Plenty of people know Martin Mull’s face without being able to place it. Was he the guy from Clue? The private eye Gene Parmesan on Arrested Development? Leon on Roseanne? The answer is yes, all of the above, and that is only half the story. Netflix’s new documentary Who Is Martin Mull?, streaming from today, October 7, sets out to fill in the rest.
A career built on reinvention
The film follows Mull from smoky folk clubs in the 1970s, where he toured as a comedic musician and opened for big rock acts, to a long run as a familiar face in film and prime-time TV. Along the way he guest-hosted The Tonight Show more than 30 times. But the documentary keeps circling back to the passion he called his main one: painting. Mull was an acclaimed visual artist, and the film makes a clear case that this is the side of him that deserves far more attention.
The story is told largely in Mull’s own words, plus interviews with friends who watched him reinvent himself again and again, including Steve Martin, Tom Waits and David Alan Grier.
Bob Saget’s last project
There is a second, bittersweet layer here. The documentary was co-directed by Bob Saget, who also served as an executive producer, alongside director Neil Berkeley (SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night). Saget died in 2022, and the film reaches audiences more than four years later, with footage of him interviewing Mull woven into it. Mull himself died in June 2024 at the age of 80. Kevin S. Bright, Morgan Neville and Caitrin Rogers are also among the executive producers.
That makes it a tribute twice over: one comedian celebrating another, with both now gone.
Part of a comedy-doc month
Netflix is pairing the release with a run of comedy documentaries this October, including projects on Norm Macdonald, Maria Bamford and the sketch series SCTV. If you like comedy history, it is a good month to keep your watchlist open.
Who Is Martin Mull? is rated TV-MA and streaming now on Netflix. Expect laughs, a few surprises and a genuinely moving look at an artist who never fit in one box.