BOB SAGET
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 12
Cost: $66
Where: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
Information: Lobero box office at 963-0761, www.lobero.org; www.bobsaget.com.
Mature content: Those attending must be 18 or older.
Love wasn’t the only reason Bob Saget got married last year.
“I did it because you get an immediate seven minutes of new material,” the standup comic and TV dad told the News-Press by phone recently from Burbank about marrying Kelly Rizzo. “I would not lie. I wrote a song about it, ‘I’m Not in Love with My Wife’s Father.’ ”
Mr. Saget, who also sings and plays guitar, laughed as he sat in his car in a parking lot at Warner Bros. Studios. He had just driven there to play Danny Tanner again in the fifth and final season of Netflix’s “Fuller House.”
Mr. Saget, 63, promises to tell stories about his first show as TV dad Danny, ABC’s “Full House” (1987-1995), as well as other facets of his busy life, when he performs at 8 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
This will be the first gig at the Lobero, a theater he said he had heard about and wanted to play.
“The Lobero Theatre is such a beautiful, smaller venue. It’s like being in their (the audience’s) living room because when you’re on a TV show for years, you’re in people’s living rooms, and they feel like they know you,” Mr. Saget said. “And they kind of do.”
He compared his Lobero show to a town hall meeting.
“I’ll have a lot to talk about, between my own childhood, fast-forwarding to being a good dad in real life and going through a divorce,” Mr. Saget said.
“I have three daughters, and I love them deeply,” he said.
But the TV and real-life dad cautioned that his stand-up comedy is for mature audiences. Those attending must be 18 or older.
“I don’t want 10-year-olds in the audience. It’s PG-17. It’s a soft R,” said Mr. Saget, noting he might curse here and there.
He compared his comedy to a 9-year-old’s mischief, noting that most comedians tend to keep their youthful attitudes.
The show includes Mr. Saget’s music. He plans to close with the song “We’ve Got to Be Kind to Each Other,” which he performed in one of his comedy specials.
The Philadelphia native said his interest in entertainment developed when he was 9 and started making Super 8 millimeter movies. Others noticed his talent and sense of humor.
“I was 17. I was going to be a doctor and I had a teacher who said, ‘Don’t become a doctor. Be a comedian,’ ” Mr. Saget said. “The punch line to that is she saved thousand of lives — really, truthfully.”
He started going on stage at age 17 and opened for comics such as Frank Stallone Jr., movie star Sylvester Stallone’s brother, in Philadelphia.
Mr. Saget performed improv at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia while attending film school at nearby Temple University. At age 21, he won an award for a movie he made about his nephew, whose face was reconstructed, and moved to Los Angeles.
Mr. Saget went on to be a warm-up comic in the studio audience for “Bosom Buddies,” the 1980-82 ABC sitcom starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. He also performed at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, where he got to know comics such as David Letterman, Billy Crystal, Michael Keaton and Robin Williams.
“I got to hang out with Richard Pryor and be in a movie with him called ‘Critical Condition’ (1987),’ ” Mr. Saget said.
After various guest roles on 1980s sitcoms, Mr. Saget landed his most famous character, widowed broadcaster Danny Tanner, on “Full House” in 1987 when he was 30. The TV dad got help raising his three daughters from his brother-in-law, rock musician Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos), and his best friend, comedian Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier).
Mr. Saget compared Danny to Richie Cunningham on “Happy Days” and Jesse to the Fonz and Joey to “Potsie” or Ralph Malph.
He added that he wanted Danny to also resemble Felix Unger from “The Odd Couple” and be obsessed with cleanliness.
“I also wanted him to hug people a lot because I do hug in normal life,” Mr. Saget said. “I’m a hugger.”
The actor praised Candace Cameron Bure and Jodie Sweetin for playing daughters D.J. and Stephanie respectively. “Jodie was so hilarious, and Candace was so earnest and loving,”
He also complimented Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the twins who took turns playing Michelle, the youngest daughter. “It was cute beyond words.
“I think what really worked was the chemistry between the characters, and the little kids weren’t objectified as being little kids,” Mr. Saget said. “They weren’t talked down to. They were major characters.”
Mr. Saget said young viewers at home became invested in Michelle’s problems. “The little kid is sitting there, going, ‘What is Michelle going to do, Mommy?’ It would get resolved. It was so sweet.”
Besides acting on “Full House,” Mr. Saget hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos” from 1989 to 1997 on ABC. Sometime this winter or spring, he will follow that up by hosting “Videos After Dark” on the same network. He’s also a co-executive producer and writer for the 10 p.m. home video series with an edgier side.
His other projects include “Benjamin,” a recent original Redbox drug intervention comedy that he directed and starred in. He also is directing a documentary about comedian Martin Mull.
And Mr. Saget is a longtime board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, which his friend, the late Santa Barbara resident Sharon Monsky, started in 1987.
“She’s been gone many years, but we carry on her legacy, and we’ve raised over $9 billion for research,” said Mr. Saget, who lost his sister, Gay Saget, to the autoimmune, rheumatic and chronic disease in 1994 after he became involved with the foundation. She was 47.
Mr. Saget raised awareness by directing a 1996 ABC movie about a woman struggling with scleroderma: “For Hope,” starring Dana Delany.
He also has co-produced and hosted the foundation’s “Cool Comedy Hot Cuisine” benefits in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
During recent years, Mr. Saget has seen his “Full House” cast mates on the set of “Fuller House.” The sequel stars Ms. Cameron Bure, back as D.J. and this time the show’s single parent, and Ms. Sweeten, returning as Stephanie.
Mr. Saget, Mr. Coulier and Mr. Stamos have reprised their characters in various episodes, and Ms. Cameron Bure and Mr. Coulier have worked behind the cameras as directors.
“Joey Gladstone’s directing me! It’s a little strange!” he said with a laugh just before going into the Warner Bros. sound stage and taking instructions from Mr. Coulier. “It’s fun, though.”
