Full House, America’s Funniest Home Videos Star Bob Saget Passes Away

Bob Saget, the stand-up comedian who became a worldwide star through the one-two punch of ABC’s Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos, has passed away. THR has confirmed with the Orlando Sheriff’s Department that Saget passed away in the city, noting in a statement that he passed away after being found unresponsive in a hotel room. He was 65.

The statement reads:

“Earlier today, deputies were called to the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes for a call about an unresponsive man in a hotel room. The man was identified as Robert Saget & pronounced deceased on scene. Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case.”

The cause of death is not immediately known. TMZ reports that Saget had been doing a tour of Florida that began in September and did a show in Jacksonville on Saturday night.

Saget is known to most audiences for his family-friendly work on Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and originally planned to be a doctor, but was encouraged to get into the entertainment business by one of his teachers. Saget persued film studies at Temple University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1978, and had a very short-lived stint at USC before he went to go ply his trade at comedy clubs.

It was at these clubs that he became good friends with Gary Shandling and Dave Coulier, the latter of which would become a very important part of his success when he was cast in Full House. Playing Danny Tanner, the patriarch of the show’s family, Saget became known as one of TV’s iconic fathers. Coulier played his best friend Joey, who along with Danny’s brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos) moves in to help Danny raise his three daughters after his wife dies.

Full House became a massive success as the anchor of ABC’s TGIF lineup and ran from 1987 through 1995. During that time, ABC tapped Saget to host America’s Funniest Home Videos, a clip show that was based on the Japanese variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan. The show became another major hit for ABC and spawned several spinoff shows. Saget stayed with AFHV for eight seasons, eventually departing in 1997.

Saget continued to appear regularly on television, starring in the series Raising Dad for its sole season and serving as the narrator for the hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother for its entire nine-season run. He also moved behind the camera, directing several projects such as the TV movie For Hope and the 1998 Norm MacDonald comedy Dirty Work. He continued doing stand-up and had a recurring role on Entourage as a spoofed version of himself. His particularly raunchy brand of stand-up led to one of the most memorable of Comedy Central’s celebrity roasts focused on him.

Saget also returned to reprise his role as Danny Tanner on Netflix’s Fuller House, appearing in 10 episodes including the series premiere and finale.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and many fans of Mr. Saget. The comedy world won’t be the same without him.