John Stamos tried to quit Full House so he didn't have to 'play second fiddle' to Jodie Sweetin, creator says
- TV Show
A Full House is bound to have some clashing personalities — even one in a sweet family sitcom.
During a chat with Full House creator Jeff Franklin on former series star Dave Coulier's new podcast, Full House Rewind, conversation turned to the origins of the beloved comedy — in particular, John Stamos trying to quit the show after witnessing his young costars' talent and worrying they would upstage him.
The moment occurred after the first table read for the eventual hit series. Franklin set the scene, noting that in a "room full of studio and network executives," most people were "there to see Stamos," an actor who'd gotten his start on General Hospital, earned a Daytime Emmy nod, led two short-lived network sitcoms, and been in the spy film Never Too Young to Die. But when the table read got underway, someone else emerged as the star.
"Jodie [Sweetin] just stole the whole thing," Franklin recalled in the podcast's first episode. The young actress, who played middle child Stephanie Tanner, was 5 when the series began, but, according to Franklin, she was "knocking jokes out of the park."
At which point Coulier chimed in, "And I remember walking out with John and he's like, 'The whole show's gonna be her. We can't do this.'"
Franklin added that he didn't learn until "much later" that Stamos was so upset about "having to play second fiddle to these really funny kids" that he called his agent and attempted to abandon the project, telling him, "This is a mistake. Get me off this show."
Stamos himself spoke about the incident this week on Hot Ones, explaining that part of his frustration came from not realizing the significance of the kids' roles in the sitcom.
"It was pitched to me as a Bosom Buddies... with, you know, a couple of kids in the background," Stamos said. "We did a table read of it, and I was the star. I was coming off of General Hospital. We sit down, and we started reading, and Jodie Sweetin, who plays Stephanie, reads her lines, and people are dying laughing. I mean screaming. I was like, 'What's happening here?'"
Stamos continued, "They couldn't even hear my lines. They were laughing so hard at her."
He then recalled phoning his agent afterwards and saying, "get me the f--- off this show."
Of course, Stamos decided to stick around — and for the better. Full House earned a massive fanbase, ran for eight seasons, and even spawned a revival several decades later with the 2016 Netflix series Fuller House. Stamos' Uncle Jesse was adored for his onscreen chemistry with the Tanner children, especially his heartwarming relationship with Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's Michelle.
"I fought it for a long time," Stamos said, "and then I finally said, 'What am I doing? It's a beautiful show.'"
In time, he came to understand it didn't have a single star: The appeal of Full House was the Tanner family unit. "I realized the central character was love," he explained. "We were the best representation of a loving family, not a normal family. And it was the new normal that was now an unconventional family."
This isn't the first time Stamos has spoken of tension with his young castmates. He recently revealed that he briefly got the Olsen twins fired because they wouldn't stop crying during an early season 1 shoot. In the end, however, he begged for their return — and the rest is sitcom history.
Check out the full episode of Full House Rewind above.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related content:
| type |
|
| seasons |
|
| rating | |
| genre |