Dave Coulier watches Full house for the first time – and it’s a bittersweet journey.
On Friday, the 63-year-old launches the appropriate title Full Rewind podcast where the actor, who played Joey Gladstone on the sitcom, gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at all 192 episodes. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment promoting the PodCo series, Coulier explains where his relationship with the cast is today, his reaction to the recent drama of Candace Cameron Bure-Miss Benny and his dear friend and co-star, Bob Saget.
“I never looked Full house“, Coulier reveals – but there’s a reason he’s ready to change that. “I think the world is no longer just a happy place, and I think people yearn for that.”
The comedian continues, “I really wanted to pay tribute to the fans who have told us over the years how much they loved Full house and how much it meant to them, and in many cases how it not only shaped their childhood, but improved their childhood. So I really wanted to give back by rewatching all those episodes and just sharing that with the fans…it’s a trip down memory lane for me because a lot of that stuff is new.”
Full house and the Netflix spin-off More complete house, which ran from 2016 to 2020, starred Saget (Danny Tanner), John Stamos (Jesse Katsopolis), Lori Loughlin (Becky Katsopolis), Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie Tanner), Bure (DJ Tanner), and Andrea Barber (Kimmy Gibbler). (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who had a shared duty to play Michelle Tanner, didn’t sign up for the reboot.) The show is still adored by fans, and Coulier thinks the secret sauce, so to speak, is the “real” close relationship between the cast.
“I think people could feel that we really loved each other and still love each other. You can’t fake it. It’s really hard to manufacture,” he shares.
“We send text messages on someone’s birthday, we say congratulations on things, we ask each other for help,” continues Coulier. “It really is a wonderful family. I don’t think any of us at the very beginning expected this to happen for the rest of our lives. So I keep in touch with everyone. Lori is my best girlfriend.”
The series recently made headlines as transgender actress Miss Benny, who starred as “Casey” in More complete house, hinted that Bure wanted his queer persona removed from the show. Bure has made waves for anti-LGBTQ comments in the past; however, she strongly denied Miss Benny’s allegations in a statement to Yahoo. Coulier actually directed Miss Benny in an episode called “The Prom,” which was nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2019.
“It was really good for this to happen, for people to be recognized, for this episode to be recognized. We’ve always been a very inclusive show and we’ve touched on a lot of topics that sitcoms traditionally didn’t talk about, you know, like drugs and alcohol with kids, growing up and all the things that can happen on the journey of adolescence,” says Coulier. He declines to comment on Miss Benny’s viral TikTok allegations, but praises, overall, Bure’s leadership on the cover set.
“Candace was sort of the driving force behind More complete house. She was a producer and she was kind of the leader of the wolf pack with the girls and I thought she was great,” he says. “I was so proud of those girls.”
Coulier says he has “always been Switzerland” in their Full house family.
“Everybody kind of says to me, ‘Oh, here’s what she said. But we’re like family, you know? We bicker, we argue, we call people on their business. We have issues with each other, but at the end of the day, we love each other and we’re getting through it nicely,” he adds. “I mean, we’ve been through pick-ups, cancellations, births, deaths, marriages, divorces — the things that any family goes through.”
Last year, one of the toughest times for the cast and crew unfolded. In January 2022, Saget died suddenly after accidentally hitting his head alone in a hotel room in Orlando.
“It’s hard,” says Coulier of life without Saget. “It’s always really hard. Bob and I met when we were both struggling in comics, I was only 18.”
The actors first met in Detroit when Saget was in town performing at a small club. Coulier recalls that Saget “blew up the room”.
“I just couldn’t take my eyes off him and I thought to myself, that’s how good I want to be. He was so impressive, so funny, so witty and polite,” Coulier recalled. That night, Saget gave Coulier his number and said to reach out if the comic landed in LA “I still have the piece of paper with his number on it that he jotted down that night. It’s in a scrapbook.”
Coulier eventually went to California and ended up crashing at Saget. They were both thrown in Full house, which ran from 1987 to 1995 on ABC. “It was weird how art imitated life when I moved into Danny Tanner’s house and slept in the alcove,” he laughs.
“There are so many things I had with Bob that I could only do with him because of our relationship since we were very young,” Coulier shares. “Barely a week goes by that I don’t drive my truck and think, ‘Oh, that’s funny. I have to – oh, I can’t. I can’t call her and just start singing, you know, in a falsetto voice, some stupid song.”
The first episode of Full Rewind with David Coulier is dedicated to Saget. The series features cameos from familiar faces in the Full house world. Stamos is set to appear as creator Jeff Franklin and guest stars Josh Peck and Marla Sokoloff.
“It’s more of a TV show than a podcast, it’s very visual,” Couiler teases. He hopes fans will feel happy after watching his podcast. “So that I can create this world in the world of Full house has been so much fun.”