Family Man

 If you grew up watching the American Broadcast Company's TGIF television lineup, well, you weren't me. But a lot of people weren't me, which means that many of you will probably still be nursing the wounds created by the loss of Bob Saget. I don't tend to throw this around much, but maybe it's appropriate in this case: TV funnyman Bob Saget. 

Bob played widowed dad Danny Tanner, the head of the Full House that aired on ABC from 1987 to 1995. He had the Mister Brady role of dispensing fatherly wisdom when hijinks went awry and there was a lesson to be learned. Along for the ride were Uncle Jessie, played by John Stamos, who had finally made the big time after years of playing troubled rock and roller Blackie Parrish on General Hospital. Helping fill up the house was Dave Coulier of the funny voices, who went on to have his own brush with the music biz when he became the subject of a bitter Alanis Morissette singalong, "You Oughta Know." So Bob must have been the quiet stable one, right?

If you ever had the opportunity to witness some of Bob Saget's standup routine, you might be surprised that ABC once trusted a house full of little girls to this man. This was the face of America's Funniest Home Videos. For eight years. How did all this awfulness sneak in under the radar of the audience who were tuning in for Danny Tanner to dole out world weary wisdom to his three pre-teen daughters? If anyone was going to steer them wrong it had to be Uncle Jesse or Uncle Joey, right?

Except Bob had this other persona, the one that he used in his standup act, the one that even back in 1984 was getting pretty close to the edge of what standards and practices on network TV would have considered filthy. Perhaps ABC execs didn't have cable back then. Who knows? But somehow Bob Saget became beloved father figure and host of America's Funniest Pending Lawsuits. 

Little did they know. 

Or maybe they knew all along, and they were in on the joke. Bob wrote a book titled, Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian.  This wasn't exactly a secret. Unless you can imagine that ABC executives don't read. Which isn't so hard to believe. But Bob danced on a line of the Terra, and he will be missed, as he was by so many for so very long. Aloha, Bob.