Who Is Martin Mull? (2026) Movie Script

[birds chirping]
[Martin] More often than not, I guess
documentaries are done about people
who've done something extremely well.
[gentle music builds slowly]
But in my case, I think it's like
that I did a number of different things
[overlapping chatter]
[man 1] Martin! Martin! Martin!
[man 2] Martin Mull!
-[door shuts]
-[footsteps approaching]
[Martin] and got at least
passing grades in all of them.
I don't have a one-man show
at the Museum of Modern Art.
I don't have an Oscar.
[crowd cheering]
I don't have a Grammy.
I don't have a million-selling album,
et cetera, et cetera.
[chuckling] And I realize
that's a problem in a documentary.
I I don't know what it's about.
It's not necessarily about a painter
or about an actor or about a musician.
It's about a man and his ego, I guess.
Why do it?
Well, it's a chance to answer a question
that has been haunting me
for nearly 75 years.
Who is Martin Mull?
And who gives a shit?
[Martin laughs]
[host 1] Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Martin Mull.
-[announcer] Martin Mull!
-[host 2] Mr. Martin Mull!
[announcer 2] Major musical talent,
Martin Mull!
Thank you. Thank you.
Please. Please, sit down.
["Life Is Better Than Death"
by Martin Mull playing]
I live where success
and stupidity shake hands.
[telephone ringing]
Hello?
My next guest is a musician
as well as an actor and a fine comedian.
He is bizarre, eccentric,
a little off-the-wall.
I'm here for shameless self-promotion.
Look, I want a straight answer.
Are you trying to make me look stupid
in front of the other guests?
-You don't need any help from me, sir.
-That's right!
Think about it. I detest Barbra Streisand,
and for God's sake, I'm a Republican!
But do you like having sex with men?
-Well, it's--
-Gay!
-[babbles]
-[baby cries]
Life is better than death
You might want to start calling me
Uncle Willard!
Gene Parmesan.
Gene Parmesan.
Gene Parmesan, how you doin'?
Life can only be life
[Selina] What do you think?
Are we gonna win?
Madam President, I've got big balls,
but neither one of them are crystal.
Oh, darn it.
Life is better than death
Russell, you been hitting
the free samples again?
What are you, a cop?
[studio audience laughs]
Don't hold your breath
Let me in! Let me in!
I've got the answer! Come on!
I've got a madman in my studio and
[shouts] Help me!
-[host] You are a painter, a good painter.
-Thank you. That's my main thrust.
Show business was a means toward an end.
Every painter I know
has to have a day gig.
[sighs softly]
They do that to support painting.
I still need show business,
but it's all just an excuse to paint.
[song ends]
Terrific!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[cheers and applause fade out]
[director] All right. Set, and
Apple baker.
[woman] Scene marker.
[Martin] The makeup lady go too far?
[laughing]
[indistinct chattering and chuckling]
-[Bob] Let me put this here where it goes.
-[Martin] I'll put it where it was.
[Bob] Okay, so
With that being said,
no laughing, no moving. [laughs]
[laughs]
Um I don't know
where to begin because, to me,
you truly are a jack-of-all-trades.
Jerk-of-all-trades.
[Bob laughs]
Well, I will say that you're
one of the first comedians I ever saw.
I was 17, and you were at
the Main Point in Philadelphia.
-[orchestral music rises]
-[Martin] Hello!
My name is Martin Mull.
-Thank you.
-[music fades slowly]
Thank you very much.
It was one of the best shows
I'd ever seen.
-And you inspired me.
-Well, thank you.
I have a bossa nova song
I'd really like to do for you very much.
I don't know, it's got some language in it
that maybe isn't for everybody.
-I'm gonna sing it anyway, okay?
-[crowd laughs]
But if I come to a word or a phrase
that might not be everybody's cup of tea
I'm worried about that what I'm gonna do,
and this is a bit of a brainstorm
I'm going to hum those words, okay?
I had been writing comedy songs,
but your comedy songs,
to me, were so incredible.
Last night I took you home
[breezy music playing]
And we began to hmm, hmm-hmm
You were such a hmm, hmm, hmm
Hmm, hmm, hmm, only 17
[light laughter]
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm
Rubber shirts
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, leather skirts
Hmm, hmm
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm
And a quart of Valvoline!
[audience laughs]
[Bob] I couldn't believe
what I was seeing.
I could never be that funny.
Hmm, hmm, hospital
For life
[Bob] It was the same reaction I had when
I was in film school and I saw Annie Hall.
"Oh, shit, I'm never gonna
be able to make a good movie."
Then from the chandelier
The three of us, hmm, hmm
When I got out of high school,
for a while I'd just hitchhike
to wherever Martin Mull was playing.
I'd memorized everything that he'd done.
The show was astonishing.
People now may not know
he was a big deal in the '70s.
It was a very specific kind of comedy
that Martin just shot to the top of.
Oh, this is so close to a thrill,
being here.
Martin's act was completely different
from any other comedian.
He's as unique a person as I've ever seen.
Hmm, hmm, hmm
Whips and chains
You're talking about someone
who was a world-class comedian,
and that's not what he did best.
My father's wife
-[music ends]
-[laughter and applause]
-Thank you.
-[cheers and whistling]
[Martin] I never thought
I'd be in show business at all.
I'd always felt like I was a painter,
and that I had a great day job.
But it's a two-headed monster,
because for many, many years,
the fact that I was a painter,
people would say, "Oh, really?"
And I used to cringe.
It was like, "Please, no.
Call me a shitty actor, but don't"
"Please, this means something to me."
You know? "This is
This is who I really am."
And it's been a battle trying to get
that painter identity away from, like,
my being connected to show business.
[Bob] Right.
Um
I wanna go back, just before
you were born, maybe nine months.
Uh at your inception.
Do you remember that?
When I was just a bottle of wine
under my father's arm?
-Exactly. [laughs]
-[chuckles] Um
You know,
I was an accident of sperm and egg.
I mean, that's basically what it is.
-I had that for breakfast.
-[light chuckling]
[upbeat music playing]
[Martin] All you need to know is,
we lived in this little town
called North Ridgeville, Ohio,
where I've always maintained
that the zip code should be EIEIO.
[mooing]
It was pretty remote.
It was my father, my mother, and I.
And then I have a brother,
two years my junior,
and a sister, ten years my junior.
It's rural with a capital R. You know?
You can't get much farther away from
civilization, humanity.
It was right out of Leave it to Beaver,
right out of what you would expect.
[David] In our family,
Marty was the favorite
because he was the first,
and as it turned out, he was special.
[Martin] I started drawing
when I was quite young
and, uh, just never stopped.
When I was in high school,
I was doing these stupid cartoons
and I sent some in to a card company,
and they bought 'em.
And I thought,
"Wow, I could maybe do this."
[chuckles]
No, making art was definitely something
that was not part of the community
that I was in.
But my mother was very artistic,
and she would always play piano.
[light piano tune playing]
[David] My mother raised us,
and she was a big influence.
And, uh, my dad
My dad was just kind of a shadow
that was over there on the couch
reading the newspaper.
He was never involved in our lives.
[Bob] I have a sensitive question
to ask you.
Are you ever sad that you didn't have
a deeper relationship with your dad?
No.
There were some issues I don't want
to really get into that weren't the best.
We didn't
We didn't have the best relationship.
By By any means.
-Wanna leave it at that?
-Leave it at that.
I'm not gonna go into
any long story about that.
[producer] It's not a good story?
No, it isn't.
But I knew that there was some other life
other than the one I was living.
That I would not spend the rest of my life
behind a John Deere tractor.
[drumbeat playing]
I don't think I would've been
a happy camper
staying at home
and taking the easiest street.
I knew there was
other stuff out there to be done
and I wanted to give it at least a try.
But I tend to think that almost
[drumbeat halts]
all of my life, in many, many ways,
up until I went to art school
was a dress rehearsal.
[up-tempo jazz music playing]
When I got to RISD, got out of the car
It literally was when Dorothy
walks into Oz, and it's in color.
Art school opened up things that had
never been opened up to me before.
So inspirational.
When I came across Matisse's drawings,
and other people like Edward Hopper,
I just got hit right between the eyes
with his imagery too.
I think that there was
a complete cellular rebirth.
My brain got bent, and it stayed bent.
[jazzy drum flourish]
[drum solo halts]
[Martin] Art school made me what I am.
