You know him as Danny Tanner from “Full House” or as the host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” You know him as the parody of himself on “Entourage.” You might even know him as Student Life’s associate editor Wesley Jenkins’ biological father (please do not show him this).

Bob Saget calls me on a Wednesday afternoon and says, “Hi, it’s Bob Saget.” It’s like there’s no doubt that he’s our collective dad. He’s just as personable and as playful of a conversationalist as you would expect him to be. If you saw him on the street and yelled, “Hey, are you my dad?”—he might say yes. I don’t know. We didn’t discuss that in this interview, but I feel like he would.

Though we know him from his various television, film and even theater roles, Saget is—at his core—a comedian. This weekend, he’s stopping by St. Louis’s Helium Comedy Club as part of his tour. Student Life talked to him about his first love: stand-up comedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsCOUZxHPdw

Student Life:

You’re known for being an iconic figure of ‘90s television, but you started out as a stand-up comic. When did you first start doing stand-up?

Bob Saget:

When I was 17, I was strictly a guitar act. When I was in college, I was doing improv every weekend and stand-up every weekend. I was going to film school, so stand-up was something that sort of just happened. I would write comedy songs, which I obviously still do—half my show is music. The first thing I did was—I won a radio contest in Philadelphia, which is where I lived. I sang a song about bondage. I was a 17-year-old kid on stage singing about bondage—I think the joke was that. The song itself was just horrific. I had no experience with bondage. I barely had a girlfriend.

SL:

Are you doing entirely new material on this tour?

BS:

I’m working on a new special. I really need to work stuff out. I’m bringing my friend Mike Young, who’s quite great. He’ll be opening. We’re actually developing a show with Doug Ellin, who created and wrote “Entourage.” It’s partly a writing trip, as well as me working out tons of new material and doing some old favorites.

SL:

You’re so strongly associated with your “Full House” persona. Do people expect you to be Danny Tanner doing stand-up, rather than Bob Saget doing stand-up?

BS:

The moment I take the stage, people are like, “Oh my god, it’s him.” And some people want me to be him. (laughs) That would be a great hour. What am I going to do? Mop the stage? Windex their glass?

SL:

Right. Your act has been described as “raunchy.” Is it really that raunchy, though, or does that characterization stem from the fact that you’re so heavily associated with the Mr. Tanner persona?

BS:

I’ve never thought of myself as raunchy. The way my stand-up is—people are like, “You’re not as dirty as I thought you were.” And they’re disappointed. Sometimes the ads [for my shows] are like, “Leave your kids at home” and I’m like, “No, no!” Keep that out of the ads. I’m no dirtier than “Family Guy” or “South Park.” I have this new joke where it’s like a PSA to kids today to not dry hump. It’s still a father figure type of thing, which is the irony in the joke. It’s a terrible thing to tell people, but not if you mean it. Because you’re just going to hurt yourself if you do it. (laughs) Was that too much?

SL:

Nah, you’re good.

BS:

If you want to use language, I’m perfectly fine with it, as long as you’re funny or poignant. I respect and adore all comedians and anyone who speaks well. (pause) I’m sorry, I just got an email, and it’s Dave Coulier’s birthday, and I missed it or something.

SL:

No! You missed it?

BS:

I don’t think so, but it looks like I’m going to. Let’s see, I bet it’s when I’m coming to see you guys. Yeah, I’m in St. Louis at Helium on Dave’s birthday party. How do you like that? I’m going to celebrate his birthday with you. I’ll be there with all my friends in St. Louis. I don’t think I have any, but I’ve played Wash. U. and I loved it. It must have been 10 or 12 years ago.

SL:

No way.

BS:

I love St. Louis—I truly do. I’m really lucky. I’m staying inside the [Gateway] Arch; I got a room inside the Arch.

SL:

That’s super cool.

BS:

No. That’s impossible, but that would be funny.

SL:

Man, I don’t know! I’m embarrassed. But I guess you could sleep at the Arch. Like, if you brought a sleeping bag.

BS:

That would be amazing—if I slept outside the Arch and then went and did my shows at Helium.

SL:

You should definitely ask them if you can.

BS:

You are so right; I’m going to do it. But yeah, I’m really excited to play there. I just know it’ll be great.

SL:

You had an album come out a couple of years ago. How do you feel about your return to stand-up?

I’m thrilled to come back to stand-up. I love doing stand-up; it’s a playdate for me. And I have been going up in [Los Angeles], at the Comedy Store, and the Laugh Factory and the Improv, but I don’t like being around comedy clubs a lot. Something that I don’t enjoy is, like, me seeing someone, and through osmosis, coming up with a similar premise. Or them seeing me, and, all of a sudden, they have my attitude, or things like that. Because we’re all learning, and we’re learning from each other. You may not steal material, but there are only so many ways to pull a microphone out of a stand and do stand-up. There’s only so many ways to play a character and not go, “Wow, I can’t believe I just did something that Dustin Hoffman once did.”

SL:

You do a lot of crowd work. How important is that to your act?

BS:

I do. I can’t help it. I’m here. I sometimes don’t talk to the crowd that much, but when I do, I end up doing really long shows. I’ve been doing hour and 45-minute shows in some cities. There was one in Washington, D.C., and it was an hour and 45. And I was like, “Oh my God, what am I doing? I can’t get offstage.” But yeah—I love to get to know each audience. It’s like a date. If I did four shows in a weekend—it’s like Tinder, you know?

SL:

Definitely didn’t predict that analogy.

BS:

It’s not just a gig to me—none of them are. They are an experience that night, and I think that’s why I love it. I love being really honest with people, and then they’re honest with me.

SL:

I know you play a lot more theaters than clubs. Is it more difficult to craft the same type of intimate relationship in a larger theater as opposed to [at] a club?

BS:

Oh, it’s actually more fun. But no, [even with] 1,800 people, it’s not a problem to go, “What’s your name?” Some guy yells out, and the next thing you know, you’re off and running finding out more about him than you ever wanted to. Occasionally, I’ll bring him onstage—the audience gets to know him, and he’s like the hero. It’s funny; the biggest audience I played recently was in Ottawa [in Canada] at a music festival. There were 30,000 people for an hour [of material] and after me was Snoop Dogg. It was the most fun. There, I didn’t do a lot of crowd work. I mean, if there’s a guy in the front row, I could say, “Hi Steve,” but, otherwise, you can’t really do crowd work with 30,000 people.

SL:

You’re going to be at Helium, which is a pretty recent addition to St. Louis.

BS:

I haven’t been to this one, but I heard it’s beautiful. I know the owner really well, and he’s a wonderful guy. The beauty of a club like Helium is that I find it to be a really safe space. They know not to let people record—because you have to be careful about [the audience doing] that. I’m very, very specific about where I go.

SL:

What are you excited about right now?

BS:

I’ve got a bunch of new songs, which is important to me because I love doing comedy music. I’ve got a movie set up that I’m acting in and directing, a TV show I’m developing and another TV show with another producer. It’s just a really creative time for me.

Check out Dad—I mean, Bob Saget—at Helium Comedy Club on Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on both nights. Helium is located at 1151 St. Louis Galleria Street (in the St. Louis Galleria). Tickets are available online on the Helium website.