Eternal return, adopted by the likes of Nietzche, is a concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space—and Full House has been doing that pretty much every moment on some TV station in America and throughout the world since the legendary ABC series was cancelled in the mid-nineties. Because of this, just about everyone knows comedian Dave Coulier as the lovable Uncle Joey Gladstone from the ubiquitous sitcom. Most people are also aware that his ex-girlfriend Alanis Morissette’s 1995, scorned-woman anthem ‘You Oughta Know’ was written about him. Naturally, the first question I asked him was if there was ever a day in his life that he was not asked about these two subjects?
“You know, it’s mostly from people like yourself,” says Coulier. “It’s just such old information that I’m amazed it’s persisted this long.”
Point taken. While most people are well-acquainted with Coulier’s work on Full House, most aren’t quite as familiar with his blue collar upbringing in Detroit, where his recently passed mother was his biggest supporter in trying to get him to follow his dream. She even came to his shows because she thought people would be more likely to give him laughs if they knew his mother was in the front row.
“In Detroit, everyone was like, ‘you should get into the car business,’ and everybody there did that, and she was the one person who said, ‘the heck with that,’ you got a dream here and you gotta follow that,” shares Coulier.
Coulier’s voice has shown up in myriad places throughout the last few decades, a result of his wide range of impressions often done for other comedians as a lark at the Comedy Store in LA. In addition to voicing cartoon versions of famous actors such as Robin Williams and Bill Murray in the Mork & Mindy and Ghostbusters animated series, respectively, one of his stranger jobs was doing voice-over work for the films of Richard Pryor, since Pryor had it written into his contract that he would not do any overdubbing.
“One day I got a call from the movie studio, and they said, ‘Hey, we heard you do a dead on Richard Pryor. Can you come in? We’d like to record you and have you dub over all of the swear words in his movies, so that we can release them for television syndication,’ says Coulier. “I went in, and I was there competing against maybe 20 black actors. [laughs] I’m the lone white guy in the room, and they’re looking at me like, ‘are you here for the same audition?’ I went in, and I got it, and the comedians couldn’t believe it.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be an interview with Dave Coulier without at least a few obligatory Full House questions, right? In truth, Coulier is a good sport about incessantly being asked about Full House and looks back fondly and gratefully at those years. Even so, if Coulier isn’t sick of Full House nostalgia, then his dog Ranger, a yellow labrador, certainly seems to be. Coulier confessed that his dog was not fond of the Mr. Woodchuck puppet that he once used on Full House.
“He hated that puppet,” says Coulier, “and would growl at it when he was a puppy. So, one day I came home… Mr. Woodchuck’s face was all chewed off. I looked over at my dog, and he was cowering. It was actually very funny.”
Though that original piece of TV history is now forever lost within the bowels of Ranger, Coulier was given a replica of Mr. Woodchuck when the men of Full House recently reunited for a Full House-themed skit on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Much like his character on Full House, Coulier says that he still prefers to work clean, which in today’s day and age of super-raunchy comedy almost makes him a rebel.
“I don’t do any swearing or anything. The stuff that I do live I always say I should also be able to do on television,” says Coulier, “or in front of my mom. I always tell people I’m just kind of like a glorified birthday clown.”
Comedy Club of Jax owner Steve Smith says that Dave’s serene style will fit in perfectly with his “soft-R-rated club.”
“Dave should bring in the exceptional, F-bomb-free brand of comedy that we are trying to showcase here,” says Smith.
Coulier’s zany comedy antics and famous impressions (but probably not Mr. Woodchuck or Ranger) come to Comedy Club of Jax April 10th through the 12th.
COMEDY CLUB OF JAX HEADLINERS
4/3-4/5…The Midnight Swinger
4/10-4/12…Dave Coulier
4/17-4/19…Tom Simmons
4/24-4/26…Milt Abel
5/1-5/3…Bil Dwyer
Extra Chuckles
Doug Stanhope whom The New York Times describes as “an acidic blend of prickly hostility, elaborately articulated self-loathing, and righteous anger”–will perform April 6th at Underbelly as part of his Last Gasp Tour. Tickets are $25. Door at 8 pm/Show at 9 pm. One of the openers will be Jacksonville’s own underground comedy darling Chris Buck, complete with his trademark, 10-year-old mustache.
Florida Theatre
April 11 Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood The stars of TV’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? completely improvise a brand-new show every night, driven by audience suggestions and often using actual audience members on stage. 8 pm
April 1 Paula Poundstone One of Comedy Central’s 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time and a frequent panelist on NPR’s news quiz show “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.” 8pm
Comedy Zone
4/4-6…Chris D Elia
4/10-12…Jeff Dye
4/17-19…Deray Davis
4/24-26…Sinbad
JestFest! – Gainesville
Celebrate hilarity, experience the derring-do, and feel the thrill of this free, family-friendly spring festival. World-acclaimed comedy/variety and cirque-style entertainment each Saturday in April at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza in downtown Gainesville.
April 5: Cirikli Stilt Birds (puppets), Cast of “The Tempest” (from the Hippodrome Theater), The Flying Wallendas (high wire acrobatics)
April 12: Barbara & Ina (living statue), Ed Thomas & Hugo (comedian/ventriloquist), Johnny Fox (magician/sword swallower)
April 19: Marc Dobson (one man band), Dan Raspyni (juggler), Avner the Eccentric (silent clown)
April 26: Puppet & Mask Parade, Waltens Acrobatic and Performing Dog Show
Cory Tabino (handbalancer and acrobat)
Follow FOLIO!