Or destroyed what I was.
[quick jazz piece resumes]
[Fred Brink] I think
everybody at RISD knew him.
Every class there's one person who excels,
and you see it instantly.
"That That one's got it."
And he got it.
He was an artist from day one.
Came right out of him.
[jazz music ends]
[David] The one thing that mattered to him
the most is painting.
Marty didn't do anything musical at all
until he went off to college.
[blues guitar riff playing]
He said, "Can I take your guitar?"
And I said, "Why?"
He said, "I think
it's a really good way to pick up chicks."
And I guess he really wanted these chicks
'cause he really worked hard
at learning the guitar.
When he came back home
after just the first six months,
he actually could play some tunes.
[upbeat music playing]
I was in a, I guess you'd call it a
When I say a leather shop,
I mean a place where you fix shoes.
[chuckles] Okay?
[light laughter]
And this fellow next to me at the counter
was getting a pair
of cowboy boots resoled.
And his name was Marty Mull.
Marty. There was no Martin Mull.
And we started chatting. We just bonded.
We spent a lot of time together.
One time Marty came over
with a circle of friends,
and he started playing guitar.
And everybody was around
fussing and buzzing and listening to him
play these crazy songs.
And Marty knew that I am a pianist.
Somehow or another
he got me involved in a group.
And we called the group Soop.
Well, do you wanna be
An auto mechanic
Well, you can fix your car
[song fades slowly]
We'd go up to Brown University
as the hired band,
and we'd play for a drunken fraternity,
and you'd stand in front of
this tower of amplifiers,
and all you'd hear is yourself.
And all you got out of the evening
was maybe $35
and just award-winning tinnitus.
-[feedback whines]
-[crowd cheering]
[Bob] And how did you become a comedian?
I was a shitty singer.
[laughing]
[energetic rock tune plays]
[Ed Wise] I was there for
the birth of the Martin Mull we all know.
It happened at a coffee house.
We were doing our songs.
Something happened to the stage equipment.
And Martin started talking.
[scattered laughter]
[Martin] There's somebody up there
singing "We Shall Overcome."
What a thing to sing about. My God.
[crowd laughing]
To me, that's between you, your spouse,
and your doctor. Do you know what I mean?
And just slayed 'em.
[Martin] If they undercame,
they wouldn't be singing.
-[crowd laughs]
-[Martin] Isn't that true?
[Martin] Once I got my master's degree,
I knew there was no doctorate in painting.
So, I would have to face the world now.
I could not any longer hide in academia.
I had no money.
Poor as a church mouse.
And I thought, "What can I do
to keep myself in beer and cigarettes?"
I thought, "Well, the only place
I'm making anything at all is music,
so I'll do that."
[bluesy guitar music playing]
[Ed] Painting was not paying the bills.
And he decided that he was gonna
take his songs and become a musician.
He was writing songs,
but not terrifically successful.
If this thing isn't chart-bound, I quit.
I've thought about this a little bit
in terms of what's
You know, like,
certain people get discovered.
You know, all of a sudden, "Oh, my God."
-Right.
-That didn't happen.
[notes sound in ascending progression]
I would audition for the people at
the record company, and they hated it.
[multiple instruments playing melody]
They said to my manager, "Why did you
drag us to hear these assholes?"
Like it?
[scoffing chuckle]
[Martin] The real turning point was
when I all of a sudden wrote a song called
"A Girl Named Johnny Cash,"
which was an answer song
to "A Boy Named Sue."
Warner Bros. Music ended up
placing it with Jane Morgan,
and she ended up singing it
on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was huge.
I wanted out in Tennessee in 1944
When the doctor hollered, "It's a girl!"
My father hit the floor
Then he hit the bottle
And he signed his name
And he drove off into Nash
And when that sun came up again
He'd named me Johnny Cash
[Martin] And out of that,
Warner Bros. Music
gave me a contract to write songs.
Covered my rent, and that was just gold.
You know, "My God,
I'm actually a professional."
My name is Sue
Great, I'm Johnny Cash
[laughing]
[Martin] I kept writing songs
and writing songs.
So when I did have a chance
to go out on my own,
I've got what started to become an act.
[dramatic piano plays]
[announcer] Tonight, Martin Mull and
his fabulous furniture!
[audience cheering and clapping]
What was the Furniture Tour,
for people that need to know?
Well, when I was in art school,
playing college mixers
[upbeat guitar playing]
afterward, I'd go back to my house
with one of the other players
and we'd smoke a joint or have a beer
or whatever and start playing,
and that felt like music all of a sudden.
The other was just cacophony.
"But this is music.
What's the difference here?"
"I know what it is.
We're sitting in furniture."
"There's couches,
there's tables, there's chairs."
So when I started doing
my own little live act,
I decided to take my furniture with me.
Then the band took on the name
The Fabulous Furniture.
One, two, three, four!
[rock n' roll music playing]
[Martin] I've got the costumes,
I've got the sound equipment,
I've got the furniture.
I started to become
the person that I was going to be.
There's a new dance
And it's in this town
It's the hottest thing around
It ain't hard
No, there's nothing to it
So, come on
Everybody, won't you do it?
-Do the Nothing
-[music stops]
Ah, it's so nice to see everyone.
This is one of our favorite songs.
This just gives us a chance to
-[laughter]
-just
[scattered clapping]
No, no, no clapping.
Nothing. Nothing, nothing.
[Patton Oswalt] It's just
so awkward and cringey.
How long can we make this last?
I want people to squirm,
and that's where the humor is coming from.
Martin's character was like,
"I'm handsome, I drink scotch,
I have a little bit
of a 'fuck you' attitude."
He was cool.
I'm sorry, I'm a Gen-Xer.
A cocktail and a cigarette is very cool.
Doin' nothing
Here we go now
I am playing a guy
that you and I are laughing at.
I'm with you.
I think he's an asshole too,
and I'm gonna be him for you.
You're probably wondering,
"How can a guy smoke
and still sing that good?"
[audience laughing]
Well, I look at it this way.
[audience laughter rises]
Works for me.
So, I was being purposefully an asshole,
and that worked.
Pizza's here.
[exaggerated chuckle]
Martin Mull is one of the people
in my life who I've really idolized.
In high school, he comes to Phoenix
to do a show at ASU.
It was a phenomenal show.
I'd like to do a tune right now
that really cooks.
[audience chuckles]
[Ted] Watching somebody sit
in a big auditorium full of people,
on a living room chair
with a rug and the band
You're almost like
you got to crash his house.
You have to remember
late '60s, '70s, it was all "rock god."
Long hair, platform shoes, leather pants.
Martin went the other way.
[Steve Martin] It was low-key.
When you come out, and you sit on a sofa
and light a lamp in low light,
you're already at a low-- slower speed.
[laughing]
I would like to become
dead serious right now
for just about a minute if I can.
He was kind of like a substitute teacher,
or a strange friend of your parents.
Like a vacuum salesman on your porch.
And the songs, while being funny
This guy could play.
You could tell this guy could play.
-[rock tune playing]
-[Martin shouts] Oh!
It just had a combination of
comedy and music to me
that was irresistible.
[rock n' roll music continues]
-Do the Nothing
-[music halts]
[audience laughs]
[man 1] More!
-Oh, boy
-[man 2] Marty!
[man 3] Whoo!
-[light laughter]
-[scattered clapping]
[laughter swells]
[notes resonate over amp]
I was just remembering this song that
The kind of thing
you can't get away with anymore. Um
It was, uh, "I remember the way
that we walked down the beach
with the wind and the rain in your hair."
"I'll never forget you as long as I live."
"I'll never forget"
Big Tits Jackson
-[soft notes fade]
-[chuckling lightly]
That was the kind of thing I liked to do,
where you'd set the audience up
and then just throw a pie
right in their face, et cetera, but, uh
Let me think.
[Martin and Bob chuckling]
Oh, dear.
-[Steve] Hey, Martin?
-[man] Steve interview, take one.
Wanna ask if it's okay to call him Marty.
[Bob] Martin to Marty.
Marty or Martin? I always call him Marty,
but I think maybe he doesn't go by that.
-[Bob] First, thanks for doing this.
-My pleasure.
Long-time friend.
Not you.
-Martin. Yeah.
-[dry chuckle]
[bustling city din]
[Steve] When I first met him,
I was working a place called
the Great Southeast Music Hall
in Atlanta, Georgia.
