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Credit: ABCYesterday, comedic legend Martin Mull died at 80. Mull’s career started in the 1970s with the Norman Lear comedy Fernwood 2 Night and continued with 80s classics Mr Mom (1983) and Clue (1985).
I just heard about the passing of Martin Mull.
Like Albert Brooks, he was his own brand of humor who I just loved so much. In everything. Ever.
My condolences to you Maggie and your family.
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) June 29, 2024
But recently, Martin Mull has become known as “that guy” who has appeared as a guest on dozens of classic television shows, including Arrested Development, Veep, Community, Two and a Half Men, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Simpsons, and Family Guy.
His daughter, comic artist Maggie Mull, announced his death, saying on social media:
I am heartbroken to share that my father passed away at home on June 27th, after a valiant fight against a long illness. He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials.
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. I loved him tremendously.
Besides cementing his career as an outstanding guest actor, Martin Mull has a place in television history as the star of the first comedy episode to feature same-sex weddings on network television.
The episode took place on the comedy series Roseanne during its first run in the 1990s. Martin Mull had a guest role as Roseanne’s gay boss, Leon. The episode, December Bride, aired on December 12, 1995, making it the first to show a same-sex marriage in the history of broadcast television, barely beating out Friends.
Fred Willard played Leon’s husband. Willard and Mull collaborated on Fernwood 2 Night and the HBO mockumentary The History of White People.
Fred Willard returned for the Roseanne episode, and the pair got married.
Despite showing the marriage, the camera panned away from Fred Willard and Martin Mull before they could kiss on-screen.
It seems unusual that Roseanne would be the first series to feature an actor in a same-sex relationship, given the star’s rightward shift in recent years.
So, whether he was playing Colonel Mustard, Private Eye Gene Parmesan, or a voice-over for Red Roof Inn commercials, Martin Mull will always be known as breaking new ground for a large portion of the American population.
What will you remember most about Martin Mull?