Former “Full House” star Jodie Sweetin still feels the presence of late Bob Saget, who for years acted as her father figure both on and off the screen.
Speaking to TODAY.com, the 41-year-old says Saget made her feel confident in her abilities as a child actor on “Full House.”
Years later, that confidence gave her the boost to try out something completely different: Stand-up comedy, Saget’s own speciality.
“Bob always believed in me,” she says. “He’d always say, ‘You’re so funny. Your timing’s so great.’ And after he passed … a couple opportunities came up and I started doing it. People were like, ‘Bob would be so proud of you. He would be so proud of you.’”
"Every time I get to do comedy, I think of Bob."
Jodie Sweetin
From the time she was cast on “Full House” at 5, Sweetin says comedians Saget and Dave Coulier always included her in jokes while on set.
“They’d keep it clean but they brought that world to me and I absorbed it,” she said. “Every time I get to do comedy, I think of Bob.”
Sweetin, who played Stephanie Tanner, the middle daughter of Saget’s character, Danner Tanner, on “Full House” and reboot “Fuller House,” says that the cast dynamic has changed since he passed in January 2022, now that “the head of the family is gone.”
“It’s different now, even group texts,” she says. “I still go to text the group and start off with Bob’s name to find the group text … or I just expect him to chime in and me and him keep a joke going for far too long.”
She adds that, in a “weird way,” the death has brought the “Full House” alums closer together.
“It allows you to go through and share all those memories together again and talk about it and remind yourself just why we’ve all been so close for 37 years,” Sweetin says.
The day after the television star was found dead in a Florida hotel room, Sweetin shared a heartfelt tribute with several behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram.
“There aren’t enough words to express what I’m feeling today. Nor are they big enough to capture even a slice of who he was,” she wrote.
“One thing I do know, is that we never missed a chance to tell each other, ‘I love you.’ Every time we talked, there were at least 3 or 4 exchanged at the end of a conversation, whether it was text, phone call or in person. And he usually had to have the last word, ‘I love you more…’
She went on to name all the moments and memories that have reminded her of Saget, like hearing particular songs, talking about the love of comedy, inside jokes, laughing at the kitchen table on the set of “Full House,” him and Coulier dancing together at her 13th birthday and spending weekends with his family eating blueberry pancakes.
“These are just a few of the special memories I hold in my heart and that keep playing on the carousel of memories in my mind,” she wrote.
When Sweetin tied the knot with Mescal Wasilewski in July 2022, she said she could feel the presence of her late TV dad thanks to a mistake by John Stamos.
Sweetin told E!’s Daily Pop that Stamos, who played Jesse Katsopolis on the show, and his wife, Caitlin McHugh, were heading out for her wedding when McHugh suggested her husband change his shirt.
Grabbing another shirt from his closet, Stamos realized once in the car that the shirt was too big. In that moment, Stamos realized he accidentally grabbed Saget’s shirt, which was gifted to him by the late comedian’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, after he died.
“It was this black button-up that Bob would always wear. Bob always had a black button-up on,” Sweetin said. “It was Bob’s shirt.”
Despite the fit, Stamos showed up in Saget’s shirt to Sweetin’s wedding and made sure his former co-star noticed.
“So, Bob was there in his weird little way,” she said.
