Martin Mull, beloved actor known for 'Fernwood 2 Night,' 'Roseanne' and 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch,' dies at 80

Martin Mull, whose funny, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms such as “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter announced Friday. He was 80.

Mull's daughter, television writer and comic strip artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at his home Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”

Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, rose to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and a starring role on its spin-off, “Fernwood 2 Night,” in which he played the host of a satirical talk show.

“He was known for excelling in every creative discipline imaginable and also for directing commercials for Red Roof Inn,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “He would find this joke funny. He was never funny. My dad will be greatly missed by his wife and daughter, his friends and colleagues, his fellow artists, comedians and musicians, and — a sign of a truly exceptional person — by many, many dogs.”

Melissa Joan Hart, who starred alongside Mull in the series “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” paid tribute to him on Instagram Friday, calling him “a wonderful man who I've become better at since I've known him.”

“I have very fond memories of working with him and was impressed by his immense body of work,” she wrote.

Caroline Rhea, also a “Sabrina” actress, described Mull as “brilliantly funny and kind” in her own social media post.

“Your impact on the world will never be forgotten,” Rhea wrote. “What a gift it was to know you, Martin. »

Known for his blond hair and trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago and raised in Ohio and Connecticut. He studied art in Rhode Island and Rome. He combined his music and comedy in the hip Hollywood clubs of the 1970s.

“In 1976, I was a guitarist and comedian 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 abusive husband in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Four months later, I had 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 was nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for his guest role on “Veep.”

“I'm very proud of what I did in Veep, 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 could go back to Fernwood. »

Other comedians and actors were often his biggest fans.

“Martin was the best,” “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig said in an X post. “So funny, so talented, so kind. I was lucky enough to perform with him on The Jackie Thomas Show and enjoyed every moment spent with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.”