Martin Mull’s 10 Best Movies And TV Shows

Martin Mull got his start in the entertainment industry as a comedic musician and many of his best movies and TV shows utilize his comedic skills. Mull wrote music for other artists before starting to write comedy albums for himself in the 1970s, and those skills translated to him acting on stage and screen. Mull, however, was also a real Renaissance man with acting, writing, singing, and even painting in his repertoire.

Mull’s Master’s Degree in Fine Arts actually focused on painting. While the world knows Mull as a comedic character actor, he also has exhibited his artwork, published a book of his pieces, and even allowed his art to be used as book and album covers. Like his music and his acting, his art infused life and humor into the paint. He did not often play artistic characters on screen, but he certainly had plenty of ways to express himself creatively in his 50+ year career. Martin Mull’s best movies and TV shows demonstrate how creative he could be.

10

Psych (2013)

Martin Mull As Highway Harry

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Psych

Comedy

Mystery

Crime

ScreenRant logo

8/10

41

9.2/10

Release Date

2006 – 2013

Network

USA

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    Dulé Hill

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    Kirsten Nelson

Showrunner

Steve Franks

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Though Psych was a case-of-the-week series with its crime-solver masquerading as a psychic, it also did a fantastic job at sending up pop culture. Several episodes of the series homage iconic pop culture moments, movies, or other television shows. One of the movies was Clue, in which Martin Mall starred.

Psych’s “100 Clues” was the 100th episode of the series, and it created a way to homage one of the funniest mystery movies of all time in Clue. It also allowed fans to vote on how the episode would end, which means, like the original movie, the show had different endings, though this time, it meant the East Coast and West Coast airings had different endings instead of different movie theaters.

The episode sees the main characters invited to a party at a mansion where those attending slowly begin to die – or be murdered. Mull plays the drunk manager of a rockstar who no one can understand. He ends up facedown in his food after the power goes out, and everyone, including the audience, assumes he is a victim, but Mull gets to return at the end of the episode in a surprising twist.

Imagery from Psych

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9

The Cool Kids (2018-2019)

Martin Mull As Charlie

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The Cool Kids

TV-14

Comedy

Release Date

2018 – 2018

Network

FOX

Cast

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  • Headshot Of David Alan Grier

    David Alan Grier

    Hank

  • Headshot Of Martin Mull In The Emmy Awards 2016

    Martin Mull

    Charlie

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    Rod McCary

    Gorgeous George

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    Vicki Lawrence

    Margaret

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Though Mull’s career as an actor began in his twenties, he was lucky to have continued that career for the rest of his life. He worked until he was in his late seventies, and that is when he made The Cool Kids, a sitcom that, unfortunately, only lasted one season.

The series was set in a retirement home where a group of men welcomed a new female resident in the pilot after the death of their friend. It featured plenty of sitcom antics as the friends got themselves into all sorts of trouble, had new romances, and struggled with family members. The difference is that in most sitcoms, the characters doing all of that would have been in their twenties or thirties. Conflicts shift slightly with age, but they are still there.

Mull is a member of the friend group. He is something of a hoarder, has trouble dating, and often finds himself the odd man out in the group. Mull is perfect in the role, and he gets to have plenty of fun acting against such comedic heavyweights as David Alan Grier, Vicki Lawrence, and Leslie Jordan. Guest stars like Leslie Ann Warren, Jennifer Coolidge, and Charlie Day also help to keep the comedy going.

8

Mr. Mom (1983)

Martin Mull As Ron Richardson

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Mr. Mom

PG

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

August 19, 1983

Runtime

91 Minutes

Cast

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    Michael Keaton

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    Teri Garr

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    Frederick Koehler

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Taliesin Jaffe

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Mull plays perfectly against type…

Mr. Mom is best known for being the movie that gave Michael Keaton his first leading role. The comedy examined gendered roles in the home and the workforce, and it did it with plenty of laughs as Keaton plays an out-of-work man who agrees to stay at home with the kids while his wife goes back to work.

Martin Mull plays one of the antagonists of the movie. He appears as the man in charge of the advertising agency that the woman of the house (played by Teri Garr) goes to work for. While many of his best roles see him as gossips, best friends, and bosses who don’t always know quite what is going on, this time around, he’s a lecherous executive. Mull plays perfectly against type as the man attempting to seduce his newest employee, even going so far as to sneak into her hotel room and propose marriage even though she is already married.

