"Fernwood 2 Night" was a talk show, of a sort, and Martin Mull did host it, though not as himself. The other guy you recognized was Fred Willard.

Martin Mull was hosting the show as Barth Gimble, his character from the cult-popular sitcom "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," which was set in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. Thus the series was actually a sitcom spinoff.

That said, "Fernwood 2 Night" was set up as a talk show, with the couch and all, it aired every weeknight, and it did have (some) guests, whose interviews were more or less unscripted.

The show would be best described as an improv-comedy talk-show spoof -- each episode had a general script in terms of what would happen when, and what the hosts would talk about.

Some of the guests were real celebrities, others were actors playing a part. "Those actors who could ad-lib and do improv loved the show," Mull said in a recent interview on AVClub.com. "And Fred and I loved it that way. Some people were a little off-put without having actual hard words in front of them. But not many."

However, Mull and Willard for the most part didn't have lines, and were relying on their improv prowess for their witty host banter.

And witty though it was, the show didn't last long -- it premiered in July 1977 and was gone by September -- and has since faded into late-'70s obscurity.

Clips can still be found online, but so far the only full episodes available are the first 10, which were included as bonus features in the "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" DVD box set.

"Fernwood 2 Night" (and "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman") were created by sitcom legend Norman Lear, the man who pretty much defined '70s comedy with such other shows as "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son."

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