Martin Mull was a headliner.
I became a headliner much later on.
So I'm backstage, and he walked by.
When we first met, I remember
being extremely intimidated by you.
I couldn't think of a thing to say to you,
and I just walked by.
-Yeah.
-And you said, "Pretty good, how are you?"
[both laugh lightly]
-That's when we became friends.
-We became instant friends.
When we worked together,
we called it The Steve Martin-Mull Show.
[jaunty banjo music playing]
When we'd finish our show,
we used to go out into the parking lot
-That's right.
-and play for tips.
-We'd put our hat down on the ground
-Yeah.
and we made, like, four or five bucks
or something like that.
[jaunty string duet playing]
[Steve] We also stayed at the same hotel.
We had all the days free
to just hang out and be funny together.
[notes resonate and fade]
[Martin] Even after the tour was over,
you and I kept on being great friends,
and that's when you got a little painting
of mine, I think, called The Mermaphones.
-It was phones with mermaids.
-I was Yes.
-I just looked at it yesterday.
-Oh, my God.
-You still have it.
-Yeah.
You've gotten some of the best paintings
I've ever done.
[bright poignant music playing]
[Bob] When did you discover
Martin the painter?
All along. From when I first met Martin.
He painted on cels.
A Disney cel, but they would be big.
When I first saw what he did,
it kind of set me back,
'cause they were surprisingly well done,
and they were always, in some way, funny.
These are The Eagles versus the Browns.
This is a field goal attempt.
I had a chair that I really liked
that I anthropomorphized.
[Bob chuckles]
[Martin] I used this little chair
in so many paintings.
I really did love Disney animation,
and I thought, "I'm gonna
start painting some things
that look like they were
taken from old movies."
But I never really had what I would call
a significant show of paintings.
I certainly wasn't making money,
money to live on.
No, I still needed show business
very desperately in order to pay the rent.
-[drumroll playing]
-[audience cheering]
Well, here's the man
who Martin Mull thinks
is going to be the next
big superstar in country music.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Martin Mull.
[twangy slide guitar tune playing]
Thank you. Thank you.
[Ed] He was rising, rising, rising.
-Please welcome Mr. Martin Mull.
-[applause]
[Ed] He started to get publicity.
[woman] How do you describe your music?
Sort of blond-haired soul.
[audience laughs]
-The band likes that.
-Yeah.
[Ed] And then he got a record contract.
[Kerri] Martin had eight comedy albums,
and comedy albums were king in the '70s.
[crowd cheering]
[Kevin] Martin Mull was becoming
a superstar in comedy.
He toured the country, he opened
for the biggest rock acts on the planet.
[Ed] Beach Boys,
Liza Minnelli, Billy Joel
We opened for Springsteen.
There was no competition.
Big stars knew he was harmless.
He'd come on tour with us
in the early days, when we toured America.
And that was much fun
because when he came around,
it was always a huge party.
[Martin] We were never far
from a beer or a glass of wine or a joint.
You know, I wasn't shooting heroin
and things like that,
but it was sex, drugs
and rock n' roll in the early '70s.
Do the math, you know?
[upbeat twangy guitar tune continues]
He was a huge star, hugely successful.
Martin Mull was
the absolute top of comedy.
[Martin] Hello, seoritas.
-[music ends]
-[crowd fades out]
[Martin] At a certain point,
my band needed a keyboard player,
and my manager said, "Do you have
anything against women in the band?"
And I said, "No."
It's a meritocracy.
If you can play you know, you're in.
[Wendy Haas] I heard from his manager,
and he said, "Martin's looking
for some female musicians."
[director] Very progressive, Martin Mull.
Yes, he was. Or [chuckling] horny.
I'm not I don't know which.
[sighs] I'd say progressive. That--
I'm sorry, Martin, that wasn't very kind.
[upbeat Latin rock instrumental plays]
I'm from the Bay Area.
I was a studio musician.
I played in a lot of funky old bands.
I did some stuff with Santana,
'cause I lived with the drummer.
I went on the road with Alice Cooper.
I was under contract with him
for about two and a half years,
and then I worked with Azteca,
which was 17 men and me.
There was a group called Freudian Slips.
They were the first female group I was in.
When I was with Freudian Slips,
we used to work with Janis Joplin.
We were in Life Magazine.
We thought we had made it.
We stunk. We were horrible.
So I decided to take my VW bus,
pack my B3 in the back,
and I drove down to LA.
That's when I met Martin.
-[music stops]
-He hired a drummer.
And myself as keyboard.
When I started rehearsing with him,
he was living in Malibu.
I did like him, but he was in
a relationship at the time when I met him.
So, we just became really good friends.
We went on the road together.
We did all the clubs.
Oh, he was he was ambitious.
He was definitely trying
to make a name for himself.
-[lounge music playing]
-[Martin] Thank you.
[Ed] Ever since Soop,
Martin and I did a lot of gigs together.
But the Roxy was really big.
-[applause]
-[music fades]
[Ed] And this was his idea.
He bought every ticket in the Roxy,
and he filled it with
movie people.
Everybody was there,
and we did our show for them.
-La la la la la
-[gentle instrumental playing]
[laughter and light cheering]
[gruffly] La la la la la
-[laughter]
-[light clapping]
When I first saw him perform at the Roxy,
I saw such an unusual talent.
What a lovely night it's been
English!
[crowd laughs]
It's too bad it has to end
[Norman Lear] He's wickedly smart.
Won't you give me a little kiss?
But there was never anger
or hostility in his sarcasm.
It's so hard to say au revoir
So let's just say hors d'oeuvres
[crowd laughing]
[Mitch Hurwitz] As a showrunner,
I can say that Norman Lear, in many ways,
was the father of television comedy.
He dominated television
with all of his shows
that he created and produced.
-[funky upbeat tune playing]
-The Jeffersons. Good Times.
Most famously, All in the Family.
Like, he was kind of a celebrity.
He was on the cover of magazines.
So, for him to look at Martin Mull
and appreciate him
could very much be
a big boost to his career.
[Martin] After the show was over
[music ends]
I went in and met with Norman
[both laughing]
[Martin] Mwah! My dear friend.
-My dearer friend!
-[Martin chuckles]
I remember it very clearly.
I went in and had a meeting with you.
I had been on the road as a traveling
musician, and I wanted to get off,
and you and I talked for a good hour,
had a lovely chat, at the end of which
you said, "I have an idea."
[show jingle playing]
[announcer] Tonight from Fernwood!
Fernwood 2 Night!
[Bob] You made a small-town version
of public access television.
[Martin] Yep.
[Norman] I said, "Wouldn't it be funny
if a couple of men were
doing a late night talk show?"
Except it happens in Fernwood, Ohio.
[chuckles]
Our first guest is a man
familiar to everyone in Fernwood.
He was the former postmaster here
Please welcome Mr. Rock Mondo.
Let's get together and welcome
the body language of April McTear.
[announcer] Tonight,
Barth's guest will be Penny Dunbar,
Fernwood's answer to Romania.
[show jingle continues]
[Bob] That was an amazing show.
Thank you.
That was absolutely pivotal
in terms of my life.
And me, I'm Jerry Hubbard.
And now here's your host and mine,
Mr. Barth Gimble.
[Fred Willard] We wanted to make it sound
like a real talk show from Fernwood, Ohio.
So people thought they were
really watching a show,
and let the comedy come out realistically.
Didn't mean to interrupt.
Every time I sit down,
you have to stop your monologue.
And I feel so silly
'cause it kinda breaks the flow.
And you really had a nice,
uh nice roll going, as they say.
[audience laughs]
[Martin] I'd never met Fred Willard,
and it was just absolute kismet.
I mean, he's amazing.
Acting with him is like following someone
who refuses to use their turn signals.
-[Bob chuckles]
-You never know where Fred's going.
[bouncy piano tune playing]
-[Martin] We go back a bit.
-[Fred] Yes.
I'm trying to remember,
when we did Fernwood 2 Night
-[yells] You remember that?
-Was I on that?
-Yeah, you were.
-Oh-ho
Part of it was
to try to crack the other up a bit.
-'Cause we both played it very deadpan.
-Yes.
I remember once we had somebody there
that was a war hero from World War II.
World War II
You know, it's funny, back then, uh
it was legal to kill a German,
but boy, if you kill one now,
all hell breaks loose.
