Thank you everybody for joining us on this Park Copper episode of Magical Rewind. We are so excited to talk to our guest today, who has done one or two projects in his career, a couple of things here or there. So we really can't wait, Sabrina, I know that you're a fan.
I love him. I'm so excited.
Well, then I will let you talk to I'll let you do most of the talking then, because it seems like be great, so please help us. Welcome d KI.
Hey are okay?
Okay, thank you so much for joining us. Yes, now we know you've done you know, hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of interviews. Is this the first time that you're doing an interview based solely on the thirteenth year?
It is, yes, And I'm so honored because I'm amazed that people still remember that movie.
Yes, it's are you kidding? It's great? So I don't know if you're aware of this, but it's age so well that Complex has it listed as the seventeenth best Disney Channel movie of all time, and.
That's out of my teenth hundreds, out of hundreds of movies.
I should get a trophy of some kind for something.
Yes, everybody gets a trophy nowadays, Dave, everybody gets a trophy.
Against movies like High School Musical Descendants, all these big, heavy hitters, and you guys are still I mean, it's aged so well and the resurgence from Disney Plus has brought it back into a new generation of viewers, which is awesome.
Well, you can't see it, but from my waist down, I'm a fish.
Yeah.
We figured I was.
I was planning on wearing my fishtail too, but I felt like it'd be uncomfortable to sit too long.
Yeah, they're made for swimming. They're made for swimming.
Do you remember the first time that you heard about this film? I mean, I can't imagine you auditioned for it. I'm sure they just offered it to you. Did you know what it was going in because the title really doesn't tell you what this movie's about.
It doesn't. And then I read the script and I went into Disney and uh, you know, I went in prepared to audition. There were sides and everything, and I went in and they just we just started talking and they said, okay, here's our start date. I was like, oh, okay, we're not going to read or anything. You know, but it was never brought up. It was like, okay, well we'll call your agents and this is a start date. We're so happy that you're going to do this project.
And it was like I just walked in and then I was doing a movie about a kid who turns into a fish.
It was like, okay, really, do you remember when the last time you've actually on a chance to watch this, Like, has it been forever or a long time?
Long time?
Yeah, longer than last week. Uh, it's it's been a long time probably since it came out, to be honest.
With you, really, Yeah, it seemed like a fun character. There's also the you know, the boat Captain Big John. That character is such a charactery kind of play, Like you could have done that one. I mean, they could have basically just offered to tell us which one you would like to do.
You could do the coach.
You could do whatever.
I was up for the boat for the actual boat got it, actual Boat Defiance.
I can see that.
Yeah. I was up for that too, so that I probably would have had to audition for. I would have had to read for the boat.
Now, so we're we do all this research as we're trying to prepare for these. And I mean, obviously, at this point in your career you've been on New Heart, you're doing Coach, Full House. I mean, you name it. It's one thing after another. But you hadn't done a whole lot of films, had you. Was this one of your first?
No, it was actually yes. And actually my first SAG job was a cheech and Chong film and I played a guy who I have a long tongue. So in my audition I stuck my tongue out and I said, Okay, you'll do that in the movie. And it was a movie called Things Are Tough All Over. So that was actually how I kind of broke into SAG. Was was with that movie. I got taffed heart lead nice and Yeah, so that was my That was my first foray into
anything that was major. And then I guess the movie business kind of passed me by and kicked me over to television.
Yeah. Well, I also when the television they're kicking you to is New Heart and Coach and then Full House, it's not a bad place to be kicked to if if you're honest, right, you know, it's.
Been a heck of a nice journey with really great people, and I'm so lucky and so thankful to have had this little roller coaster ride that I've been on. And I still appreciate it, and I still sit here in my little comedy laboratory and try and kick stuff out, and you know it. Full House, of course, is kind of the pinnacle because it's it's a show that has inspired and been watched by a couple generations now and we're still on. We've never been off the air since
we premiered on ABC in nineteen eighty seven. It's wow lay through worldwide syndication and over one hundred countries, and it's kind of the energizer Bunny of residuals.
It just keeps coming nice.
Well, we know that the atmosphere on set for you guys on Full House was such a family oriented vibe that you guys were really great to your young actors. Were you able to kind of feel that vibe or is it tough not being you know, a weekly job.
This was just six week shoot.
Were you able to still feel like you were able to connect with your younger actors.
Yeah, And I already had that kind of vibe from working with the kids on Full House and Chez Starbuck was the star of this movie, and he was a newbie, and my feeling was, you know, treat everybody, no matter how small the role, just treat him as an equal. That's always kind of been my thing, like, Hey, we're all in this together. We're all trying to make this into the best possible movie we can. So I'm always supportive of people. I mean, I'll run people's lines even
if I'm not in the same scene with them. You know, I like helping people. It's good, it helps the process, and I think it's just it's just good for everybody. It makes you want to show up for work when you're welcomed that way, you know. And I realized at that point that those kids were looking up to me, and the last thing you want to do is is disappoint a young actor. You want to make them feel encouraged and welcomed and you're you know, you're on your
way to being successful. And you know, that's the kind of vibe that I tried to project on this movie.
