Bob Saget, the comedian and actor best known for his starring role in ‘Full House’ and hosting the original ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ in the 1980s and ‘90s, died Sunday at age 65. According to the sheriff’s office in Orange County, Florida, he was found in a hotel room in Orlando.
“Earlier today, deputies were called to the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes for a call about an unresponsive man in a hotel room,” the sheriff’s office account posted on Twitter. “The man was identified as Robert Saget & pronounced deceased on scene. Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case.”
TMZ first reported that Saget was found in his room by hotel security on Sunday afternoon. The comedian had recently launched a stand-up tour with the first two dates in Florida over the weekend, and performed in Ponte Vedra Beach on Saturday night. “Loved tonight’s show,” he tweeted after his set. “Appreciative audience.”
As soon as the news broke, there was a flood of tributes from fellow actors and comedians. Longtime friend and former ‘Full House’ co-star John Stamos tweeted, “I am broken. I am gutted. I am in complete and utter shock. I will never ever have another friend like him. I love you so much Bobby.”
Candace Cameron Bure, who played one of his daughters on the show, wrote: “I have no words. Bob was one of the best humans beings I’ve ever known in my life. I loved him so much.”
Co-star Dave Coulier called Saget his “forever brother” and tweeted, “My heart is broken. I love you, Bob.”
Norman Lear, who said he was “close friends” with Saget, wrote that “Saget was as lovely a human as he was funny. And to my mind, he was hilarious . . . I could not have loved him more.”
“I’ll miss Bob Saget so much. He was as kind as he was funny,” Nikki Glaser tweeted.
“Oh god. Bob Saget!!! The loveliest man,” wrote Kat Dennings. “I was his TV daughter for one season and he was always so kind and protective. So so sorry for his family.”
“Beloved by millions as America’s Dad, he was a regular presence in our living rooms, bringing to us the funniest videos and countless belly laughs,” George Takei tweeted. “Gone too soon, like so many of the brightest souls.”
Rise in Hollywood
Saget, originally from Philadelphia, got his big break in Hollywood in 1987 when he was cast in the ABC sitcom ‘Full House’ as Danny Tanner, a local TV news personality and recently widowed dad to three young daughters (Bure, Jodie Sweetin and the youngest played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen).
The show was a hit, and millions tuned in every week to see him dispense kindhearted fatherly wisdom and get into wacky situations with his brother-in-law, Jesse (Stamos), and good friend Joey (Coulier) who moved in to help him raise his kids.
He segued that role into a gig as host on the popular ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ in 1989, spending nearly a decade narrating goofy home movies and handing out prize money.
To the amusement of many fans, Saget’s G-rated ‘Full House’ and AFHV persona was in stark contrast to his incredibly raunchy stand-up act in real life, not to mention his famously dirty “Aristocrats” joke and stint directing ‘Dirty Work.’ (His explicit jokes didn’t stop him from getting a Grammy nomination for best comedy album in 2014.)
Saget, who toured the comedy circuit for years, was one of those celebrities who was always in on the joke: He had no problem being roasted on Comedy Central, and he seemed to take great delight in playing a parody of himself on ‘Entourage.’ In November 2020, he showed up to compete on ‘The Masked Singer’ as a character known as “the Squiggly Monster.”
While he loved stand-up comedy, he also continued to show up on network television, including more patriarch roles in ‘Raising Dad’ in 2001 and ‘Surviving Suburbia’ in 2009. He narrated the voice-over for the entirety of CBS’s popular ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ playing the older version of the title character. And, of course, he returned with many of his cast mates to ‘Fuller House,’ the Netflix revival of the sitcom that debuted in 2016.
Saget is the father of three daughters — Aubrey, Lara and Jennifer — with his first wife, Sherri Kramer, whom he divorced in 1987. He married TV host Kelly Rizzo in 2018.
Just over a week ago, Saget penned an emotional tribute to Betty White, who died at age 99 on New Year’s Eve.
“She always said the love of her life was her husband, Allen Ludden, who she lost in 1981. Well, if things work out by Betty’s design — in the afterlife, they are reunited,” Saget wrote. “I don’t know what happens when we die, but if Betty says you get to be with the love of your life, then I happily defer to Betty on this.”