[audience laughing]
[laughing silently]
Jerry, there's no war now.
Guess not. Who wants to go to jail?
[audience laughs]
The very first episode,
it was absurd and treated seriously.
Many Fernwooders or Fernwoodians
have actually never seen
a real live Jew before, and, um
You look just like the rest of us.
It's as plain as the nose on your face.
It was mind-blowing.
This was adults acting silly.
But with a ringmaster in the middle
who was kind of put off by it
and able to comment on it
and set it up to make it more absurd.
-Hello, "Talk to a Jew." You're on air.
-[audience laughs]
It was really Fernwood 2 Night
made him the legend that he became
in the comedy circles.
What've you been discussing lately?
Gynecology.
-Oh, boy.
-[both laugh]
That is a fascinating area. [chuckles]
[Mitch] And Fred Willard was hilarious.
What area is that?
-Gynecology.
-[audience laughing]
One was a fool and one was suave,
but they were both idiots, you know?
Have they, uh, ever come up
with a cure for that?
[audience laughing]
Fernwood 2 Night was very ahead of
its time the idea of a fake talk show
I mean, that's what they did later
with The Colbert Report,
with Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Larry Sanders. Like, he predated
Larry Sanders by ten, 15 years.
[Patton] Even before there was
Spinal Tap, he basically created
the idea of a mockumentary
where the whole thing was fake and crazy.
I was, um, violated with a beam of light.
Could you actually call it a violation
if it was simply a beam of light?
Of course it was a violation,
if the light goes where he shined it.
[audience laughter fades]
[fading] Okay.
[light upbeat music playing]
[Kerri] The show
wasn't meant to be a teaching tool.
But it did, and it does.
If we can all laugh at that
"Wait. Why are we laughing?"
"Because you shouldn't behave that way."
Our next guest is an American Indian
from the Chenectaw tribe.
My gosh, you look very authentic.
So many of the, I guess,
the modern Indians, especially the girls,
they wear those saris
and a little red dot on their foreheads.
[Eric Idle] The point about comedy
is shedding light and truth
into areas where
people are scared to talk.
And sometimes the people
that you think you're going to offend
-are the ones that like it the most.
-Always.
Been a lot of talk all over the country
about the overabundance
of pornography that's been
in our communities.
-Isn't that something?
-Isn't it terrible? Or maybe it isn't.
We weren't getting away with anything.
We did what we did.
-Yeah.
-And everything we talked about
was something that could have
taken place on a street corner.
It helps and gives new hope
to our Deaf citizens in Fernwood.
-They'll be glad to hear that.
-Yes, yes.
[audience laughing]
I don't think any person would look at
any of those things, even today, and say,
"No, wait, that's inappropriate."
Debbie, would you stand up?
Here [grunts]
-Okay.
-Can you bend over, please?
-[coughing]
-[audience laughs]
It was brand new. He was just
taking it to a whole other level.
And as far as whether it offended people
I simply don't give a fuck.
Not the slightest.
[music ends]
[Fred] I thought, "We're just
doing the show and having fun."
[Martin] Yeah.
And I was in Chicago,
and my wife and I got into a cab,
and the guy turned around and says,
"You're Jerry Hubbard, aren't you?"
I said, "What?"
He said, "I recognize your voice."
That's when I came back
and went into the producer's office
and said, "This show is very popular."
They said, "Oh, no, we know it is."
[gentle show jingle playing]
I had my mother as a guest.
She came on and played a librarian.
Please welcome, from the Fernwood
Public Library, Miss Janice Graham.
[bright musical flourish]
I asked if she'd want to be on.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Oh! Oh!"
You don't need to whisper. [chuckles]
-I know, it must be a habit.
-Of course.
-[audience laughs]
-Now, I understand, um
I understand you've compiled
quite a list of Ohio natives
who've made their mark in the world, and
I'm kind of curious. I think we all are.
-Who are some of these famous people?
-Yes.
Warren G. Harding.
-I'll be darned.
-Say, you know, he was--
-Keefe Brasselle.
-Mm-hmm
-You know--
-Danny Thomas.
-Is Danny Thomas--
-Paul Lynde.
-That name doesn't--
-Johnny Appleseed.
Okay, well, this is fantastic. Uh
-Bob Hope.
-Mm-hmm.
Do you remember how you were
whispering before? That might
[fading] Could you possibly just, uh
My mother was just thrilled to have
your son grow up to be a television star.
This is the album she made for Martin.
All these articles about him.
[gentle piano music playing]
She was very proud of him,
very supportive.
[audience applauding]
[Martin] My father came to a show once.
And I remember that
it wasn't a terribly fun night.
It was always such a struggle for Martin
whenever his father was around.
There was such competition
with he and his father, in an odd way.
That's what I saw.
I think his father was envious of Martin.
[David] By not getting
any recognition from his father,
he got it from other people.
Thank you. Wow.
Maybe that's what drove him
to be an entertainer.
Thank you very, very much.
When Fernwood hit,
you were still performing.
-Yes.
-I'd assume that your audience exploded.
Once Fernwood 2 Night was on,
yeah, the concert audience grew.
I was playing some pretty big places.
I still have my furniture on stage,
my EasyChair, my ashtray.
I always, at that time,
had at least that many fingers of scotch.
Time for another break.
-[ice clinking]
-Ooh. Hear that?
-[shaking ice rattles]
-Sounds like a Latin band, doesn't it?
[light laughter]
I got real good at it.
I found that a quart of scotch could take
the edge off even the most troubling day.
-The road does that to a lot of people.
-Oh, yeah.
The road giveth and the road taketh away.
[crowd exclaiming]
[Ed] He could drink all day
and still go on stage.
How many of you have
ever stopped to think that man
is the only animal
that eats the ice in his drink?
[audience laughs]
[Ed] He loved his booze.
I mean, if you look at those,
he is hammered.
[Wendy] It was a persona.
And he played it well. He did it well.
It's how he coped.
There was a romantic quality
to the smoker-drinker artist.
And it just seemed like
it was part of the makeup.
Part of your costume.
I'm not going out there alone.
I'm gonna have my drink and my cigarette.
And so what happens is
the booze starts to take over.
[Ed] And around then, he became totally
enamored of this woman, Sandra Baker.
She was the costume designer on a show,
and she was fitting me for suits.
Well, it really works.
Yeah, I think so. They fit great.
[woman laughs]
They decided to get married.
And we knew this was a horrible match.
He had a bachelor's night, and he said,
"You know, what do you guys think?"
And nobody would speak out.
Nobody would say anything like,
"This isn't the best idea, Martin."
But because Martin,
when he falls in love, he falls in love.
[Ed] And it was miserable
in this marriage.
But Martin really was
doing well professionally.
He made a movie,
and Martin and the female star
became an item.
That's the only time
I think Martin stepped out on a marriage.
When Sandra found out about it,
she wanted a divorce.
After his marriage broke up
that was serious drinking.
[slow soulful keyboard playing]
And all during that time,
were you on a hiatus from painting,
or were you painting as well?
I was painting.
Never stopped.
Even when I was on Fernwood 2 Night,
I would take my watercolors with me.
And as much as I was
earning my living from the other
painting always seemed to me
to be job one.
And that was kind of
a tricky thing to balance,
because I think I was pretty much
what they call a functioning alcoholic.
It was just habitual.
In fact, I was still drinking scotch
when I did this painting here.
This is an airbrush painting of
our dog Lucky, who we miss terribly.
But this was all done spraying.
[light acoustic guitar playing]
You have distinct phases in your art.
True.
One is the painting on cels.
-Right.
-Then you have photorealism.
-[Martin] Right.
-[Steve] And I have a couple of those.
One of the reasons I was doing these
incredibly intricate photo-real things
was to prove I'm not drunk.
-Right.
-You can't do that and be drunk.
No, no, no.
Once I started doing
the airbrush paintings,
I would start to sell
just a little bit more,
but it certainly wasn't a huge moneymaker.
And yet I could do what I wanted to do
because I had this other golden goose
that was laying eggs for me.
Would you welcome Martin Mull.
-Martin Mull!
-[cheers and applause]
[band playing lively tune]
Do you consider yourself an entertainer
who paints or a painter who entertains?
Great question. Gee, that's terrific.
Well, um, I'll answer both of you. Uh
[audience laughs]
More of a painter
who does the entertainment industry.
[Johnny] I see.
