While it’s been almost 30 years since Full House concluded, the beloved TGIF series is still watched by many. The cast of the show, meanwhile, have mostly remained close and love looking back at the work they did together. They may seem like a mostly tight unit now, but that wasn't always the case. John Stamos has been vocal about how he and late co-star Bob Saget didn't see eye to eye in the early days. The actor recently shared more thoughts on that while also explaining why Saget was frustrated during early portion of the sitcom's run.
John Stamos previously opened up about how he managed to "piss off" Bob Saget early on. He shared that as a way of getting meatier material, he cultivated the close relationship between his character, Uncle Jesse, and his little niece, Michelle, which Saget did not like. That contributed to the friction between the two, and Stamos summed up how Saget was at the time with the following sentiments he shared on Dave Coulier's Full House Rewind:
He was the most humble egomaniac we’d ever met. … We didn’t like each other in the beginning.
It’s hard to imagine the two not getting along, considering how close they grew over the years. However, that tracks with their on-screen relationships. At first, Uncle Jesse Katsopolis was just the brother-in-law who moved into the Tanner household, after the death of his sister, help raise his nieces with Danny and his friend, Joey Gladstone. Jesse and Danny would sometimes be odds due to the former's unconventional methods of child-rearing.
As time went on, Jesse struck up a friendship with Joey, played by Dave Coulier. The writers took notice of the chemistry between Coulier and Stamos, which benefited them. All the while, though, Bob Saget apparently received the short end of the stick:
You and I immediately had chemistry, and we worked on our stuff. … When you get a script and you rehearse Monday or Tuesday, and Dave and I were get a bit… Because what was happening was the writers and Jeff [Franklin] were watching us off camera, too. And they were seeing our shenanigans and catching our chemistry and they started writing to us. So they would give us these complicated, physical, funny bits, and we would make more out of them. But when you do those in the run-through, you have to be spot on, and we were. Or it gets cut. Where Bob was just kinda like, [makes nonchalant noises]. And then, we just started getting more laughs, and he thought, ‘I’m tired of being the straight man on here.’ I think Jeff said, ‘Well, let’s do more of this cleaning, dust-busting thing.’ [Bob] hated that.
Of course, John Stamos and Bob Saget grew close over the years and became like brothers. Stamos previously shared that Saget was the glue and that the cast's dynamic hasn't been the same since his death. During the sitcom's run, Saget began to receive more of the spotlight on the show. As John Stamos went on to point out, his old buddy always loved to get laughs -- would do what he felt was necessary to get them:
He was a laugh junkie, he had to get his hit. And if he wasn’t getting it from the audience, then he’d get it from the guy pulling the cable.
Bob Saget is greatly missed, but it's been wonderful hearing his co-stars share interesting anecdotes like this since his passing. John Stamos, in particular, has been sharing memories of him in recent months and even included stories about him and their Full House days in his new memoir. The Grandfathered alum also shared a sweet moment he experienced the night Saget died. While it's still hard to fathom that Saget is no longer with us, I'm thankful for his memory and that he was able to push through the early issues he had on the show to become one of the best TV dads ever.
Full House is currently available to stream with a Max subscription, while its sequel series, Fuller House, can be accessed by Netflix subscribers.