The movie has become so beloved that it got a sequel series in 2019.

(Michael-Keaton-as-Daryl-Poynter)--from-Clean-and-Sober-and-(Michael-Keaton-as-Carter-Hayes--James-Danforth)-from-Pacific-Heights

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7

Sabrina The Teenage Witch (1997-2000)

Martin Mull As Willard Kraft

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Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sitcom

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7/10

7/10

Release Date

1996 – 2002

Network

The WB, ABC

Cast

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    melissa joan hart

Showrunner

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

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Before there was Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, there was another adaptation of characters from Archie Comics. Sabrina The Teenage Witch was a much more family-friendly adaptation than the modern two.

Here, Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) learns about her family history and masters her magical powers all while attending high school, then college, and working following her graduation. Martin Mull only features in the first three seasons of the show while she is in high school.

That’s because Mull plays the school’s vice principal, though he does eventually become the principal. His role is certainly one played for laughs as Mr. Kraft, for some reason, just does not like Sabrina. His distaste for the teenager becomes complicated, and even more comedic, when he dates both of her aunts at different points in the series.

6

My Bodyguard (1980)

Martin Mull As Larry Peache

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My Bodyguard

PG

Comedy

Drama

Family

Release Date

July 11, 1980

Runtime

96 minutes

Cast

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    Adam Baldwin

    Ricky Linderman

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    Chris Makepeace

    Clifford Peache

  • Headshot Of Matt Dillon

    Matt Dillon

    Melvin Moody

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    Paul Quandt

    Carson

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My Bodyguard might be a movie that modern audiences have not heard of, but it is one that Entertainment Weekly considers one of the best high school movies of all time. It follows a teenager whose father runs a hotel while he gets bullied by kids at school. He decides to try to hire the one kid everyone is afraid of to be his bodyguard, but the two become friends instead. The story touches on different kinds of trauma in addition to its bullying storyline, but it still manages to make the audience laugh.

Martin Mull plays a supporting role in the story. He is the father running the hotel, so he does not get to be heavily involved. Despite that, Mull’s got some good comedic moments as well as slightly more dramatic ones. He does not pull focus from the young people at the center of the story, but he does help the movie feel more grounded.

The National Board of Review named My Bodyguard one of the 10 best films of 1980.

5

Arrested Development (2004-2019)

Martin Mull As Gene Parmesean

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Arrested Development

TV-MA

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

8/10

8.9/10

Release Date

2003 – 2018

Network

FOX, Netflix

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Jason Bateman

    Jason Bateman

    Michael Bluth

  • Headshot Of Portia de Rossi

    Portia de Rossi

    Lindsay Bluth Fünke

Showrunner

Mitchell Hurwitz

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Arrested Development might not have had skyrocketing ratings when it initially aired live on television, but it has a very large fanbase thanks to streaming. Seven years after the show’s original ending, it got another season on Netflix, and five years after that, got yet another season. There’s always the potential for another as well.

The series follows the Bluth family through all of their dysfunction and complicated relationships. Every time Michael (Jason Bateman) considers just leaving the family to their own devices, he gets sucked right back in to the family’s schemes.

Gene Parmesean is a character that originally appears in the series when it aired on FOX, but also returns during the seasons on Netflix. The recurring character is featured in six episodes and allows Mull to lean into some absurd comedy. He is a private investigator who is often hired by Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter) who always first appears to her in disguise. Mull gets to ham it up pretending to be other people until he reveals himself every time.

Arrested Development won six Emmys during its run.

4

Veep (2016)

Martin Mull As Bob Bradley

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Veep

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

9/10

10/10

Release Date

2012 – 2018

Network

HBO Max

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Anna Chlumsky

    Anna Chlumsky

  • Headshot Of Timothy Simons

    Timothy Simons

Showrunner

Armando Iannucci

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While most series that examine the lives of politicians are dramas, Veep is a sitcom instead. It follows the life of the Vice President of the United States (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) as she tries to balance her personal and professional lives and deals with the people around her not being who she thought they were.

Mull appears in just four episodes of the series in 2016. His character is a former White House aid who has supposedly worked under more political administrations than anyone else alive, but he has not worked in the White House since the 1980s. While initially, he is seen as a competent political ally, Mull gets to play a man slowly losing his faculties, dismissive of women in power, and one who forgets the names of those around him.

Eventually, his story becomes a bit more poignant than a man misnaming people for laughs as it is revealed he has Alzheimer’s and his memory is slowly being affected. It was a great role for Mull.