[Bob] So many appearances you made
on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
And he was very proud of saying
he's a great actor, he's a great comedian,
um, and he's also a great artist.
What price range would we be discussing?
A really good friend getting a great deal,
at about five to $6,000 apiece.
[scattered laughter]
Suppose I don't want a background.
[laughs loudly]
Watching the Carson appearances,
he always asked Martin about his art,
and I think he's the only one
who always asked about it.
Carson really loved being a drummer,
and because he became Johnny Carson,
he didn't get to drum very much.
I think he understood what it's like
to have these two passions.
No sky and no background, and one coat.
Well, I got [stifles laughter]
[Martin] Johnny Carson
was just so supportive,
and I ultimately
was actually asked to guest host,
which is a terrifying moment.
[theme music playing]
Nothing was worse than when
you're standing backstage
at The Tonight Show and you hear,
-And now, here's
-"And now, here's"
There's one word that follows.
-Johnny!
-Johnny!
["Tonight Show" theme playing]
And when you hear, "Here's"
-Here's Martin Mull! [echoing]
-[silence]
It sounds so wrong.
[theme music continues]
You think there's been
this big fuck-up in the cosmos.
Everything is wrong.
I want my mom just in case
I literally or figuratively shit my pants.
-[cheers and applause]
-Thank you, thank you!
But I went out there, stood
on that friggin' star, and did my job.
I got through it.
The people here at NBC
have decided to bestow upon me
one of the highest honors
I think our industry has to offer.
The right to host The Tonight Show
for $300.
[laughter]
[announcer] Johnny's guest host tonight
is Martin Mull.
To host The Tonight Show
and all the different personalities
and different people coming at you,
and then you have to have a response.
He was a nervous wreck.
That's why he drank, probably.
Do you do anything you don't want to do?
I don't exercise. I don't believe in it.
I've tried jogging,
and the ice flies out of your drink,
and it's ridiculous.
[audience laughing]
The Tonight Show was
the launch pad for comedians.
Period. That was it.
[applause]
Thank you!
I remember him being a guest, but I never
-He guest hosted The Tonight Show?
-[producer] Yeah.
Over 30 times.
But wait a minute.
Because his whole thing was
making fun of the talk show format.
How did that go?
A new fad was developing in this country.
It's called a wet T-shirt contest.
It's in no way intended
to sponsor prurient interest or to
I was gonna say "titillate the audience."
I don't think that's the
-One, two
-[audience] One, two, three!
All right.
Would you choose a wet T-shirt, please?
-Here we go.
-Okay.
There's one. Now we're gonna wring
that one out in here, see how wet it is.
Okay!
Do you have him
when he plays with B.B. King?
Oh, my God.
I'm sitting with B.B. King, I'm absolutely
as nervous as a small young bird
because this is
one of the giants in my life.
One other question.
Can we play a tune together?
-I'd like to do that.
-Okay, let's do it.
[audience cheers and claps]
I think it's the ballsiest move ever,
to play on television with B.B. King.
[smooth blues rhythm playing]
You always feel like
this little snot-nosed kid
next to these people that
really know what they're doing.
You had to be on top of your game.
[Penn] You cannot do higher
than hosting The Tonight Show.
But Martin Mull
He was a hugely successful comedy star
and wanted to be a painter.
So he was just in the wrong place
in kind of a beautiful way.
[both riffing outros]
[cheering and applause fade out]
[Martin] I think The Tonight Show
was a very big deal.
You reach an awful lot of people
with a show like that.
And so that just started a snowball effect
that was quite amazing.
-All of a sudden, work starts pouring in.
-Yeah.
Oh, Lord, Mommy.
[lively up-tempo music playing]
Let me tell you what we have so far.
We have a script.
You can count me in.
But not a particularly good one.
You will like this film.
It just doesn't have any, um guts.
-You were in many films and TV shows.
-Yeah.
Oh, come on. Nobody takes it seriously.
It's just good, clean fun.
-Many.
-He's dead.
He is?
Yes. I have a resume.
And the service was
adequate.
You played an asshole a lot.
What?
[Bob] Why do you think that is?
That came really out of my stage act,
that that persona was a bit of a butthole.
So when roles like that came along,
they go, "I know the guy."
[shrill gasp]
But it never says "asshole"
on the check. [chuckles]
That is how I made all my money.
-That does not make me a murderer!
-[doors creak]
[Martin] But Clue, for instance,
came and went in a breath,
and then later on has experienced
some kind of resurgence,
that people like that movie now.
How did you know Col. Mustard works
in Washington? Is he one of your clients?
Certainly not.
He always did his homework to make
this movie, talking a mile a minute,
and figuring things out,
setting a joke up to do that gag.
All that stuff. He knew what he was doing,
and he's very funny in the film.
[DAG] He was that dude,
when he would pop up
Well, hello down there.
it was always a pleasant surprise.
Want a beer?
It's seven o'clock in the morning.
He always makes it better.
[Paul] I worked with him on Ski Patrol.
I'm stuck on a goddamn runaway weenie!
Hey!
I would talk to him, and he'd say to me,
"I only do this to so that I can paint."
I was like, "Wait, what?"
[lively music fades slowly]
[Martin] In my heart,
there was a great divide
between that which I did
to put a roof over our heads,
i.e. television and movies,
and my painting.
One is one hat,
and the other is the other hat.
They're all separate lives, in a way,
each one with its own identity.
And I felt schizophrenic.
Oh, yeah, make no doubt about it,
I am schizophrenic, but it's, um
I think it's the only way to be, and
We're very happy men, aren't I?
Well, I know I am.
[audience laughs]
It was a means toward an end,
the end being that
I can continue to be this hippie
that paints pictures all the time.
So I was certainly not gonna
turn my back on that,
and it just kept growing
and growing and growing.
And why look a gift horse in the mouth?
I kept doing it.
Please meet Martin Mull.
[audience applauding]
-Hey, hey there. Hiya, Marty, old buddy.
-Dicky.
-Hey, Tom.
-[glasses clink]
-How you doing?
-I'm good, thanks for the toast earlier.
-That's wonderful.
-Was it? Okay.
-You think You're all right?
-I was I was nerv [sniffs]
I was nervous about playing piano.
-No, it's all right.
-But Tommy said have this.
-I'll play piano all right.
-You're our guest.
[Ed] Despite the fact that
he was doing TV and Carson,
Martin was really suffering.
And he cratered.
[audience applauding]
Oh, there's a bunch of 'em. [chuckles]
[Ed] And Wendy was in
a difficult situation with another guy.
No use denying
I'm there where the juice is
Alcohol abuse is okay by me
[Ed] It was pretty bad.
They were broken psychologically.
Yeah. Yeah.
[Wendy] At that time, I was in a terribly
unhealthy relationship with this guy.
Terribly unhealthy.
And Martin's brokenness,
he never expressed it much to me.
So what are you finding out about Martin?
[producer]
That's why we're talking to you!
-[Wendy laughs] Well, at that point
-[Martin] We were not an item.
-We were not an item.
-You were a hired gun.
-Yes.
-And we became very good friends.
Yeah, and then it took a while.
We had a few relationships to go through.
Yeah, she was with someone,
and I was with someone,
and then both of those fell apart.
And we'd call each other
just 'cause we were friends.
We were good friends.
And I said, "What are you doing tonight?"
And she said You had been set up
on a blind date to go to the Magic Castle.
[Wendy] That's right.
[Martin] And she didn't sound
terribly excited about it.
I said, "It's Monday Night Football."
"For God's sake, you gotta come over
and watch Monday Night Football with me."
And you said something to the effect of,
"Well, it's not gonna be that good
because Drew Pearson is hurt."
[commentator] Touchdown!
Blew my fucking mind.
[sharp laugh]
Here's somebody who's
absolutely beautiful, smart as a whip,
talented as can be, fun to be around,
and knows football! So
-That was it.
-That was it.
-Yeah.
[Martin] 1980.
[bright tranquil music playing]
[Wendy] It was so comfortable
to be back with Martin,
almost like being on the road.
Why look any further?
[Martin] And it just grew
and grew and grew, and, uh
shortly thereafter, we were married.
[Wendy] I was older.
He was older.
[Martin] And we were
having a ball together.
[announcer] Martin Mull
and his wife, Wendy.
[Martin] My domestic life is, um
almost embarrassingly good.
Really?
Yeah, my wife is
just one of these people that
-I don't know. Some She's perfect.
