Bob Saget is sick of all the anger, just wants to share ‘not G-rated’ comedy with Wichita
A tip for any journalist nervous about a phone interview with Bob Saget — the comedian best known for both his X-rated humor and for starring in one of the most G-rated television shows in modern history: “Full House.”
There’s no need to pore over your questions in advance. In fact, you don’t even need to come up with any.
When Saget calls, he’ll seem genuinely thrilled to be talking to you, and as soon as the introductions and niceties are complete, he’ll launch into a stream-of-consciousness oration on everything that’s on his mind. All you need to do is laugh and take notes.
And Saget, the 65-year-old comedian who earned fame playing sweet and sappy dad Danny Tanner on ABC’s “Full House” from 1987 to 1995 (and on the Netflix sequel “Fuller House” from 2016 to 2020), has a lot to say, especially about the mental state of America in 2021.
Calling from his office in Los Angeles last week, Saget — who is bringing his stand-up tour to Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre on Dec. 2 — said that his most important job of late is to “spread the love” in a world that gets scarier and more divided all the time.
People are angry, he said, and he’s alarmed by the amount of dissension he sees out there. He’s even had audience members start arguing at his shows.
“The whole world has become a UFC match, and I’m sick of it,” he said. “I’m just trying to entertain people.”
That’s what Saget will aim to do at his Wichita show, where he will share anecdotes and stories from his life and his travels, including lots of airplane material: “Things have happened that you can’t believe happen,” he said. “I could do two hours.”
Though Saget is best known for his time on “Full House,” his resume also includes an eight-year stint hosting “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and nine years providing the narrator’s voice on “How I Met Your Mother.” He’s also earned notice lately for a podcast he launched in April 2020 called “Bob Saget’s Here For You.” He’s recorded 100 episodes where he calls stars like Jason Sudeikis, Whoopi Goldberg, Marlon Wayans and former co-star John Stamos to see how they’re doing with the pandemic and the generally depressing state of the world.
Over the years, though, audiences have learned that Saget the after-hours comedian has very little in common with Saget the prime-time television star.
He made headlines as one of the comedians featured in the 2005 documentary “The Aristocrats,” which traced the history of the world’s most famous, most raunchy dirty joke. (Saget’s version of the joke was particularly filthy.) He also took heat when footage of a 2008 Comedy Central roast of Saget resurfaced and was filled with distasteful jokes from other comedians about Saget’s relationship with his young co-stars, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. (He addressed the controversy in his 2014 memoir “Dirty Daddy: The chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian.”)
These days, Saget said, his stand up show is “not as blue” as it was when his f-bomb-laced HBO special “That Ain’t Right” was released in 2007.
His comedy is still immature and racy, but it has more of a “dad joke” feel to it, he said. Still, it’s far from G-rated, although Saget said he has no problem with 15-year-olds seeing his show. Most of them have seen “South Park,” he reasons, so they’re already ruined.
Nonetheless, people must be at least 18 to enter Saget’s Orpheum show.
“My audience for stand up goes from 18 with a fake ID to pretty much close to death,” he said. “I get people who want to just go out and laugh like they used to when they would go to Vegas.”
Bob Saget
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 2, doors open 6 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 200 N. Broadway
Tickets: $30-$70 at selectaseat.com, by calling 316-758-7328 or at the Select-A-Seat box office at Intrust Bank Arena
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 5:01 AM.
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