Have mercy!
John Stamos recounted his early worries about playing Uncle Jesse in “Full House” after his young co-star Jodie Sweetin stole the show during a table read to the point where he “hated” the show.
“We did a table read of it, and I was the star. I was coming off of ‘General Hospital,’ and all the mothers were like (gestures fawning over him),” Stamos said during an episode of “Hot Ones.” We sit down, and we start reading. And Jodie Sweetin, who plays Stephanie, reads her lines, and people are dying laughing, I mean screaming. I was like, ‘What’s happening here?’”
“I hated that show at first.”
Stamos said “Full House” was initially pitched to him as a different kind of sitcom, with less of an ensemble cast and more focus on his character, similar to contemporary shows like “Bosom Buddies,” the 80s sitcom starring Tom Hanks.
However, during casting, Stamos started to realize the show was shaping up to be something much more than had been described to him.
“As we’re casting it, I was like, ‘They’re spending a lot of time casting these kids that are going to be in the background,’” Stamos recalled while chuckling.
His worries grew during the initial table read, as Sweetin’s character started to outshine his own.
“I was slinking into my chair, you couldn’t even hear my lines, they were laughing so hard at her.”
Stamos then recalls leaving the table and instantly calling his agent to say “Get me the f–k off this show!”
“I fought it for a long time.” Stamos said regretfully, “And then I finally said, ‘What am I doing, it’s a beautiful show.’ We built it with sweetness and kindness.”
Stamos has encountered similar problems with his “Full House” costars, and at one point attempted to replace the Olsen twins when they were only 11 months old.
The conflict arose while shooting a now-iconic scene, where Stamos’ character attempts to take care of Michelle Tanner — a role shared by the twins — while their father is away.
Stamos’ recounted the moment on the “Good Guys Podcast,” saying “So, we’re carrying the baby downstairs and we take her in the kitchen and we hose her down. And she was screaming. Both of them. They wanted to be anywhere else but there — and so did I.”
“They were 11 months old, and God bless them. They kept switching: ‘This one’s not gonna cry.’ I couldn’t deal with it,” recalled Stamos. “And I said, ‘This is not gonna work.’ So they got rid of them.”
After a short stint with two replacements, Stamos realized his mistake and told a producer to “Bring the Olsens back! These kids are terrible.”
So after eight years as Uncle Jesse in “Full House” and five producing and acting in the spinoff “Fuller House,” Stamos has certainly changed his mind about the ensemble cast.
“There was no central character on that show, the central character was love,” Stamos said. “We were the best representation of a loving family, not a normal family. The new normal was now an unconventional family.”