-Really?
[Wendy] We were on the road,
drinking it up, yukking it up.
[Martin] You know,
I say my one in a million, and she is.
But wouldn't that mean there's 260 just
like you in this country alone, honey?
Oh, not to mention China, darling.
-Oh, we better not.
-[laughter echoing]
[Wendy] And I don't know
when we decided to settle in to
what's considered a "normal" life.
-I wanted kids.
-[Martin] Yeah.
I think that was the switch.
But he was still drinking.
No doubt about it, he was drinking.
He was working constantly.
And somewhere in his brain,
something scared him.
[Martin] I just kept pushing myself
and pushing myself.
You know, I was not terribly healthy.
I did have a liver that was
probably approaching statehood.
It just became time to quit.
And I didn't really know how.
I went in to see my doctor,
and he said, "When you leave here today,
what are you gonna do?"
I said, "Honestly, David,
I'm gonna probably have a cocktail."
He said, "Good, that's a great idea."
He said, "Have your favorite cocktail
in your favorite glass."
"And enjoy the hell out of it,
knowing it's your last."
And for some reason, the simplicity
of that statement resonated.
And I said, "You know what?
That's exactly what I'm gonna do,"
and it's exactly what I did.
And it's been 35 years.
[Wendy chuckles softly]
Okay.
She has her good mood hat on!
[Bob] And your whole life changed in '85,
'cause you stopped the road at that point.
[Martin] I was sick of the road.
Okay, bear with me.
A lot of my stuff after 15, 17 years of
doing the same song over and over again
started to become rote.
-Okay!
-[audience laughs]
And also, I didn't want to be one
of these people that was out, you know,
working at a club somewhere and get a call
from Wendy saying, "Oh, she's walking."
You know, I wanted to see that.
[Wendy] Look who's home early!
Willy Loman!
[Wendy] Something
must have clicked in him,
and he just decided
what his real passion was.
Whoa!
[Martin] My mind didn't change
when I stopped drinking,
but I thought I was not thinking
big-picture enough.
-[Wendy] New Year's resolutions, on tape?
-Yeah, I'm gonna
I'm going to become a painter.
Support my family through art.
[Wendy] All right. I like that. Really?
-Yeah.
-[Wendy] That's a big one.
Look out, world
You're going to hear from me
Because there's a whole challenge
Out there
People that take their painting seriously
and are full-time painters
have a proper place to work,
and I've often wanted that.
It was a three-car garage
when we bought the place.
We tore the whole thing down,
rebuilt it, and built a studio.
His studio window was, like,
directly across from my bedroom window.
I'd go to my window,
and the light would be on.
I mean, he was always in his studio.
He was always working.
My earliest memories of my dad
are going up to his art studio
More blue? Yes.
where he made up this game
called Scribble Scrabble.
He would draw an abstract scribble,
and I would have to
turn it into something figurative.
[Maggie laughs]
I think my dad communicates best
through his paintings.
And so the game was important.
It was a way of communicating with him
And I still draw like that too.
So I guess it makes perfect sense
that I'm kind of doing
exactly the same things he used to do.
[Martin] Maggie's extraordinary.
And she is extremely funny
and dark.
So, she would be one of your biggest
accomplishments of your life.
She's not an accomplishment of mine.
She's She's Maggie.
I'm with my daughter, Maggie,
and I'm with Barkley.
And that's just a totally unique thing
that's happened on this earth.
[tranquil music fades slowly]
Over the years,
I've seen a lot of his artwork,
and I've seen it change a lot.
I think once he stopped drinking,
he went inward.
[Martin] I just went right back
to square one again,
just doing a bunch of little drawings
just to keep my hand alive.
[Bob] You know what's
amazing about this to me,
is this is where some people would begin.
-[Martin] Well, I began again.
-You began again.
Just went back to paint on canvas,
just little bits and pieces,
very odd little things
of just certain imagery.
I don't know where it was coming from,
but it was back just trying to paint again
and come up with compositions.
[calm music playing]
Start everything over.
You got a new brain.
You got a new body. Start again.
It was just a slow metamorphosis
of one thing into another.
[Eric Fischl] There's an ambition
attached to that kind of profound change.
At a young age, you enter your art-making.
You're imitating
and you're learning craft.
And then all of a sudden,
you begin to embrace the deeply personal.
As an artist,
you want to be known for who you are,
and that starts with the artist
wanting to know who they are.
[calm music fades out]
[Martin] I grew up
in this soft, white underbelly.
And as arrogant as this sounds,
I don't know of many artists
who have zeroed in on
my specific view of America.
And so to an extent,
I feel a little bit, maybe almost like--
And this is really pompous
Like Audubon, when he went out and said,
"My God, there are all these birds."
"We need a record of those."
So he started drawing the birds.
And there are times
when I feel exactly like that.
White people in America
these are my birds.
[laughing]
[grand orchestra music rises]
[Martin] How do you spot a white family?
Let's nose around a little bit and see
if we can't dig one up, shall we?
-[peppy music playing]
-We're havin' a heck of a barbecue
-We're hopin' you all come along
-Come along, now
White Americans run the proverbial gamut,
from the very rich and embarrassing
to the very poor and embarrassing.
-[phone rings]
-Yellow!
Do us a favor, will you? Will you stop
and pick us up some mayonnaise?
About, uh about five jars'll do 'er.
It was a mockumentary about my heritage.
Just as the baby bird must leave the nest,
so too must the white man open his eyes
to other cultures if he is to survive.
So let me get something straight, Sid.
The History of White People in America,
obviously making fun of the whole thing.
Hey, you got another little hat on
under that hat, huh?
This is a yarmulke.
Anything that commented on
the actual culture and society
that we lived in, we were all down for.
So no, all that shit was cool.
I guess one of the biggest difficulties
in being white for me
is being typecast in mostly white roles.
But I found one picture led to another,
and pretty soon I was known
as a white person.
Martin's audience was
tuned into Martin Mull
and the level of sarcasm
that he was doing.
-Check!
-There you go, hon.
-Wait a minute, nobody ordered tax.
-Funny, honey.
[Fred] I loved that, I loved being
part of that all-American family.
-It's what we grew up with.
-Exactly.
-We're both Northern Ohio boys.
-Yes, exactly.
[crowd cheering]
[Maggie] I can't imagine
how isolating that was
to grow up in the world he grew up in,
and to know that, like,
"This isn't a place
where I can be who I am."
And I think that's something
he's struggled with his whole life.
While also saying, "This is the culture
I grew up in, and what do I do with that?"
And I think
in History of White People of America,
in his artwork,
my dad is looking for color.
That's kind of his hunt,
which is funny because,
you know, we're talking about
his looking at white people,
and I think he's seeking
seeking something more.
[gentle piano music plays softly]
[Bob] So much happened to you
artistically in the '90s.
-There's a huge
-[Martin] A sea change, yeah.
[Bob] Oh, my God.
I started moving
back into all these photos,
revisiting my life through photography
and making collages of various things
and then started working from those.
And that's something I've been doing
for the better part of the last 15 years.
It was amazing how just some of
these pictures would just spark me.
I would deconstruct them
and then reassemble those parts.
A lot of the paintings come out of,
quote, "the American Dream."
But it's also a promissory note, saying,
"If you live your life well,
if you follow the rules,
you will do well."
And yet it's not all true.
There are blemishes,
there are the peripheries,
the fractures, the hairline fractures
in some of the bones.
[Eric] Martin's showing you
where the promises and the failures
are happening on a moment-to-moment basis.
You don't go to the terror,
you don't go to those places
unless you desperately want
somebody else to see it and connect to it.
[Anodea] Well, I think that most genius
does come out of some kind of wounding.
[music fades]
And I think those things drive us
in ways that are part of our success.
[David] I think I I'm gonna have to, uh
kind of drift into the dark side here
a little bit of our, uh childhood.
Uh my dad was awful.
Um, he showed, uh, no affection, emotion
beat me you know
He was not a not a nice guy.
[somber music playing]
[Anodea] It actually got pretty ugly.
There was a lot of violence.
And David got the brunt
of my father's anger,
and I think he just got
the short end of the stick.
And I think it was hard on Martin,
having to see David be
the scapegoat of my father's insecurity.
[David] And to Marty,
my dad was just distant,
and he never got any feelings
of affection or closeness.
