Mull in Montreal: Let the Comedy Begin

What do you get when you put Martin Mull with 250 other comics for an 11-day laugh-a-thon?

“The closest thing we’ve come to it is the U.S. Senate,” said Mull, with his classic deadpan.

He’s discussing “Just For Laughs: The Montreal International Comedy Festival,” where Mull will join big-name veterans such as Bob Newhart and Mort Sahl and fresh-faced comics looking for their first break.

Mull has sent his tux to the cleaners in anticipation of the festival, more than a week of stand-up shows in Montreal clubs, street acts and musical numbers culminating in a cable program.

MTV will broadcast a variety of segments from the festival Saturday between noon and 3:30 p.m. and Sunday between 2:30 and 6 p.m. And on Saturday at 10 p.m. Showtime will air the festival’s 90-minute finale, to be hosted by Newhart in a Montreal hotel.

As part of the finale, Mull will be anchoring the street, showing the audience some of the more “dangerous” routines-such as people lighting themselves on fire and jumping off buildings. Things a chuckling Peter Kaminsky said are not “suitable for the theater.”

Kaminsky, the show’s producer, said the straight-faced Mull with his smooth, anchorman-like voice is perfect to show off the wacky street acts, the vaudevillian fare of the show.

But Mull also will get to show some wackiness of his own. What he calls his “lavish musical number” will end the Showtime production. Called “Let’s Not Say Au Revoir, Let’s Just Say Hors d’oeuvres,” it’s in French and English, inspired by the Montreal locale.

“It’s completely silly and insincere; it will bring a tear to the eye and a tear to the ear,” said Kaminsky.

The Showtime special will be a true variety show, according to Kaminsky. “We’ll have a little bit of everything: music, stand-up, animation, impressions, group sex and take-out food.”

He gets hysterical just talking about Mull: “He makes you laugh so hard you get like an 11-year-old and your milk comes out of your nose.”

But Mull, who has made people laugh in his stand-up routines, in his “The History of White People in America” spoofs and on classic sitcoms “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and “Fernwood 2/Night,” doesn’t see himself as a “joke person per se.”

“I’m more tonal. I’m a self-denigrating storyteller. I deflate my own humanity.”

He denied having a theme that runs through his acts, despite his “White Person” series, which took a tongue-in-cheek look at Midwesterners.

“If there ever has been any kind of theme in my comedy, it’s more like playing a character. Someone who comes off as under-equipped and overzealous,” he said.

He paused, then laughed. “I’d like to think I’m not quite as big a jerk as the man I play up there.”

Mull does, however, draw his material from real life. His jokes come from recent things that happen to him. The more recent the better, he said. “Like up until 30 seconds ago.”

To Mull, that’s the best way for comics to find material. And that’s why he doesn’t think younger comedians, such as those who’ll be at the Montreal comedy fest, have much to learn from him. “Comics learn from everyone, from keeping their eyes open. Everything in life is preparation. You don’t have to look at other comics.”

Still, with all those comics together, it should be “bilaterally interesting.”

“It’ll be good for the veterans to see the new comics, and for the new ones to see how we who have been around the block can repeat ourselves for 20 years and still make a living,” said Mull, who sounds less like a comic and more like a professor with his dry tone and matter-of-fact delivery.

In fact, he really is more than a comedian. He holds a master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and is an accomplished painter with a show set to open in a New York City gallery.

But to Mull, the old masters are those in the art of comedy, and he is excited about the opportunity to schmooze with some of the greats. He looks forward to working with Newhart, whom he has never met. “He knows the meaning of the word droll, and a good droll is at the top of my list,” Mull said.

Cable is a great breeding ground for comedy, and the perfect place for the festival finale to air, he said. “The freedom a comedian enjoys on cable is unrivaled.”

Mull’s goal for the festival, he added: “Major three-picture movie deals for everyone there.”