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Revision as of 05:40, 11 May 2007 by Furrykef (talk | contribs) (Unprotected Bob Saget: This looks like unprotection is long overdue)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Bob Saget | |
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| File:Bob Saget Routine.JPGBob Saget during his standup routine | |
| Born | Robert Lane Saget |
| Height | 6ft 4in (1.93 m) |
| Spouse | Sherri Kramer (1982 - 1997) (divorced) 3 children |
Bob Saget (born Robert Lane Saget on May 17, 1956 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and game show host best known for his role as Danny Tanner in the ABC sitcom Full House from 1987 to 1995, as host of America's Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1997 and as host of 1 vs. 100 since 2006.
Saget is generally known for his clean-cut, family-friendly television persona from the hit shows Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos (which have been widely rerun in syndication for over a decade). In contrast, Saget is known for using vulgar language and risque subject matter in his stand-up comedy act and frequent appearance on the Opie and Anthony Show. He has, as a result, become a frequent subject of satire and parody, in which he sometimes willingly participates.
Early life and career
Saget was born in Philadelphia and then moved to Lexington, Virginia when he was two years old. He attended Rockbridge County High School before moving back to Philadelphia and graduating from Abington Senior High School; he has since been enshrined in its Hall of Fame. He later enrolled at Temple University, where he made a student film, Through Adam's Eyes, which in 1977 was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards.
After college, Saget took a number of small-scale parts and began his relatively unknown stand-up comedy career before achieving national recognition with his role of Danny Tanner on Full House. He played the widowed father of three daughters. He also became the first host of America's Funniest Home Videos. Bob Saget was the first person (since Robert Q. Lewis in the 1950s) to star in two simultaneous prime-time television shows, and both shows were often in the top-ten TV ratings.
America's Funniest Home Videos
On America's Funniest Home Videos Bob Saget was virtually the entire cast. He was seen on-camera, introducing video clips of accident-prone people and amazing animals. He was also heard as a voice-over performer, narrating or supplying funny voices for these same clips. The scripted material that Saget had to read for the studio audience was often embarrassingly weak (causing some viewers to unfairly blame Saget himself for the low humor content), but he was very inventive and witty in the voice-overs, often indulging in celebrity impersonations, dialect humor, and clever puns.
Saget soon tired of the restrictive format, and the producers' ill-conceived ideas also made Saget look bad: having him interact with an unfunny video cartoon character; holding a nationwide contest to find a co-host for Saget; forcing him to use silly props; hiring other performers to heckle him. Saget was anxious to pursue other opportunities in the entertainment industry, but his producers adamantly refused to release him from his contract. His frustration grew when Full House was cancelled but Videos wasn't. Some of this frustration was visible on the air: Saget began making pointed comments about his "binding legal agreement" and his inept producers. During the last year of his contract, Saget obviously wanted to be somewhere else. He was putting only the minimum amount of enthusiasm in his performances, which finally came to an end in 1997.
Standup persona
In contrast to his mild, family-friendly manner on the aforementioned television programs, Saget is also known for raunchy, unabashedly vulgar stand-up comedy routines. In the mid-'80s, cable viewers got a taste of his early stand-up routine when he was featured on one of Rodney Dangerfield's HBO specials. He appeared alongside up-and-coming comedians like Sam Kinison, Rosanne Barr, Rita Rudner, and Bob Nelson. His brief appearance in Half Baked (1998) was a shock to many viewers who were not familiar with Saget's standup material. His one piece of dialogue, in which he explains that he used to perform fellatio for crack cocaine, is one of the more infamous lines from the movie. His performance of the traditional joke "The Aristocrats" (in the 2005 movie of the same name) is arguably the foulest telling in the film.
His stand-up routine typically finds him making fun of his incredibly clean-cut television image and deriding the quality of Full House. Regardless, like others on the show, he remains close to his cast mates, and even at times tours on the stand-up circuit with Dave Coulier. Saget uses digression as a large part of his act.
Continued career
After an unsuccessful comeback sitcom, Raising Dad, in 2001, Saget turned to directing. He is currently acting on stage in New York City and serves as the narrator playing the older Ted in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which debuted September 19, 2005.