In fact, Marty used to say he said, uh
"Well, at least Dad loved you
enough to beat you."
[dry chuckle]
Which, that's pretty, uh condemning.
[Anodea] Martin held a lot of resentment,
which was coming out in his artwork.
Oh, it looks like it would be, uh,
our father going to work.
Not even having any awareness
of the accomplishment
of the guy up there hanging from the wire.
That's what, uh, it would have
been like for my, uh brother.
You know, trying to get recognition
from his father, which he never did.
[somber music fades out slowly]
[Wendy] If you look at his paintings
there's always a little boy in it.
And it's not Martin, but it is Martin.
I mean, they're all self-portraits.
[gentle piano music plays]
[Martin] As I get older,
and especially when I quit drinking,
I realized the making of my paintings
is me letting go.
And there's a reason why there's
a wood frame sometimes around it.
It's a casket.
It's a It's a grave.
It's a box that you put it in, because it
It died when it when it left me.
And that's how I see all these paintings,
that this was a life
that I was allowed to walk through.
It's the one I was led into.
And I realized
if you're not putting your
your deepest, innerest parts,
et cetera, into your work
then you're not doing your job.
It's all right
to paint like that.
[music fades out slowly]
I just know that
I'm going to be in the studio
from seven-thirty, eight o'clock
in the morning until four o'clock,
or whatever time a game comes on,
and work straight through.
I don't know what I'm gonna do that day,
I don't know what I'll work on,
but I know something will happen,
and I'll just start going through
tear sheets and old photos
until something strikes me.
And then something
will happen that I didn't expect.
And when
When that happens,
when you do something you didn't expect,
that's that's heaven.
You're just following orders,
you're at work.
[Steve] I always thought
that you have an artist's solitary aura.
[Martin] Yeah.
You're very happy up there
painting all day.
I am until I'm not.
-Mm-hmm. And then what happens?
-And then, what's been great is
then I get to go be on a TV show
or in a movie.
-[laughs]
-[harmonica lick playing]
[up-tempo bluesy music plays]
Did you hear that?
Roseanne will plan it for free.
Of course, we'll have Roseanne
plan our wedding.
You know, I've always
dreamed of a ceremony
that would culminate in a hog fry.
[audience laughs]
I loved being your lover
on the Roseanne show.
Yeah, I think I said,
"Let me look at my daily planner."
-"Yep, I'm free for the next year."
-Yeah.
To play an out character
on a top-ten TV show
was certainly not a safe bet.
Some people might have balked
at doing it, but not Martin.
-Didn't Roseanne tell you?
-Tell me what?
That I'm gay.
[audience exclaiming]
[cheers and applause]
[Martin] I said, "I don't want
to play him as a caricature."
Because to me, one's sexual preference
doesn't mean a shit.
We played it dead straight.
It would've been easy
to camp it up and make fun of it.
But I remember, we were
the first gay marriage on television.
[Martin] And that show
really meant a lot to me.
[cheers and applause]
But I've been very lucky in that
almost everything I've done has been fun.
[chuckles] I'll never forget my prom,
dancing with Stacey Williams.
That girl could move her body
in ways I've never seen before.
She was epileptic, but still.
[scattered laughter]
[Martin] And one of the charms of working
in show business, as well as doing this,
is that one is a therapist for the other.
I can't remember the last time
that I felt this free and happy.
I could be thinking about painting
while I'm acting.
Look at Martin Mull, sitting there.
And I'm fortunate enough
with my other career
that if I never sell this,
Wendy and I will still have food tonight.
[Kerri] Martin has
that career that I aspire to.
He was professional, he was on time,
and then he was like a comedy assassin.
Yes, Pam made a cake.
Or as we like to think of it,
a desperate cry for help.
[audience laughs]
He would do a scene,
people would lose their minds,
and he'd calmly walk back
to his dressing room and paint.
I'm just-a findin' the supplies,
because I'm a private detective.
Gene Parmesan. How are you doing?
[screaming] Ahh! Gene! Oh, Gene!
Isn't he the best?
And he said to me,
"Am I here for one line?"
And I said, "Yeah,"
and he said, "This is fantastic."
Oh, is it?
[screaming] Ahh! I knew it!
Screaming is a good way
to make something stick.
Gene Parmesan. How you doing?
Ahh! He got me again! [giggles]
Martin's character is so easily
stuck into millions of stories.
I'm sure what every casting director
said is, "I want a Martin Mull type,"
and it ended up being Martin Mull.
-Hey, Bob?
-Yeah.
You don't remember me,
I was an intern way back when you
Of course I remember you.
Ben Cafferty, all growed up.
We used to have a nickname for this guy.
Butt Fucker.
Butt Fucker, that's me.
[Seth] With somebody like Martin Mull,
you were just in great hands.
You wrote a joke,
and you knew it was going to be
at least as funny as it was on paper,
and likely funnier.
-How can you say no?
-We need sick kids we can package.
You know, like that one
we put on Hollywood Squares.
[host] Martin Mull,
from Sabrina. Hi, Martin.
He was on time, knew his lines, do that--
and he was in his seventies.
I'm not sure
I've ever seen you this happy.
Well, that's the point of the drug.
What do you mean?
I'm on ecstasy.
Dare to dream we all have
the long career that Martin has.
[people applauding]
One day on set I said,
"What are you gonna do this weekend?"
He's like, "Oh, I'm locking myself up
in my art studio."
I was like, "Oh, you do art?" Ha-ha.
I was such a dick.
Do you know how many shitty painters
there are in SAG and AFTRA as we speak?
Johnny Depp "paints."
[Andrea] Next time
I saw him, he brought, like,
this brochure of his art, and I was like
"Martin! I thought
you were just fucking off."
[Martin] Making paintings was not
a contributor to my financial well-being
until I was in my sixties.
[soulful piano music playing]
The real turning point was
a gentleman named Donald Rosenfeld
who had a gallery
in New York called Spike.
I was out in Los Angeles,
and Dave Hickey, the great critic, said,
"You gotta see my friend Marty Mull,
he's a great painter."
I said, "I didn't know about his work."
And he said, "No, you'd really love it."
[Martin] He came up here,
to this very studio.
Within ten minutes, he told me
when the show was gonna be.
He said, "This stuff is amazing."
He said, "Nobody does that.
You don't even know anything about me."
I said, "I'm looking at the paintings
and I want to have a show with you."
You're actually in New York now,
making arrangements for
An art show. It's my my life's work.
Anyone who's seen my films
and other work knows that painting
must be my life's work.
-We can go there and purchase the work?
-And bring your checkbook. Yep.
[Martin] It was the calm before the storm,
and there was no one
in the gallery but me.
I'm just kind of walking around,
saying goodbye to my babies,
hopefully, you know, that they will sell.
Then two, three, four.
Doors open, and there's,
like, four or five hundred people.
[Donald] This show sold out
in three hours.
An old friend of mine called, he said,
"How did it go?
No one really knows that artist."
I said, "Well, they sure liked it."
He said, "Then you didn't charge enough."
[laughing]
[Martin] And that's when
the doors blew open.
The prices just doubled
and then tripled and then quadrupled.
[Mario Naves] I stumbled upon them.
They were visible from the street,
and I was kind of taken aback by them.
And then I walked in,
and I noticed it was Martin Mull.
And I thought "That Martin Mull?"
From the craft to the imagery,
there's such a totality, all in sync.
It's like all the bullshit
had been taken out,
and he was able just to put it
into some kind of coherent form
that had this kind of intrigue to it.
So I wanted to tell the world about it,
and I said,
"Okay, this is work that's very credible."
"This is an artist who deserves
to be better known as a painter."
[Martin] The show at Spike Gallery
was very well received,
and that was kind of highfalutin
to be in that kind of company.
From there, a series of other galleries
were each time sold out before it opened,
and so did the next one,
and it just went bonkers from there.
Once he was established,
when your paintings are selling,
it was fantastic.
I learned something
from every show he ever did.
[Martin] One of the pieces
from one of those shows
went to the Whitney Museum in New York,
courtesy of Steve Martin.
He has been so instrumental
in my various successes.
He has I don't know
how many of my paintings.
Steve has been
not just supportive financially,
but emotionally and artistically.
He got the paintings.
He made it feel like
this stuff is worthwhile.
[Donald] The incredible thing
that's happened over the past decade,
we arranged gallery shows in London,
Korea, Tokyo, with great galleries.
