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More often than not, I guess documentaries are done about people

who've done something extremely well.

But in my case, I think it's like that I did a number of different things...

Martin! Martin! Martin!

Martin Mull!

...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.

I don't have a Grammy.

I don't have a million-selling album, et cetera, et cetera.

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?

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Martin Mull.

- Martin Mull! - Mr. Martin Mull!

Major musical talent, Martin Mull!

Thank you. Thank you. Please. Please, sit down.

I live where success and stupidity shake hands.

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!

Life is better than death

You might want to start calling me Uncle Willard!

Gene Parmesan.

Gene Parmesan, how you doin'?

Life can only be life

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?

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...

Help me!

- 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.

They do that to support painting.

I still need show business, but it's all just an excuse to paint.

Terrific!

All right. Set, and...

Apple baker.

Scene marker.

The makeup lady go too far?

- Let me put this here where it goes. - I'll put it where it was.

Okay, so...

With that being said, no laughing, no moving.

Um... I don't know where to begin because, to me,

you truly are a jack-of-all-trades.

Jerk-of-all-trades.

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.

Hello!

My name is Martin Mull.

Thank you.

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?

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

And we began to hmm, hmm-hmm

You were such a hmm, hmm, hmm

Hmm, hmm, hmm, only 17

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm Rubber shirts

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, leather skirts

Hmm, hmm

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm And a quart of Valvoline!

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I could never be that funny.

Hmm, hmm, hospital For life

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

Thank you.

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.

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. - Um...

You know, I was an accident of sperm and egg.

I mean, that's basically what it is.

I had that for breakfast.

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.

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.

In our family, Marty was the favorite

because he was the first, and as it turned out, he was special.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

...all of my life, in many, many ways, up until I went to art school

was a dress rehearsal.

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.

Art school made me what I am.

Or destroyed what I was.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Okay?

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...

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.

And how did you become a comedian?

I was a shitty singer.

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.

There's somebody up there singing "We Shall Overcome."

What a thing to sing about. My God.

To me, that's between you, your spouse, and your doctor. Do you know what I mean?

And just... slayed 'em.

If they undercame, they wouldn't be singing.

Isn't that true?

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."

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.

I would audition for the people at the record company, and they hated it.

They said to my manager, "Why did you drag us to hear these assholes?"

Like it?

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

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

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.

Tonight, Martin Mull and...

his fabulous furniture!

What was the Furniture Tour, for people that need to know?

Well, when I was in art school, playing college mixers...

...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!

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

Ah, it's so nice to see everyone.

This is one of our favorite songs. This just gives us a chance to...

...just...

No, no, no clapping. Nothing. Nothing, nothing.

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?"

Well, I look at it this way.

Works for me.

So, I was being purposefully an asshole,

and that worked.

Pizza's here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh!

It just had a combination of

comedy and music to me that was irresistible.

Do the Nothing

More!

- Oh, boy... - Marty!

Whoo!

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

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.

Oh, dear.

- Hey, Martin? - Steve interview, take one.

Wanna ask if it's okay to call him Marty.

Martin to Marty.

Marty or Martin? I always call him Marty, but I think maybe he doesn't go by that.

- First, thanks for doing this. - My pleasure.

Long-time friend.

Not you.

Martin. Yeah.

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?"

- That's when we became friends. - We became instant friends.

When we worked together, we called it The Steve Martin-Mull Show.

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.

We also stayed at the same hotel.

We had all the days free to just hang out and be funny together.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you. Thank you.

He was rising, rising, rising.

Please welcome Mr. Martin Mull.

He started to get publicity.

How do you describe your music?

Sort of blond-haired soul.

- The band likes that. - Yeah.

And then he got a record contract.

Martin had eight comedy albums,

and comedy albums were king in the '70s.

Martin Mull was becoming a superstar in comedy.

He toured the country, he opened for the biggest rock acts on the planet.

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.

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?

He was a huge star, hugely successful.

Martin Mull was the absolute top of comedy.

Hello, señoritas.

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.

I heard from his manager,

and he said, "Martin's looking for some female musicians."

Very progressive, Martin Mull.

Yes, he was. Or... horny. I'm not... I don't know which.

I'd say progressive. That--

I'm sorry, Martin, that wasn't very kind.

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.

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.

Thank you.

Ever since Soop, Martin and I did a lot of gigs together.

But the Roxy was really big.

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

La la la la la

When I first saw him perform at the Roxy, I saw such an unusual talent.

What a lovely night it's been

English!

It's too bad it has to end

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

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.

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.

After the show was over...

...I went in and met with Norman...

Mwah! My dear friend.

My dearer friend!

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."

Tonight from Fernwood! Fernwood 2 Night!

You made a small-town version of public access television.

Yep.

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.

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.

Tonight, Barth's guest will be Penny Dunbar,

Fernwood's answer to Romania.

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.

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.

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.

You never know where Fred's going.

- We go back a bit. - Yes.