Saget's sister died of scleroderma. Her life story was the inspiration for Saget's semi-autobiographical ABC television movie, For Hope, which he directed. Saget is currently a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, the only organization in the United States dedicated solely to finding a cure for the disease. Among other causes, Saget has also donated extensively to the NAACP.
Saget reprised his bad boy image once again in a Season 2 episode of Entourage playing himself and the next door neighbor of Vincent Chase.
In 2006, Jamie Kennedy released a rap song and music video entitled "Rollin' With Saget" which featured Saget.
Saget wrote, directed, and stars in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, that was released direct-to-DVD in January 2007.
On August 7, 2006, NBC announced that Bob Saget would host NBC's new game show 1 vs. 100, which debuted October 13, 2006.
Bob Saget has also recently developed a relationship with radio hosts Opie and Anthony. He performed at most of the shows on the Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour in the summer of 2006. He occasionally calls in and makes live studio appearances.
Saget also frequently makes appearances on the morning show Elliot in the Morning for DC101.
Bob Saget also plays the role of Commissioner for a southeast Pennsylvania-based professional wrestling company, CHIKARA, although his appearances are few.
An episode of Saturday Night Live made reference to Bob Saget's vulgarities. Jeff Goldblum was the host of the episode, and played himself in a sketch where David Spade plays a video rental store clerk who is very skilled at his job. A mother and child are shocked to meet Jeff Goldblum at the same time he is renting an X-rated movie, to which he clerk tells Goldblum "Do not worry. You are not alone. I meet Bob Saget a lot, he rents a lot of films in which have woman-woman relationships. Great guy, in my opinion."
On March 30th 2007, Saget appeared at NYU's Skirball Center for the performing arts, and performed two hour and a half shows that will be edited together to create his upcoming HBO Stand up special. The act referenced, among his usual fair of self-parody, vulgarity, and raunch, several references to The Aristocrats joke and film, and the effect it has had on his public image.
Saget appeared as himself on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 30, 2007. Conan was doing a week of shows in San Francisco, and while taping a tour of the city, he went to the house from Full House. When Conan knocked on the door, Saget surprisingly answered, claiming that they had never left after the series ended. Late Night then spoofed the Full House introduction. Afterwards, Saget accompanied Conan on a tour of San Francisco in a GoCar, which had to be pushed uphill. Saget and Conan then abandoned the GoCar on top of a San Francisco hill.
Filmography and TV appearances
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien as himself (2007)
- Farce of the Penguins director (2007)
- The Art of Making Cheese as host
- 1 vs. 100 as host
- Law & Order: SVU in episode: "Choreographed" (episode # 8009)
- Blowin' Up as himself in Episode 1 (2006)
- Army Armine (2006?)
- Casper's Scare School (2006)
- How I Met Your Mother as narrator (2005-Present)
- Madagascar (voice) (2005)
- Entourage HBO series; as himself in Episode 13 "Neighbors" (2005)
- The Aristocrats (2005)
- Huff as Butch in Episode 5 "Flashpants" (2004)
- New York Minute (2004)(cameo)
- Joey as himself in Episode 11 "Joey and the Roadtrip" (2004)
- Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
- Raising Dad (2001)
- Becoming Dick (2000)
- Half Baked (1998)
- Dirty Work (1998)
- Jitters (1997)
- For Hope (1996)
- Father and Scout (1994)
- The Larry Sanders Show (1992,1994) as himself in "Hey Now" and "Office Romance"
- America's Funniest Home Videos as host (1989–1997)
- Full House (1987–1995) as Danny Tanner
- Critical Condition (1987)
- The Morning Program (1987)
- New Love,American Style (1985)
- The Greatest American Hero (1983)
- Apartment Hunting (1981)
- Full Moon High (1981)
- Bosom Buddies (1981)
- Devices (1980)
- Outer Touch (1979)
- Through Adams Eyes (1977)
Discography
- "Rollin' With Saget" (Jamie Kennedy featuring Bob Saget)
References
External links
- Official website
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- List of Jewish Celebrities, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
- Bob Saget Interview by Beth Stevens on Broadway.com
- Bob Saget on Tom Green Live
- Bob Saget is God
- American film directors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American stand-up comedians
- Jewish American actors
- Jewish American comedians
- People from Philadelphia
- 1956 births
- Living people
- English-language film directors
- Participants in American reality television series
- American game show hosts
- 1 vs. 100
- Opie and Anthony