Bob Saget, the comedian and actor known as Danny Tanner on “Full House” and host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” was found dead Sunday in Florida. He was 65 years old.
His death was confirmed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which said Mr. Saget was found unconscious in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes. The cause of death is unknown, but the Sheriff’s Office said there were no signs of foul play or drug use.
Mr. Saget, who was on tour, had performed Saturday night at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, southeast of Jacksonville.
in a tweet early on sunday, Mr. Saget thanked the “appreciative audience”.
“I had no idea that I did a 2 hour set tonight,” he said. “I am happily addicted to this again.”
In “Full House,” Mr. Saget played a widowed father who shared his home with his three daughters, his brother-in-law and his best friend. The show, which aired from 1987 to 1995, propelled Mr. Saget and his co-stars, including John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, into the realm of household names.
Robert Lane Saget was born on May 17, 1956 in Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University in 1978 before entering comedy clubs. In contrast to his impeccable image on “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Mr. Saget reveled in lewd and profanity-laden stand-up routines.
At Temple, he studied filmmaking and the year he graduated he received an Academy Award for Documentary Merit Student for his film “Through Adam’s Eyes,” about a nephew of hers who had undergone reconstructive facial surgery.
But even then, he was already into comedy. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2016 that, at age 17, he won a local radio contest by singing a song about serfdom, and that while he spent most of his time in Temple filming a movie, he would also go to the campus of the University of Pennsylvania to improvise.
After graduation, Mr. Saget moved to Los Angeles and quickly became a constant presence at the Comedy Store. “I lived in that room for seven years,” he said on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast in 2010.
“I made jokes and some stories, but most of them were silly, dirty nonsense,” he recalled. He said he was attracted to jokes with foul language and anatomy because he was not supposed to speak like that in his youth. “I was left like a child who talks foolishly,” he said.
He added, expressionless and possibly sincere: “I don’t curse for cursing, that’s the truth.”
After a brief stint on a CBS program, “The Morning Program,” Mr. Saget appeared in a 1987 Richard Pryor film, “Critical Condition.” Then he was offered the role on “Full House.” He later joked with Mr. Maron: “My joke is, ‘Ask me my favorite episode.’
“What is your favorite episode?” Mr. Maron played along.
“The last one,” said Mr. Saget. Almost immediately, he added, “I’m the luckiest guy.”
Mr. Saget became the first host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in 1989, and while most of his comments were in keeping with the character he played on “Full House” (funny voices and games of groan-inducing words), his scathing wit sometimes slipped in.
In a statement Sunday night, the Saget family said they were “devastated” to confirm his death.
“He was everything to us and we want you to know how much he loved his fans, performing live and bringing people from all walks of life together with laughter,” the family said.
Survivors include his wife, Kelly Rizzo, and three daughters from a previous marriage, Aubrey Saget, Lara Melanie Saget, and Jennifer Belle Saget.
In a tweet posted Sunday night, Stamos, who played Jesse Katsopolis on “Full House,” said he was “broken” and “shattered.”
“I am in complete and utter shock,” he said. “I will never, ever have another friend like him. I love you very much, Bobby. “
After “Full House” ended, Mr. Saget directed a television movie, “For Hope,” which told the story of how his sister, Gay, became ill and died of systemic scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that can lead to hardening. and hardening of the skin and connective tissues. (He later became a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation.)
He also directed a comedy starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange, “Dirty Work,” which was widely criticized on its 1998 premiere.
By returning to the comedy circuit and poking fun at his healthy television alter ego, Saget developed a cult following as a comedian who could unleash torrents of eschatological material. In 2010, he hosted a documentary series, “Strange Days With Bob Saget,” in which he spent time with professional wrestlers, bikers, Bigfoot hunters, and others.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in 2017, Saget recalled how Don Rickles, an old friend of his and Stamos, would describe Saget’s act. “He comes out like a Jewish Clark Kent,” Saget recalled Rickles saying. He then demonstrated how his friend sang a song about a dog, a monkey and a verb repeatedly censored on the television network.
But Mr. Saget never completely abandoned his family man persona: He lent his voice to the narrator of “How I Met Your Mother,” an older and wiser version of the show’s star, Ted Mosby.
“My first thought was, why can’t he do it? Or how many cigarettes and alcohol do you have to have to look like me? “Saget told Larry King in 2014, referring to Josh Radnor, the actor who played Ted. But, he added,” I did it right away because I read it. It was a love letter; it was a relationship show. “