I'm trying to remember,

when we did Fernwood 2 Night...

- 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.

Jerry, there's no war now.

Guess not. Who wants to go to jail?

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.

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.

That is a fascinating area.

And Fred Willard was hilarious.

What area is that?

Gynecology.

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?

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.

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.

Okay.

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.

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.

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...

- Okay. - Can you bend over, please?

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.

I thought, "We're just doing the show and having fun."

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."

I had my mother as a guest. She came on and played a librarian.

Please welcome, from the Fernwood Public Library, Miss Janice Graham.

I asked if she'd want to be on. "Oh! Oh! Oh!"

"Oh! Oh!"

You don't need to whisper.

- I know, it must be a habit. - Of course.

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...

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.

She was very proud of him, very supportive.

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.

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.

Ooh. Hear that?

Sounds like a Latin band, doesn't it?

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.

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?

He loved his booze.

I mean, if you look at those, he is hammered.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You have distinct phases in your art.

True.

One is the painting on cels.

- Right. - Then you have photorealism.

- Right. - 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!

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...

More of a painter who does the entertainment industry.

I see.

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.

Suppose I don't want a background.

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...

Johnny Carson was just so supportive,

and I ultimately was actually asked to guest host,

which is a terrifying moment.

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!

And when you hear, "Here's..."

Here's Martin Mull!

It sounds so wrong.

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.

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.

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.

The Tonight Show was the launch pad for comedians.

Period. That was it.

Thank you!

I remember him being a guest, but I never...

- He guest hosted The Tonight Show? - 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... - 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.

I think it's the ballsiest move ever, to play on television with B.B. King.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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."

But it never says "asshole" on the check.

That is how I made all my money.

That does not make me a murderer!

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.

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.

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?"

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.

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.

- Hey, hey there. Hiya, Marty, old buddy. - Dicky.

Hey, Tom.

- 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...

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.

Despite the fact that he was doing TV and Carson,

Martin was really suffering.

And he cratered.

Oh, there's a bunch of 'em.

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

It was pretty bad.

They were broken psychologically. Yeah. Yeah.

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?

That's why we're talking to you!

- Well, at that point... - 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.

That's right.

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."

Touchdown!

Blew my fucking mind.

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. - 1980.

1980.

It was so comfortable to be back with Martin,

almost like being on the road.

Why look any further?

And it just grew and grew and grew, and, uh...

shortly thereafter, we were married.

I was older.

He was older.

And we were having a ball together.

Martin Mull and his wife, Wendy.

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?

We were on the road, drinking it up, yukking it up.

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.

And I don't know when we decided to settle in to...

what's considered a "normal" life.

- I wanted kids. - 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.

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.

Okay.

She has her good mood hat on!

And your whole life changed in '85, 'cause you stopped the road at that point.

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!

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.

Look who's home early!

Willy Loman!

Something must have clicked in him,

and he just decided what his real passion was.

Whoa!

My mind didn't change when I stopped drinking,

but I thought I was not thinking big-picture enough.

- New Year's resolutions, on tape? - Yeah, I'm gonna...

I'm going to become a painter.

Support my family through art.

All right. I like that. Really?

- Yeah. - 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.

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.

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.

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.

I just went right back to square one again,

just doing a bunch of little drawings just to keep my hand alive.

You know what's amazing about this to me,

is this is where some people would begin.

- 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

So much happened to you artistically in the '90s.

- There's a huge... - A sea change, yeah.

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.

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.

Well, I think that most genius does come out of some kind of wounding.

And I think those things drive us in ways that are part of our success.

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.

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.

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."

Which, that's pretty, uh... condemning.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I always thought that you have an artist's solitary aura.

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.

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.

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.

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.

And that show really meant a lot to me.

But I've been very lucky in that almost everything I've done has been fun.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Ahh! I knew it!

Screaming is a good way to make something stick.

Gene Parmesan. How you doing?

Ahh! He got me again!

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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

Making paintings was not a contributor to my financial well-being

until I was in my sixties.

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."

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.

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.

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."

And that's when the doors blew open.

The prices just doubled and then tripled and then quadrupled.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

- Things certainly have changed. - Yeah.

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...

I will accept that.

Funny.

Okay. Uh, take four.

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.

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.

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.

And you were my inspiration.

- So kind of you to do this. - Oh, Jesus.

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.

"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...

Did you get a shot of his studio from here?

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!

That's a no-go. Oh, God.

Our marriage is not about two people

who went out and ruled the world.

It's just two people who made it through.

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

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.

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.

Me and you

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

Yeah.

I agree, buzzy.

Voilà!

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.

Don't cry.

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.

Yeah.

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.

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.

I think I was given every opportunity.

I took a few of 'em.

And I had a really good time.

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.

Yeah.

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.

Mr. Mull.

Yes, Mr. Mull.

Come on.

- Sounding all right? - Yeah. Yeah. That sounds great.

Okay, let's see.

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