I started putting a bunch of dick jokes on Twitter the other day, and I just kept doing it because it was really annoying people,” says Bob Saget. “Well, I’m a 9-year-old boy. You tell me not to say something, and I’ll just say it.”
In actuality, Saget is 59 and has spent the past three decades as an actor and comedian. His fictional personas bounce back and forth from the squeaky clean, family-oriented father figure to the raunchy, foul-mouthed deviant — note his infamous line from Half Baked, “I used to suck dick for coke.” Of course, Saget’s actual personality is more nuanced, falling somewhere in between: a father who enjoys telling dirty jokes. He’s grateful for his iconic past that got him where he is today, and he’s looking forward to a future of new opportunities.
Flip to almost any TV channel, and you’ll probably find Saget starring in an episode of Full House, hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos, narrating How I Met Your Mother or making a cameo on a variety of shows from Entourage to Law & Order. He’s been on Broadway, written the bestselling book Dirty Daddy and toured the world as a comic.
Saget is a busy man with no plans of slowing down. Just recently he shot scenes for the Full House reboot, Fuller House, and did an episode for the new show Grandfathered, starring John Stamos, who Saget affectionately refers to as his sister. Saget is also on his way back to Broadway to play Pastor Greg in the Tony-nominated play Hand to God.
But before heading to New York City, Saget is stopping by Denver to play Comedy Works on Oct. 16 and 17. He calls the gig his last hurrah as he plans to put touring on the back burner for a few months. It’s a tight fit in his schedule, but Saget says he’s happy to make the time because Comedy Works is one of his favorite clubs in the country.
It’s easy to label Saget’s stand-up as vulgar or adult-oriented, but he isn’t interested in putting himself in a box. His only goal is to entertain. His sets contain a little bit of everything, with anecdotes, crowd work and some comedy songs, and he also plans on releasing a new special next year.
“It’s so funny. People always go, ‘You’re so blue.’ Not really. I’m just doing what I find funny. … I’m a personal comedian,” Saget says. “The newer stuff I’m working on is about the things about us that are universal: birth and death… I lost my mom a year and a half ago. And it’s about relationships. I’m a guy who is not in one at the moment.”
Saget also draws on his past roles, frequently poking fun at costars John Stamos and Dave Coulier, and also himself with songs like “Danny Tanner Was Not Gay.” He says he’s grateful for an outlet to let loose.
“It’s a really wonderful thing to be able to go up on stage and get some of your thoughts and your devils out,” he says.
Surely Saget will get a plethora of new material for his set as he reprises the role of the goofy, neat, hug-obsessed Danny Tanner in Netflix’s Fuller House, a reboot of the ’90s sitcom, premiering in 2016. Creator Jeff Franklin and the entire cast is back — minus the evermysterious Olsen twins — to once again be the light waiting to carry us home. It was easy to come back, Saget says, but it was also slightly shocking.
“I never thought I’d be walking through the door again,” he says. “I never thought I’d be in that house again — that’s the truth.”
A reboot shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to Saget since Full House fans have hungrily latched on to every reunion in recent years. The cast stirred up attention when they reunited for the 25th anniversary back in 2012. Then in 2014, Saget and his buds Stamos and Coulier reprised Danny, Jesse and Joey for a sketch with Jimmy Fallon that garnered more than 14 million views on YouTube. Soon after, they reunited again in Stamos’ Super Bowl commercial for Oikos Greek Yogurt. Rumors then began percolating of a spinoff in the works, and it was finally confirmed back in April, prompting fans to exclaim their favorite Full House catchphrase (“Have mercy!” “Cut it out!” “Woah baby!” “How rude [that it took this long]!” etc.).
Fuller House centers on D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) who is recently widowed, raising two sons and pregnant with a third child. She gets help from sister Stephanie ( Jodie Sweetin) and best friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber), who move in with her. There’s no need to point out the obvious parallels between the shows’ plotlines, but fans are curious to know if some Full House staples will return to the reboot — the opening credits, the sappy music, Comet, Mr. Woodchuck, the Beach Boys? But don’t bother asking Saget — he’s sworn to secrecy.
He does say the show is very similar to the original, with the necessary added updates.
“It is more adult and has more references that are contemporary. I mean, no one’s talking like they did in the ’80s, and none of us have bouffants. There’s no mullets in the show.” he says with a laugh. “And John [Stamos] still does look incredibly good. But I’m getting very sick of it. I’ve really had enough of how good he looks.”
Even though it’s been 20 years since the original show ended, the cast has remained in touch, so Saget says coming back together felt natural. Behind the scenes, the co-stars seem to be having a blast as evidenced by their frequent social media updates, sharing photos from hanging on-set at table reads or stealing golf carts, and off-set by celebrating Stamos’ birthday with a pool party.
“We’ve never stopped being friends. We’ve never stopped seeing each other,” Saget says. “So it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God! It’s so amazing to see you.’ It was like, ‘Hey, what happened to that thing we talked about last week?’”
The same chemistry was felt on the original show and added to its charm, as every character seemed genuinely bonded to the others.
“There was a lot of love, and you could see it in between. And they always say it’s the stuff between the lines that people can feel,” Saget says.
There is a legacy that has stayed with the show. Because of consistent reruns airing throughout the television world, several generations have grown up with the Tanners. And Saget still gets recognized even though he’s packed on a few years — and pounds.
“Little kids are watching it like they’ve never seen it before,” he says. “The biggest compliment for me is, which I never ever agree with, is when a 3-year-old goes, ‘You’re Danny Tanner!’ And I’m like, ‘How do you even recognize me, kid?’ I don’t look the same. I got glasses. I got a little more girth. I mean, come on.”
As Netflix gears up to reintroduction the Tanner family to television, it faces the common challenges of other franchise spinoffs. The passing of time adds a candy coating of nostalgia on the source material, but modern-day audiences have different palates. It’s a delicate balance of pleasing old fans but also letting the show find its own flavor and new fans. Airing on Netflix might help the reboot’s success, as other Netflix original shows such as Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and the fourth season of Arrested Development have garnered critical and viewer acclaim. Or it also could be harmful for the show to not be sandwiched by other family programs on network pre-packaged sitcom nights, as it was way back when. Only time will tell.
But Saget is confident that fans old and new will approve.
“It’s really going to satisfy a lot of people,” he says. “I’m very happy with what they’ve done with it, and I think a lot of people are going to be happy with it too.”
