Not so clean-cut

Comedian Bob Sagat promises to show his dark side

By ANDREA GARCIA
Fairfield Daily Republic ©

FAIRFIELD - Will the real Bob Saget please stand up?

Opting to reveal his true self, and that's not the sugar-coated father on TV's "Full House," Saget is reclaiming his fame by bringing to stage his good ‘ol raunchy side so well hidden for years behind those sweet little Olsen twins.

"I've always had that side, now I'm selling tons of tickets with people wanting to see that dark side," he confessed during a phone interview.

But make no mistake, this is not a "new" side of Saget, nor a publicity tactic luring attention to the man who found humor in homemade, somewhat dull videos. Nope, instead, the divorced dad with three daughters and a dog with prostate cancer is resurrecting the comedian from 28 years ago, the one with R-rated material who says things about his own life to traumatize an audience.

"It just takes 10 seconds. If they think they'll hear Danny Tanner, their mouths will drop," he said, who also cops to writing material only for its shock value.

Which is why Saget is doing more stand-up shows, such as in the Wheeler Auditorium at the University of California, Berkeley on Monday with two shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m., where everything from John Staple to a parody "Dan Tanner is Not Gay" song is performed and where he "gets to make 20-year-olds laugh because parents aren't parenting right."

"My only request is for people not to be too medicated," he said in jest regarding his audience. "They end up yelling or throwing up. So I ask them to slow down on the medication. That's what I do."

Saget's resume spans a quarter century of comedy, from his humble beginnings with Rodney Dangerfield (who gave him his first break) to stand-up comedy, film, a morning program show on CBS, "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos."

Following this clean-cut, American pie appeal, Saget brought out the dirt with his appearance in the "Neighbors" episode of HBO's "Entourage," where he frolics with prostitutes and the like.

"I have never been with a prostitute, my services are for money bit it's a different thing," he volunteered to say rather quickly.

Saget, along with many other distinguished comedians, also dabbled with "The Aristocrats," a film based on one of the world's dirtiest and disgusting burlesque jokes - includes incest, bestiality, rape, wastes and bodily fluids, to name a few details without elaborating.

But the highlight of his career is just around the corner for Saget, namely next year, when he presents an R-rated show on HBO - he just sold them a script - about a gynecologist (Saget) in Phoenix.

"There are ethics and I can't abuse the privilege of being a doctor, but it is something like ‘The Courtship of Eddy's Father' in that I have a 14-year-old son I'm raising by myself and trying to date," he said of the half-hour sitcom he's still writing.

As to where he's gets the material for the show, well, help from some female friends smoothes the process.

"A gynecologist examined my friend's grandmother and he said ‘Wow, fancy,' and she got offended," Saget explained. "Her daughter asked why he said that and her mom replied, ‘I don't know. I just went in your bathroom and put on some powder.'

"Turns out the powder was glittery so it looked like a disco down there," he continued with the punchline.

The 50-minute show - you "kill 'em in a short time then you leave" - will feature new material of "R-rated stuff with human values."