TVSquad Talks To Bob Saget about "Strange Days" and Being Like Danny Tanner

[JamesG]

Bob Saget Talks "Strange Days" ,Being Like Danny Tanner, Loving "HIMYM" & More
by Maggie Furlong
posted Nov 30th 2010


Bob Saget is one of those guys that's kind of hard to pin down.

He rose to fame on "Full House" as clean-cut, aw shucks single dad Danny Tanner, followed by a stint hostng "America's Funniest Home Videos". Not long after, he got back to his stand-up roots and shocked a lot of people with his curse-filled rants and borderline inappropriate stories about the Olsen twins, his former TV daughters.



Then came a bit part on "Entourage", playing "Bob Saget," a fictitious (or is it?) portrayal of himself. The cleanest thing on his recent resume is his heard-but-never-seen role as the "How I Met Your Mother" narrator.

So what's the real Bob Saget like?




We'll get to see glimpses of that on his new show "Strange Days with Bob Saget" (premieres Tues., Nov. 30, 10PM ET on A&E), a reality series following Bob on a bucket list full of crazy adventures.

I caught up with Bob Saget the nice guy, Bob Saget the teller of jokes (from the corny to the dirty), Bob Saget the motorcycle club member and Bob Saget the dustbuster to hear more about it.









The show is so fun -- I especially love the episode where you team up with the badass motorcycle club.

See? That's what I'm doing it for.

It's really interesting. You know, they are badass ... it's kind of a bucket list for me because I never thought I'd hang out with biker people, you know? And they're not biker people -- they're Motorcycle Club people -- so I've come to respect them and I know them now.






You're a patch-carrying member now!

I wear their colors.

I actually did a show at the Warner Theater in Washington like a month and a half ago, and about 100 of the members came. I was on stage and I yelled out -- I can curse, right? -- I yelled out "Who the f*** are we?" And they yelled back, "Iron Order!" And I had my vest on -- but not for long.

You know, I don't love the wardrobe that much. [Laughs] But it was really cool.






Good to hear that you're having as much fun as it looks like you're having. What made you decide to do this?

This is not a normal show; it's not just something I'm doing for the hell of it. I'm doing it because it's an idea I had 10 years ago and I've been trying to really flesh it out and figure out what kind of anthropological documentary thing would take me back to the roots that I used to like watching.






You said it's a bucket list, but this isn't your way of telling us you're dying, right?

[Laughs] No! But it really looks like that, doesn't it? Like, "Why is he doing this?" [Laughs]

But it does make you appreciate life more, and want to have every moment count.









With the Iron Order motorcycle club, going to summer camp, pledging a frat, looking for Bigfoot -- did you have a favorite adventure, or all they all your babies?

They're babies -- each one is something that I have a very, very fond place in my heart for. Today, I'm going to go look at the camp episode again. I never got to go to camp, so here I was with these kids.

And I know them now. It'd be like my dad, who's no longer with us now, but he'd go to a gas station, he'd be inside for 15 minutes talking to the guy, we'd leave and he would say, "He's part of my life now. He's my friend now." As you go through life, you bring other people into it.






So they're all your friends now?

Yeah, but the joke is, I didn't seek out to do this show so I could make new friends! [Laughs] That's kind of like a personal dating service, just for friendship. I really need acquaintances, so I'm gonna do an A&E show. [Laughs]

But the frat guys came to my show in Jersey; they're really smart guys. I email a couple of them now.






Well you can't really have the campers come to your show ...

I don't really think I should keep up -- and I really like these kids -- but I think it's wrong for me to keep in contact with any of them. [Laughs] "Remember that marshmallow we ate together?" We do the campfire scene ... at some point, it's just like Freddy Krueger. You don't want to see me in the woods.

What's weird about the episode is I wander out of the woods and I'm just in camp -- that's the way they had me enter. So weird. But at camp they said, "Keep it campy, Bob. We want the 'Full House' Bob." I was like, "OK, I'll do my best."






So the "Full House" Bob Saget isn't dead?

No! He loves his kids, he dustbusts. If I break a glass, I'll dustbust. I've got a dustbuster.

The thing about "Full House" is that show was made for 14-year-old girls and it's a two-dimensional sitcom of a kinder, gentler time. But it's not that kind because mom's not there, so it's kind of sad.

If you really want to dissect it, it's kind of like 'Pleasantville' -- if I was like Danny Tanner, I'd be living that Stepford kind of existence. Anyone who acts like that when doors are closed has so much rage and inner anger. [Laughs]












What shows do you watch when you're not working?

I don't watch a lot. If "Curb" is on or "Entourage" is on ...






Do you watch your pal John Stamos on "Glee"?

I do! Well, I find out the consequential stuff and I'll watch it on Hulu, or I'll get the tape of it, because he's working his ass off, which I love.

I love him, how could I not watch him? We're like little frat brothers together.






You mentioned "Entourage" -- how close is the real Bob Saget to "Entourage" Bob Saget?

[Laughs] When I act douchey, I don't like myself. So sometimes it is true that I have moments of that character, and I don't like to have it because I'm definitely not that person.

I'm not a misogynistic guy. I've been single a long time, and now I don't want to behave that way. I'm a caring, giving person. That guy is a two-dimensional guy ... he is funny ... but what I like about him is the occasional bravado that I would like to possess myself. [Laughs]

To have the confidence to act like that much of a mofo.





But we see glimpses of it on "Strange Days" ...

There are times when you'll see me and go, "Oh, that is the guy from 'Entourage'" or "That's the guy from 'Full House,'" because it takes 90 personalities to make a person.

It's not like I had some image -- obviously -- that I ever wanted to uphold. [Laughs]









I was there for a "How I Met Your Mother" table read that you were there for -- do you actually watch the show, or just lend your voice to it?

I love the show! That show is wonderful, but I still don't understand why Josh [Radnor] isn't narrating it. He directed and wrote this movie that I really liked, and I saw it at Sundance.

And I'm standing next to him, and his mother was standing next to him, and I literally looked at him and said, "Forgive me, but this is the story of how I met your mother." [Laughs]



They're all friends of mine. I don't know how I'd ever do anything but put a little Hallmark card love bow on the show every week. There's a reason that the show has so much heart in it -- Carter [Bays] and Craig [Thomas] are very huggable people.

God, look at me! See I'm all Danny Tanner ... and then I go and do my standup. [Laughs]









What would be your dream adventure for "Strange Days" season 2?

We've been thinking China. I have no idea why, but we want to do the Orient -- something that is culturally so different from us. As much as I revere Sacha Baron Cohen personally, I'm not Borat-ing. I don't want to go and put on Sumo wrestler outfits and do the things with the people.

I really am just fascinated. Burning Man is another one that came to all of our minds. We were gonna hook up with Lil' Wayne. Any world that is not like mine or what you'd picture mine to be like is the world that would mean the most to the show, because I'm going through the same journey the viewers are.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/11/30/bo...-strange-days/