Mull was nominated for an Emmy for his guest appearance in Veep.

3

Roseanne (1991-1997)

Martin Mull As Leon Carp

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Roseanne

TV-PG

Comedy

Drama

ScreenRant logo

7/10

25

7.5/10

Release Date

1988 – 2017

Network

ABC

Cast

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    Roseanne Barr

  • Headshot Of John Goodman In The 62nd Monte Carlo TV Festival - Golden Nymphs Award Ceremony.

    John Goodman

Showrunner

Bruce Helford

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Roseanne was one of the first family sitcoms to be from the point of view of a wife and mother. It was also one of the first sitcoms to feature both parents working blue-collar jobs to support their family. The show followed the Conner family (and now has a revival called The Conners) and featured conflicts ranging from the kids having trouble at school to the adults not having jobs to abusive relationships to tension in the extended family and everything in between.

Mull appeared in the show beginning with the third season in a recurring capacity. He played Roseanne’s boss at the local restaurant where she worked, and the two often did not see eye-to-eye. She often made fun of him, but it slowly became clear that they actually cared about one another – especially when he ended up with shares in her restaurant. Mull mostly played the butt of Roseanne’s jokes, but he also got to banter with her quite a bit, making him a standout among the ensemble.

Leon was also one of the few LGTBQ+ characters on the series. While that decision earned a lot of pushback from audiences at the time, Leon became part of the show’s legacy.

Mull also acted as a creative consultant and penned scripts for the series.

2

America 2-Night (1978)

Martin Mull As Barth Gimble

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America 2-Night

Comedy

Release Date

1978 – 1977

Network

Syndication

Cast

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    Carl Reiner

    Uncredited

  • Headshot Of Fred Willard

    Fred Willard

    Jerry Hubbard

  • Headshot Of Martin Mull In The Emmy Awards 2016

    Martin Mull

    Barth Gimble

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    Rob Reiner

    Rob Reiner

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The character of Barth Gimble actually originated in Marty Hartman, Marty Hartman, which aired in 1976. Mull spun out of the show for Fernwood 2 Night, and would also go on to play the character again in America 2-Night in 1978. All three series were satirical or parodies of other shows on television at the time.

Marty Hartman, Marty Hartman was a satire of a soap opera, while Fernwood 2 Night offered a parody of a talk show. It featured Mull as the talk show host Barth Gimble and Fred Willard as his sidekick and announcer. While initially, the series focused on parodying the goings-on for a talk show in a small Midwest town, it eventually expanded to become a talk show in California with actual celebrity guests instead of actors appearing solely as satirical characters, which became America 2-Night.

The series was a great way to make fun of the way talk shows worked while still showcasing the incredibly comedic talent of their cast. Mull and Willard would also bring the characters back for stage shows in the future. They also played a married couple in Roseanne.

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Clue (1985)

Martin Mull As Colonel Mustard

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Clue

PG

Comedy

Mystery

Thriller

Crime

10/10

Release Date

December 13, 1985

Runtime

94 minutes

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Eileen Brennan

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    Tim Curry

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…the movie would not have attained its cult status without its impressive cast.

Some Martin Mull fans might argue that his best roles are the ones he got to play on the small screen for years. While Mull did have a great and steady television presence during the ‘90s and 2000s, he is also an instantly recognizable actor because of his work in the cult classic Clue.

Clue is inspired by the board game of the same name, but it is also a send-up of Agatha Christie locked room mysteries. All of the actors in the movie are invited to a mansion by a mysterious host, and as they begin to die one-by-one, the survivors have to figure out who the murderer is and why they were all invited there in the first place.

While the movie is hysterical and Clue offers some iconic quotes that have become ingrained in pop culture, it’s likely the movie would not have attained its cult status without its impressive cast. Mull, Lesley Ann Warren, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, and Madeline Kahn made the movie memorable. They have a great chemistry that makes the most awkward moments sing and the weirdest lines feel natural.

Mull is fantastic as Colonel Mustard, who is eventually revealed to be an army officer guilty of war profiteering. In one version of the movie’s ending, he almost gets crushed by a chandelier, while in another he is one of the named killers. While critics did not love the movie in 1985, the legend of Clue and its cast has grown over time, leading to pop culture parodies like Psych and even a stage show. Clue is one of the biggest parts of Martin Mull’s legacy as an actor.

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