Incredibly, the critics,
the buyers, you know, the collectors,
could not get enough
Martin Mull paintings.
[Martin] Once these things
started selling to these major collectors,
I actually was able to,
for the past few years,
enjoy the status of being "a painter,"
untethered by other descriptive phrases.
[music fades]
When it really struck me that
I had done it, that I had made the bridge,
I had been doing a movie,
and I had to change my flight.
And I got this lady on the phone.
I said, "I'm in Minneapolis."
"I need to change my flight"
She said, "What's your name?"
And I gave her my name.
She goes, "Oh! The painter?"
And I about fell off the bed.
I couldn't believe it.
I couldn't believe it. Yes, oh, my God,
someone actually said it first!
Not the actor, not the comedian,
but they said "the painter."
And how she knew, I have no idea.
She may have gotten it mixed up
with a guy named Martin Muller,
who actually was
a house painter in her town,
and that's that's more than possible.
But, um
But that really just kind of let me go,
"Yeah, I got my My visa was stamped,"
and I thought, "Yeah, I did it."
[soft instrumental music plays]
-[Bob] Things certainly have changed.
-[Martin] Yeah.
[Bob] It's such a body of work,
and you can feel the same soul
coming through into all of it.
Um, I adore you.
-Thank you.
-In a In a true and genuine way.
Thank you for your
for your talent and your time.
Bless you.
-I didn't sneeze, but when I do, I will
-[laughs]
I will accept that.
-[Martin] Funny.
-[laughter off-camera]
[soft music fades gently]
[gentle music playing]
[director] Okay. Uh, take four.
[board claps]
[exhales softly]
[Martin] When Bob passed away,
it was just astounding.
And I realize
I'm getting in that age bracket now
where your friend list goes down,
and your grief list goes up.
In fact, I was thinking last night,
I'm not a terribly social person.
I was thinking, when I die,
I'll have to be cremated
'cause I don't know if I have six friends
that could carry the casket.
[laughs quietly]
It's seven o'clock,
and he ate dinner at 4:00.
Can you imagine what it was like
working 130 shows with this guy?
Jeez Louise. [laughs]
It was just good being
in your neighborhood and, uh
And good being in yours.
You are my favorite comedian,
funny man, bar none, Mr. Willard.
-Thank you.
-You make me laugh.
[Fred] And you were my inspiration.
[Martin laughs]
-[Martin] So kind of you to do this.
-Oh, Jesus.
[both chuckling]
[Martin] There are times when I feel like
the opera is over.
The actors and singers
have left the stage.
The set's been taken down,
a new set for an opera
that I don't understand has been put up.
And for some reason,
I'm still sitting there in that chair.
And I should have been gone
with all that stuff, and I'm not.
And
I think about that.
[Fred] "Remember me, remember me,
when I have passed away."
"Remember that I lived and died,
as you will too, one day."
"If I can write these few short lines,
it will not be in vain,
if after I am dead and gone,
you still recall my name."
-"Remember me." I think it's
-Wow. Jerry, that's actually
-It is nice.
-That's actually very pretty.
-Who wrote that?
-Well put. Who wrote it?
I don't know. Who knows? It's an old poem.
Probably some old guy dead and gone.
-The point is
-[audience laughs]
[applause fades]
[birds chirping]
Did you get a shot
of his studio from here?
[director] Yeah.
Wendy has been there for 42 years.
I've known her for almost 50.
Wendy lets you be who you are.
I think we're almost done.
-Wenner?
-Yeah.
They said they need an insert shot
of your hands on the keys.
Oh, God, no!
[scoffing laugh]
That's a no-go. Oh, God.
[sweet melody playing]
[Martin] Our marriage
is not about two people
who went out and ruled the world.
It's just two people who made it through.
[Wendy] Yup.
And that's there's a heroism in
sometimes in tiny steps.
Dishes done
And put away
A red line drawn through another day
Slippers go on
Yeah, the same old pair
There you sit in your favorite chair
[Martin] I wouldn't be physically present,
let alone mentally present,
let alone healthy if it wasn't for Wendy.
I wouldn't be alive without her.
I really wouldn't.
I mean, that's a pretty big statement,
when you think about it.
I would not be alive without her.
I'm convinced of that.
[Wendy] Aww
Oh. That Don't make me cry.
That's sweet.
I didn't save his life, but that's sweet.
Okay, now I have to stop.
I don't know why he'd say that.
Maybe I did.
Maybe I did, you know, in some aspect.
[both] Me and you
[Wendy chuckles]
Waltzing through
-This crazy daze
-This crazy dance
Two people do
And when the day has faded away
We beat the odds
Me and you
Me and you
-[Wendy chuckles]
-[tearfully] Yeah.
I agree, buzzy.
[final chord fades]
[cover shuts]
-Voil!
-[laughing]
She has about 150 great songs.
-Well, I wouldn't say that.
-And they seldom leave this room.
-Well, I'm a bit reluctant.
-Jesus, that got to me.
[Wendy] Don't cry.
[Wendy chuckles]
It's one of those years
where we're all crying.
Do a lot of crying.
Yeah, we'll bring that
We'll resurrect that, Mr. Mull.
[Martin] Yeah.
[indistinct low chatter]
[soft instrumental music playing]
[Martin] I'm in the process
of morphing into an old man.
Which is one that
you can see daily in the mirror.
There's no question about it.
You wake up knowing
you are driving a used car.
At one point, I was adept.
But now I'm finding
that my borderline arthritic hands
aren't doing what they used to do.
So, when I have thoughts of mortality,
more often than not,
they turn very pragmatic.
Like, "Okay, what am I gonna
do with all this shit in my studio?"
I don't want Wendy
to have to go through all that stuff.
I don't want her to have
this big house all to herself.
She'd hate that.
So I start thinking
about the nuts and bolts of it,
of not being around.
I don't walk down the street
just wondering
if today's the day I'm gonna have
my massive heart attack.
I don't don't think in those terms.
[light instrumental music builds slowly]
But even if I did,
would I feel shortchanged?
And the answer is no.
I don't have a one-man show
at the Museum of Modern Art.
I don't have an Oscar.
I don't have a Grammy.
But I did make the records,
and I am in a museum,
and I am on TV.
[laughing]
I think I was given every opportunity.
I took a few of 'em.
And I had a really good time.
[Maggie laughing lightly]
[audience laughter echoing]
[lavish instrumental music rises]
[applause echoing]
[baby laughter echoing]
[applause and whistling]
[heartbeat thumping steadily]
[echoing applause fading out]
[heartbeat thumping softly]
[gentle piano music playing]
[Wendy] The whole house has changed a lot.
It's like a ghost town.
I emptied Martin's studio
and then put him in the dining room.
He was coughing a lot.
I think he knew before we did.
His body had quit the fight.
I miss hearing him.
I miss that.
[crying softly] Yeah.
[sniffles]
Yeah, it took me a while to come up here.
And this was his view of his castle.
Look at that.
And this is what he worked for.
This is why.
I think he did what he had to do.
I'm feeling pretty good about that now.
-[dog whines]
-[Wendy] Mr. Mull.
[tearfully] Yes, Mr. Mull.
Come on.
[strumming ascending scales on guitar]
-[Martin] Sounding all right?
-[director] Yeah. Yeah. That sounds great.
[Martin] Okay, let's see.
[clears throat]
[testing notes]
If I woke up to find
That it's all been a joke
That I was deaf, dumb, and blind
Homeless and broke
Hope I've learned
Not to be too concerned
It isn't as if I died
But let's say I had
Would it be all that bad?
I've had a hell of a ride
I've had the time of my life
It's all been milk and honey
A walk in the park
A stroll down Easy Street
Had a beautiful wife
And pockets full of money
Me, oh, my, did we get high
Life has been so sweet
I never had a problem
I never had a care
Still can wear my high school jeans
And I still have all my hair
So when they pull down the lid
On all that I did
Well, I promise you, kid
That it's true
I've had the time of my life
All my dreams came true
Every morning when I wake
There's a smile upon my face
I take a look around and say
"Man, I fuckin' own this place"
And when they lower the lid
On all that I did
Well, I promise you, kid
That it's true
I've had the time of my life
'Cause that's what dreamers do
All my dreams came true
[final chord resonates and fades]
[breezy jazz music playing]
[breezy jazz music fades]
[rich percussion music builds slowly]
[music fades out]