10 Times Bob Saget Was Everyone’s Favorite TV Dad on
‘Full House’
Bob Saget’s legacy is “everywhere you look.”
The actor and stand-up comedian died on Jan. 9, 2022, at 65 years old, and Full House fans are mourning the death of one of TV’s greatest dads.
Saget played Danny Tanner on Full House, which ran for eight seasons from 1987 to 1995. The series followed Saget’s character, who gets some help from his brother-in-law Jesse (played by John Stamos) and pal Joey (played by Dave Coulier) after becoming a single dad to three following the death of his wife.
As he navigated raising DJ (Candace Cameron Bure), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen), Saget quickly became an iconic TV dad, who taught us everything from the classic motto “Clean is good. Dirt is bad,” to when to apologize and just hug it out.
We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Danny Tanner dad moments in honor of Saget’s passing.
Whenever he, Joey and Uncle Jesse sang Elvis Presley’s “Teddy Bear.”
Nothing melts our hearts quite like hearing this trio sing to Michelle — or even Jimmy Fallon:
When he got real about grief.
At the start of Full House, Saget’s character is learning how to be a single dad (of course with the help of Uncles Jesse and Joey), as well as grieving the loss of his wife, Pam. But he’s not the only one struggling: Everyone in the family is learning to cope with the loss. In season 1, episode 9, after Uncle Jesse asks him, “When’s it gonna stop hurting, man?” Danny says, “I know that feeling, Jesse. And I don’t think it ever completely goes away. Sometimes it’s easier … but on days like this, it’s real hard. But, you don’t have to go through this alone … Talking about it, that’s what helps me. Talking about the memories. That’s what keeps her in your heart.”
When he went on his first date after losing his wife and talked to his girls about moving on.
In season 1, episode 17, Danny goes on his very first date, much to his daughters’ dismay. They ask their dad if he still loves their mom, and he tells them, “Of course I still love mom. She was the first love of my life. Together we made three little miracles. I’m always gonna love her, nothing will change that. Not a date, not even if I fall in love with someone else one day.”
In the emotional conversation, he explains to the girls about grief and moving on, and tells them, “I could never forget mom. I think about her every time I look at you and you and you.”
When he taught us all the Tanner family motto: “Clean is good. Dirt is bad.”
The lean mean cleaning machine took being a neat freak to the next level, but he taught us that there’s nothing wrong with being a little too passionate about something. Plus, who among us hasn’t vacuumed the vacuum or cleaned their rubber gloves?
His neat-freakish tendencies as Danny Tanner even managed to sneak their way into real life, with Saget tweeting in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “Oh. My. God. I spend my day cleaning and vacuuming and sanitizing everything in the house. I have become Danny Tanner.”
His onscreen daughter, played by Candace Cameron Bure, responded, “You spent years getting away from him and now you’ve finally embraced him. Welcome home dad.” To which Saget replied, “I never wanted to get away from him — just had other side that were confused as you well know. I love the guy — and he loved DJ and all his girls. Ha. We need him more than ever right now. Who knew?”
When he told Stephanie that he would always love her.
Crashing a car into the kitchen isn’t exactly a small offense, so when Stephanie does just that in season 3, episode 20, she expects to be seriously punished. Her dad instead takes the opportunity to tell her that, even though he is disappointed, he’ll always love her.
Eight-year-old Stephanie, beating herself up over her mistake, says, “You should send me away to carpenter school so I can build you a brand new house that you can live in without me, and you’d never have to hug or kiss me again.” Danny tells her, “Steph, there is nothing you could ever do that would make me stop hugging you and kissing you. You have to know that no matter what you do wrong and no matter how angry I get, I’m always going to forgive you because I love you.”
Stephanie asks, “How can you still love me? I wrecked Joey’s car and I broke the house,” and her TV dad answers, “Those are just things: We can always buy a new car or we can put up a new wall, but there’s only one Stephanie Judith Tanner and you could never be replaced.” Cue the waterworks!
When he had a heart-to-heart with DJ about body image.
After being told she’ll have to wear a bathing suit to her best friend Kimmy’s birthday in season 4, episode 8, DJ starts a dangerous diet. Eventually, Stephanie tells the family what DJ has been up to, and it leads to a memorable heart-to-heart with her dad.
Danny tells her, “People come in all shapes and sizes. Everybody wishes they could change something about themselves … Deep down inside you know that what a person looks like on the outside isn’t nearly as important as who they are in the inside. I just wish you would try to see yourself the way you see your friends. You’ve got such a good heart — you care about people, and that’s why people care about you — and everybody who knows that real DJ thinks she’s pretty terrific.”
When he told Stephanie that her dreams could change.
After messing up at her dance recital, Danny presses Stephanie about why she would blow her routine intentionally after begging to take more classes to become a professional dancer. When Stephanie admits that it was becoming too much for her, especially after seeing how proud her dad was, she “blew it on purpose” so that she could stop taking the class. Danny tells her this valuable piece of advice: “It’s great to have a dream, but it’s okay to change your dream, too.”
When he told Michelle that she could do anything she wanted to do.
In season 7 of the show, he has a similar experience with Michelle, who enters the soap box derby with the help of Aunt Becky, despite being told that girls shouldn’t be allowed to enter. In the episode, Michelle hears her father and Uncle Jesse joking about Aunt Becky’s ability to build a car. Once they realize Michelle has taken their comments to heart, Danny teaches her a lesson about gender roles, saying, “Joey’s a boy and he can do ballet. You and Aunt Becky are girls and you can build cars. As long as you’re not hurting anybody, you can do whatever you want to do that you really love.”
When he turned into his rockin’ alter ego, Mildew, and tried out for Uncle Jesse’s band.
Just imagine a world where Danny Tanner — sorry, we mean, Mildew — is both shredding the electric guitar and making sure the stage stays clean!
When he tried to be the “raddest, baddest dad” for DJ’s benefit concert …
And gives us not one but two musical performances in an episode (season 4, episode 15, to be exact)! First, he gets suited up in an all-leather outfit for a rousing rendition of “My Generation” by The Who …
… and then for a more subdued and sweet performance of “My Girl,” dedicated to his eldest kiddo.
