taste of success as a songwriter. He wrote the novelty song “A Girl Named Johnny Cash,” an answer song to Shel Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue,” which was a 1969 crossover smash for Johnny Cash. Singer Jane Morgan recorded Mull’s song and took it to No. 61 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1970. She performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show, then nearing the end of its long run.
Mull had a minor hit on the Billboard Hot 100 as an artist in 1973, “Dueling Tubas,” a parody of “Dueling Banjos,” which was featured in the 1972 movie Deliverance. Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell’s instrumental smash “Dueling Banjos” logged four weeks at No. 2; “Dueling Tubas” reached No. 92.
Mull also released a series of comedy albums in the ’70s. His self-titled debut album, released on Capricorn in 1972, featured such well-known musicians as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Libby Titus, Levon Helm from The Band and Keith Spring from NRBQ.
Two of Mull’s comedy albums made the Billboard 200 — I’m Everyone I’ve Ever Loved (1977) and Sex & Violins (1978). The latter album received a Grammy nomination for best comedy recording, but lost to Steve Martin’s A Wild and Crazy Guy. Both of Mull’s Billboard 200 albums were released on ABC Records. He also bubbled under the chart with albums released on Capricorn and Elektra.
In the early-to-mid 1970s, before his career as an actor really took off, Mull was mostly known as a musical comedian, performing satirical and humorous songs. He often performed seated, in a comfortable living room set, which led to him referring to himself as a “sit-down comic.” He opened in concert for such top music stars as Randy Newman and Sandy Denny, Frank Zappa, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
He performed at top clubs such as the Roxy and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. New Riders of the Purple Sage gave him (and then-couple Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge and the country-rock band Joy of Cooking) a shout-out in the country ballad “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” which appeared on the band’s 1973 album The Adventures of Panama Red (which went gold): “Well, I know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull are meeting at the Troubadour/We’ll get it on with the Joy of Cooking while the crowd cries out for more.”
Mull’s life changed in 1976 when one of the most powerful producers in TV history caught his act. “In 1976, I was a guitar player and sit-down comic appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me,” Mull told the Associated Press in 1980. That led to Mull’s breakout acting role as Garth Gimble in Lear’s 1976 soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He also starred in the spin-off talk show parodies Fernwood 2 Night (1977) and America 2 Night (1978). On the latter two shows, he played talk show host Barth Gimble (Garth’s twin brother) opposite Fred Willard, who played sidekick and announcer Jerry Hubbard.
Mull appeared in 49 episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, 44 episodes of Fernwood 2 Night and 65 episodes of America 2-Night. In a case of life imitating art, Mull would get to be a real talk-show host when he filled in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Mull appeared in two more long-running TV series. He played Roseanne Barr’s gay boss (and later business partner), Leon Carp, on 46 episodes of her smash sitcom Roseanne (1991-97). His sexual orientation was treated matter-of-factly. That was groundbreaking on TV at the time, when gay characters rarely appeared at all. Mull was also a creative consultant on the fourth season of Roseanne and wrote the episode “Tolerate Thy Neighbor.” His partner on Roseanne was played by Willard (who died in 2020).
He played the nosy Principal Willard Kraft on 39 episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1997-2000).
Mull also appeared as a voice actor on numerous episodes of Family Dog, Teamo Supremo, Danny Phenom and American Dad!
Mull received a Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series in 2016 for playing Bob Bradley on HBO’s Veep. Given his long career in TV, the nomination was overdue and most likely given in recognition of a lifetime of solid work.
That was how Mull saw it, too. “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,” he told the AP after his nomination. “It might go all the way back to Fernwood.”
Mull made his film debut in FM, a 1978 film about an FM radio station. He played the libidinous DJ Eric Swan. The FM soundtrack album, featuring many of the top rock stars of the era, rose to No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Mull went on to play Teri Garr’s boss Ron Richardson in 1983’s Mr. Mom; Colonel Mustard in the 1985 comedy Clue; and Justin Gregory in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire, to cite three of his most successful films.
He also starred in commercials for Michelob and Pizza Hut, and in a series of television and radio spots for Red Roof Inn with his old pal and co-star Fred Willard. (Hence his daughter’s affectionate jibe above.)
Mull began painting in the 1970s. One of his paintings, titled After Dinner Drinks (2008), is owned by Steve Martin. Martin used it as the cover of Love Has Come for You, an album he recorded with Edie Brickell that received a Grammy nod for best Americana album.
Twice divorced, Mull was married to singer Wendy Haas. Mull died at his Los Angeles home following what his family described as “a valiant fight against a long illness.”
As word of his death spread over the weekend, many comedy greats paid tribute. “Martin was the greatest,” Bridesmaids director Paul Feig wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “So funny, so talented, such a nice guy.”
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