I was just down in Atlantic City, where you’ll be playing.
I was [first] there when I was nine. It’s unbelievable what it is now. Going back is always kind of trippy. I would stay at my grandparents’, who lived right near Steel Pier. They were living in the hood and they tore down the warehouses since, and when I go back there, there’s no Steel Pier. It’s just a stump. If you go further south, though, it’s nice. The Borgata is nice, cause it’s off. It’s just away from it all.
South Jersey is different. I was in Asbury Park that weekend as well, and it’s a lot better off than it used to be. But Atlantic City, not so much.
I don’t see that. I just go and see the people. And the Borgata is one of the best rooms you can do comedy in. The Borgata and The Westbury must be the two last theatres-in-the-round left in the country. I remember seeing Harry Chapin and Johnny Carson on it, and Johnny Carson said ‘Stop this thing!’ And Harry Chapin would just keep spinning it around, cause he was probably stoned anyway. (laughs)
Your pilot on paper sounds a lot like Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust.
Mine is interesting, cause it’s really just about me being there. There’s no hazing or drama or anything like that involved. The drama is just from non-stop shooting.
Were those people from Ukraine familiar with you?
No, the people in Ukraine did not know me from television. Some of them did, cause they had seen a couple of movies. But most of my stuff has been TV. They have five-year-old TV. Which means I could have been king of the world there! (laughs) In China, that’s where I can be an emperor, I’m told. Certain countries ran excessively both Full House and the video show. About two thirds of the world ran it, but not Ukraine.
Now you’re in another sitcom where you’re kind of half-nice guy, half-prick.
Yeah, Surviving Suburbia. Unfortunately, it didn’t get to keep going, I don’t know how much longer they’re running it. I think they’re running new episodes, which is nice. But I’m positive because we’re on Friday nights, that a lot of my Jewish relatives are in temple, so they’re not able to see it. I think that’s what happened to the ratings. (laughs) That’s millions of viewers right there.
I don’t watch any television now, except for on the Internet.
I’m doing the same thing. I’m also watching Internet programming—little Internet things. We’re on such a short fuse. America’s Funniest Home Videos is still on the air, but now it’s just all YouTube. It’s already been whittled down for you.
Has YouTube ever approached you to be the YouTube guy?
Oh God, I don’t think there’s enough cutting I could do to myself. (laughs) I’ve got a lot of different things I’m working on. I just finished a movie script I’ve been working on for a long time. I want to do some directing stuff, and more acting stuff. I’ve got a lot of good things that have been happening, knock on wood.
And I’ve just been writing more stand-up. I’ve been loving it. I guess I’ll do another hour special—it feels like it’s coming. And I love to do my show, especially with comedy music. People want to hear stuff they’ve heard, and they sing along with you and that’s really fun. I guess you could call my stand-up silly, and it can be dirty, but it’s not dirty for the sake of being dirty. It’s dirty because I’m immature.
I have friends who kept up with your darker stuff, but there are still tons of people who just know you as Danny Tanner. Does that dichotomy work for you?
I think originally. But 12 years later and 28 interventions, all I care about is writing new stuff and being funny. That show, Full House, became The Brady Bunch or the Happy Days of its time, which of course is amazing. But I happen to love doing stand-up, which I was doing long before I did that show. It just keeps morphing. The shock is gone. I hardly ever refer to it anymore A lot of people when they have a film or television career say, ‘God, why would I want to do stand-up?’
I have a love of it. It’s a weird thing. That’s why if I do too much of it—if I were to do six months on the road, I don’t want to do that. I love it when it’s my special. I’m a single guy with three daughters. Stand-up is kind of my relationship. You listen to people over the years, like Liza Minnelli, ‘Oh I’d be nothing without my fans.’ Then you find yourself, no matter how cynical you are, go ‘God I love these, I guess they’re called fans. They’re the people who are paying to see me.’ It’s a weird relationship that always makes me feel I’m back at home plate.
