Comedian and actor Bob Saget, best known for his role as a widowed single dad on the TV show Full House, has died at the age of 65.
His death was confirmed after he was found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case,” police said.
Saget did a comedy show the night before in Florida and tweeted his appreciation of the audience.
“Loved tonight’s show … I had no idea I did a 2 hr set,” he said. He had more upcoming tour dates planned for his “I Don’t Do Negative Comedy Tour” in 2022.
“I’m back in comedy like I was when I was 26. I guess I’m finding my new voice and loving every moment of it,” he posted Saturday on Instagram.
Saget’s family said in a statement they are “devastated” by his passing.
“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.”
Saget was best known for his role as widowed father Danny Tanner in the TV show Full House, where he was tasked to raise three daughters, one played alternately by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
He became known as “America’s Dad” through the wholesome role that he took up between 1987 and 1995, and later between 2016 and 2020 in Netflix’s reboot Fuller House. But it came in sharp contrast to his raunchy stand-up comedy, an angle he would highlight in later cameos such as in the 1998 film, Half-Baked, or in the TV show, Entourage, where he was his full, unfiltered self.
While starring on Full House, Saget also hosted America’s Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1997, which allowed him to riff on videos of Americans in one predicament or another.
In 2001, he played another widowed father on the sitcom Raising Dad. When asked about playing a similar role as in Full House, he said: “(Kevin) Costner does three, four baseball movies and that’s OK. There’s my rationale.”
He admitted in 2001 that Full House was “over the top,” but said it was a “loving kind of show.”
“It had its heightened reality, a glossy Willy Wonka quality to it,” Saget said.
He later was the narrator in How I Met Your Mother, which aired from 2005 to 2014, where he played the future Ted Mosby who recounted his love story to his children.
Saget’s Full House co-star, John Stamos, said he is “broken” by the news.
“I am gutted. I am in complete and utter shock. I will never ever have another friend like him. I love you so much Bobby,” he tweeted.
Comedian Gilbert Godfried said he had spoken to Saget just a few days ago and is “still in shock.”
“We stayed on the phone as usual making each other laugh,” Godfried tweeted. “RIP to friend, comedian & fellow Aristocrat Bob Saget.”
The two appeared in the 2005 documentary, The Aristocrats, in which comedians told their own take on one joke, with Saget’s being particularly raunchy.
Some remarked on Saget’s kindness.
“In often a ruthless business he was historically not just hilarious but more importantly one of the kindest human beings I ever met in my career,” actor Richard Lewis wrote on Twitter.
“Just the funniest and nicest,” Jon Stewart tweeted.
— with files from the Associated Press
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