Mr. Mull, who was also an artist and a musician, had a long list of credits that included the sitcoms “Roseanne” and “Veep.”

Martin Mull, who died last Thursday at age 80, took a curious route upon receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He became a comedian — a calling only marginally more viable, economically speaking, than sustaining oneself as an artist. Yet sustain himself Mull did, and handsomely too.

Comedian and actor Martin Mull has died. Mull's daughter says her father died Thursday after a long illness. He was 80 years old.