Since his days on Full House, Bob Saget has straddled the line between neat-freak father-of-three Danny Tanner and foul-mouthed comedian, as evidenced in the 2005 dirty yet hilarious film, The Aristocrats.
And now, years after Full House moved to syndication, Saget continues this balancing act with his latest projects, including his return to both the small and big screen.
A comedian before his turn on Full House, Saget has once again started performing stand-up across the country, mainly to college audiences.
“[My stand-up] is R-rated. I talk about having an ex-wife, being on Full House and the video show [America’s Funniest],” Saget said. “I’ve been doing stand-up for 30 years and it’s always been an incarnation of my life.”
Saget said he enjoys the primarily younger demographic he finds at his stand-up shows.
“I do a lot of colleges and I love it because they’re smart and they want to learn,” he said. “If I perform at a school and I get a really good vibe – I just smile and feel like I had a personal relationship with that school.”
Saget also returns to the hosting role he played on America’s Funniest Home Videos for eight years with 1 vs. 100, a game show which pits a contestant against a “mob” of 100 individuals ranging from Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings to Oscar-winning hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia.
The contestant and the mob answer trivia questions as the game progresses. As the player answers questions correctly, mob members who answer incorrectly are eliminated. If the contestant eliminates all 100, they leave with $1 million. But if he or she answers incorrectly at any time, the mob splits the player’s winnings up to that point.
Saget describes the show as a throwback to the classic age of game shows such as Quiz Show.
“[It’s] a trivia show, a simple show, just like the old-school game show kind of thing,” Saget said. “I enjoy doing stuff that reaches millions of people – family stuff.”
1 vs. 100 follows in the footsteps of NBC’s breakout game show success, Deal or No Deal, which Saget’s friend Howie Mandel hosts.
Referencing Mandel’s obsessive compulsive disorder, Saget says 1 vs. 100 distinguishes itself from Deal or No Deal because “we don’t have briefcases, and I’m willing to fully frontally touch someone.”
Recently, Saget also went back to film – writing, directing and starring in the direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins, an obscenity-laden parody of 2005’s March of The Penguins.
For the film, Saget recruited Samuel L. Jackson to play Morgan Freeman’s role of narrator, as well as an all-star cast ranging from Dane Cook to Whoopi Goldberg to Lewis Black. Saget even managed to use the vocal talents of fellow Full House-alums Lori Loughlin and Dave Coulier.
“[Farce of the Penguins] is for the college crowd,” Saget said.
In 2005, Saget also made it back onto the small screen – albeit in a much smaller role than Danny Tanner – in How I Met Your Mother. Saget plays the older version of the show’s main character, Ted Mosby. His voice narrates the show as he tells his children the story of how he met their mother. Saget has never physically been seen on the show, but he isn’t ruling out an appearance.
“They might do a thing where Ted gets stoned, or they slip him a roofie and he becomes me, but I don’t think there’s any plans for that,” he said.
In the end, any discussion with Saget inevitably returns to Full House. But Saget says he doesn’t mind being known as Danny Tanner for the rest of his life.
“What am I going to do about it?” he says.
In fact, this inevitability is part of why Saget uses Tanner and the show in his stand-up.
“You have to address it. For me, it would be like a singer coming out and not singing their hits,” Saget said.
There’s one topic related to Full House, however, that Saget is reluctant to touch: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s continuing stints in celebrity tabloids for their battles with eating disorders and eccentric fashion sense.
“They’re friends of mine,” Saget said. “I just love them. I don’t really mention celebrities in my stand-up, I don’t really find it funny – it’s just like water that goes through people really quickly. How many Michael Jackson jokes do we need to hear?”
1 vs. 100 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC, How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS and Farce of the Penguins is available on DVD now. The Hoff Theater in Stamp Student Union will also show the film multiple times this weekend.
Contact reporter Rudi
Greenberg at greenbergdbk@gmail.com.
