Bob Saget, the actor and comedian most famous for his role in the much-loved 80s sitcom Full House, has died at the age of 65.
The Orange County sheriff’s office confirmed Saget’s death on Twitter on Monday, saying he had been found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida on Sunday. The sheriff’s office confirmed that no cause of death had been determined, saying in a statement there were no signs of foul play or drug use.
Saget was partway through a standup tour and had performed a show in Jacksonville on Saturday night.
Comedians and actors rushed to pay tribute on Monday. Jon Stewart remembered him as “just the nicest and funniest”, while podcaster Marc Maron tweeted: “Truly one of the nicest guys and so funny. Very sad.” Comedian Drew Carey wrote: “Well this one hurts. I loved Bob Saget. He gave me so much encouragement when I first started out. He was a real friend to me too. Not just a mentor. I always looked up to him. He was SO damn funny and so kind.” Comedian Kathy Griffin wrote: “You couldn’t find a nicer or sharper wit than Bob Saget. Shocked and devastated.”
Whoopi Goldberg paid tribute to Saget’s “huge heart and abject lunacy” and Jason Alexandee said “he was kind and dear and cared about people deeply … the definition of ‘a good egg’”.
Born in Philadelphia in 1956, Saget got his big break with his most famous role as the widower Danny Tanner on Full House. In the popular sitcom, which ran from 1987 to 1995, Tanner enlists his brother-in-law and a friend to help him raise his three children. Saget later reprised the role for a Netflix reboot, Fuller House, which ran for four years until 2020.
John Stamos, who played Danny’s brother-in-law Jesse, tweeted: “I am broken. 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.”
Saget was also the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1997, played a parody of himself in both Entourage and Louie, and provided the voice of the future Ted Mosby on sitcom How I Met Your Mother for almost a decade. He played another widower, this time in sitcom Raising Dad, between 2001 and 2002. Actor Kat Dennings, who played his daughter on the show, called him “the loveliest man”.
“I just can’t believe it. What a wonderful guy. He always went out of his way to make me comfortable and talked nonstop about his kids. Such a loss,” Dennings wrote on Twitter.
As a counterpoint to his recurring role as wholesome dads, Saget was also famed for his raunchier standup routines, writing a memoir and comedy tour that were both titled Dirty Daddy.
Saget recently spoke about the death of comedian and close friend Norm Macdonald, whose famously cheesy routine on the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget was widely shared after Macdonald’s death at the age of 61. “I can’t accept that he’s gone, and that’s the shock that we’re going through,” Saget said in a video posted on his YouTube page. “Sixty-one … what do we do with that when we lose someone, especially before their time?”
Saget is survived by his wife and three children.
