Dave Coulier on Fuller House, Muppet Babies, and living The Surreal Life

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http://www.avclub.com/article/dave-c...ault:3:Default

The actor: Dave Coulier was a well-established stand-up comedian and had already begun a solid career as a voice actor when he found his way into Full House, the ABC sitcom that would serve as a linchpin of the network’s T.G.I.F. lineup and run for eight seasons. Since leaving the life of Joey behind him, Coulier has continued to act and do stand-up while also popping up in reality series like The Surreal Life and Skating With Celebrities. When the oft-discussed Full House revival finally became a reality, Coulier happily signed on to reprise his role for Fuller House, the first season of which arrives on Netflix on February 26.

Fuller House (2016)—“Joey Gladstone”

The A.V. Club: Having watched the first few episodes of Fuller House, allow me to say that you showed remarkable restraint by waiting until a minute and 15 seconds into the first episode to do your Bullwinkle impression.

Dave Coulier: [Laughs.] That was more the writers’ restraint than mine, I can assure you.

AVC: What was it like to step back into this world—and onto a similar looking set—so many years later?

DC: Well, I can only describe it as surreal. It took me a good day and a half to two days to re-acclimate myself and realize, “This is really happening!”

AVC: The idea of bringing back the series in some capacity had been in talks for awhile. Was there a certain point when you realized that it really was happening this time?

DC: Yeah, over the years we’d heard the rumors, and we’d heard from fans saying, “Why don’t you guys put this together?” But I never really thought it was going to become a reality. And then John Stamos started telling me that he was in meetings with Warner Brothers and Netflix, and that there were talks going on. So I said, “Well, just let me know when something happens. I’m going to go fishing.” [Laughs.] So then he called me again and said, “Well, it’s looking pretty real.” I said, “Okay, I’m gonna go fishing again.” And then he called me and said, “Well, look, we’ve got to talk, because there’s an offer on the table, and we’ve got to start putting the deal together.” So that’s when I knew. But John was really my liaison through all of this.

Then Jeff Franklin called me and asked if I could get hold of my close friend Mark Cendrowski, who directs The Big Bang Theory. Mark and I have been friends since I was 8 years old, and Jeff said, “Hey, can you talk to Cinder?” That’s his nickname, but at one point Cinder was the stage manager for Full House, and now he’s gone on to become one of the most successful directors on TV! So I was doing stand-up somewhere, I called Cinder, and he said, “Sure, have [Jeff] call me.” It was pretty much that easy: I put them together, and Cinder ended up directing the first two episodes. [Laughs.] I should get 10 percent of that deal, actually!

AVC: Your official status on Fuller House is “recurring.” How recurring are you? Is it just a few episodes during the course of the season?

DC: Yeah, I pop in for three episodes. The first episode, we’re all in, except for Mary-Kate and Ashley [Olsen]. But, yeah, I pop in sporadically throughout the season, and it was a blast. I had such a good time.

AVC: At the risk of asking a ridiculous question, did you feel that Joey had grown at all during the course of his time away?

DC: My character is no more mature now than he was in the final episode of the original series.

AVC: Which is as it should be, probably.

DC: [Laughs.] Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it’s really Full House 2.0. It kind of just updates you on our lives at this point.

AVC: You mentioned Mary-Kate and Ashley’s absence. During the TCA tour last month, Jeff Franklin said, “We all tried to persuade them to come and play; they decided not to at this time.” Were you actually part of the “we all”?

DC: I wasn’t part of the “we all” that tried to persuade them. I had hoped that they were going to come back and do the show. Not even so much to do the show as, you know, it’s just like being able to see your family members who you haven’t seen in a number of years. I was just looking forward to seeing them and catching up. You know, we really are a dysfunctional family off-camera. We see each other all the time. John Stamos spent the day with me yesterday. I’m doing a musical storybook called The Adventures Of Jimmy Bugar. Spelled like “sugar” with a B, rhymes with “booger.” [Laughs.] John played some percussion on it yesterday, and Jodie Sweeten is playing another character, so she’s recorded that. We’re always jumping on each other’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and we really support each other. It’s really cool. So not being able to see Mary-Kate and Ashley was a bit of a disappointment, I think, for all of us. But they have an open invitation to be a part of the show whenever they want.