Bob Saget, the comedian and TV actor best known for playing patriarch Danny Tanner on Full House, has died at 65.
The actor was found dead in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday afternoon. His death was confirmed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which said that “detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case,” and later by his family, who said in a statement: “We are devastated to confirm that our beloved Bob passed away. He was everything to us and we want you to know how much he loved his fans, performing live and bringing people from all walks of life together with laughter.”
Saget was in the midst of his I Don’t Do Negative stand-up comedy tour that was set to take him all over the country, wrapping in Houston, Texas, in June.
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A number of Saget’s comedy contemporaries, from Jim Gaffigan to Marc Maron, posted their condolences to Twitter, complimenting his kindness:
Saget was born into a Jewish family in Philadelphia, the son of a supermarket-executive father and a mother who worked as a hospital administrator. His childhood was split between California and Philly, and he graduated from Temple University before embarking on a career in entertainment. His big break came in 1987, when he landed the role of Danny Tanner, an affable single dad raising three daughters in San Francisco with the help of his best friend Joey (Dave Coulier) and brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos), on the ABC sitcom Full House. The series was an audience hit, and ran for eight seasons before ending its run in 1995.
His Full House co-star and longtime friend John Stamos tweeted in the wake of his passing:
His message was shortly followed by one from Saget’s on-screen daughter in Full House, Candace Cameron Bure:
In addition to Full House, Saget hosted the popular comedy-clip program America’s Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1997, made memorable cameos as a cocaine addict in the Dave Chappelle cult classic Half Baked and a sex-crazed version of himself in the HBO show Entourage, and directed the 1998 comedy Dirty Work starring Norm Macdonald, who passed away last September. He also provided the voice of Ted Mosby on the acclaimed CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
To adult audiences, Saget’s persona stood in stark contrast to his sitcom one. He was known as a famously “dirty” stand-up comedian, peppering his stand-up specials with sex jokes while cursing up a storm.
One of his most memorable routines involved him advising a member of the audience not to “fuck a goat,” as featured on his 2007 HBO special That Ain’t Right.
“Don’t fuck a goat, do you hear me, son?” he said. “A goat will eat a tin can, they’ll eat fuckin’ junk. They’ll chew it up. You ever watch ’em? They’ll fuckin’ eat shit. And they’ll eat your junk right off… you’ll have a nipple where your dick was. And you will be fucked.”
And of course, there was Saget’s uproarious appearance in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, about the filthiest joke in history. Here is Saget’s riff on it, which has to be seen (or heard) to be believed:
Saget was also a renowned philanthropist, serving on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a non-profit that funds research into the autoimmune disease, and raising millions for the organization. His sister, Gay, passed away from scleroderma at age 47. He died on her birthday.
In recent years, Saget had been hosting a podcast titled Bob Saget’s Here For You and returned to his first love, stand-up comedy.
Saget’s final message to the public, a tweet sent in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 9, said, “Loved tonight’s show @PV_ConcertHall in Jacksonville. Appreciative audience. Thanks again to @RealTimWilkins for opening. I had no idea I did a 2 hr set tonight. I’m happily addicted again to this shit.”
The comedy icon leaves behind his wife of three years, Kelly Rizzo, and three daughters.