Wow, well you can tell. I mean it seemed like everybody was having a good time. Do you remember the shoot? It was what six weeks? And actually this is you're you're in a rarefied air when it comes to dcoms because we've we've found out that ninety five percent of them are shot in either Canada or in Utah. That's it unless they need an ocean. So now you're in southern California and you're shooting kind of in the San
Pager area and popping around that area. What what was it like shooting the movie?
It was cool, it was it was it was a place I'd never been before. I'd never been to that area of Long Beach before, down by the dots, so it was it was kind of weird. But once we settled into where our set was down in this little marina with this lighthouse and everything, it was a really cool vibe. So it was a really fun shoot. It was It was like nothing I had ever shot before, even the full house opening title stuff that we shot
in San Francisco there on the wharf and everything. This was cool all by itself.
Your wife in the movie, Leslie Stall, you two seem to really have some great chemistry and she exploded onto the scene after George Michael's Careless Whisper video, which to me is just about the coolest thing I'd ever heard. Did you guys have a good connection and do you I guess that leads to a bigger question, which is do you actually see anybody from the film anymore? Are you in touch with anybody from the film?
No?
I don't, I don't. That was kind of one of those you know, that was a great fun project and you know, hugs all around, and I hope I see you guys, But it was just I kept in touch with one of the producers, Michael Mike Jacobs Junior, and he was a great guy. And I'm not even sure what Mike's doing nowadays. You know, you guys know, in what we do, sometimes you do a project and you make friends forever, and then you do another project and you just came together to work on that project and
you may not ever see those people again. So it's just kind of the nature of what we do and that happens, and sometimes you have those long lasting friendships and other times it's just, hey, we were work buddies.
Yeah, absolutely, especially before social media where.
You guys can kind of connect instantly.
You know, or where you start promoting it together through social media. That helps a little bit. But you know, this time during dcom's. They were doing a lot of them. I mean they had a couple going on at the same time sometimes, So it is true. You know, actors, they're six weeks to shoot something is not that long's and you know, you.
Fall in love, you get married, and you get divorced, you know.
I mean, that's a shame, but it's actually true. You're just they throw everybody together and you hope it works out, and you usually like the people you're working with, and then it's hey, thank you very much. Yeah. So one of the most interesting things that we noticed about the crew was your director, Dwayne Dunney.
Yeah, yeah, who had one of the coolest.
Most interesting histories in the industry. Did you know the stuff that he had done before he came on to shoot this film.
Yeah, I did. I was already a fan, so I was really excited to work with him, and he was so fun to work with. And then it turned out his wife worked at the dentist office in Santa Monica where I for my dentist, and she was the most lovely lady and she goes boy. Ok, I went in, she goes boy. Dwayne. Sure, he had fun working with you on that movie. I went, well, how do you know, Dwayne. She goes, that's my husband. I go, gosh, she's up
north and he lives up north in northern California. She goes, yeah, I live down here. I work down here. And then he comes down and I'm like, I would have never put this together.
Oh my gosh, how done life?
You know? And she was such a sweetheart, but she would always every time I'd go in get my teeth clean, she go oh, Dwayne says high. You know, so it was nice.
Would you if you had to sit there and geek out with him over anything? Would it have been his involvement in the Star Wars franchise or with Twin Peaks?
Probably leaning heavily towards the Star Wars stuffy Yeah, Twin Peaks was one of those things. I was working during Twin Peaks, so I never got to really get into it, but I did play hockey. Was Sherylyn Fenn's brother.
Oh cool, Leo.
So I'm sorry it sounds like every story I have is attached to somebody, but it really is.
It's crazy, that's awesome, the nature, that's just really.
I know you were so you were so busy at this at this time, and but this was such a huge success for the channel. They had around eight million viewers for the premiere, which is very big, you know huge.
Were they making it a big deal or were you even able to even stop and realize how big of a success this was or during that time of your career it was kind of like, yeah, great, moving on on to the next Like how how does that happen when you're going from things like big, big, big projects and just doubling it up every time you go to the next one.
Basically, I have to.
Be totally honest with you, Sabrina, I I really didn't know the status of the movie or you know, had it been a theatrical release where I could have seen the numbers or you know, you see it in Variety and you go, oh, here's you know, this weekend or whatever. But this was television, so there was really no way
for me to track it. I had heard from from Mike Jacobs that he said, hey, the movie's doing great, But by that time, by the time we we wrapped, to the time where it finally got edited and then it got a slot on Disney, it was a long time. So there really wasn't that time of ooh, man, I gotta I gotta keep my ear to the ground on this one, you know. So No, I really didn't. I didn't know how it was doing. I had kind of heard, but by then it was you know. And then I
heard from a Disney executive. Years after that, I went in to pitch something and he said, you know, we need another thirteenth Year. And I said, oh, okay, I got something for you. Is Martian It's okay. We have like spaceships and stuff like you know that'll yeah. But but I guess, in a roundabout way to answer your question, I really had no idea how it was.
Yeah, it was nice.
Does anyone ever like have you ever in your career had somebody come up and just start talking to you about the thirteenth Year? Is that one that has ever happened to you before?
Boy, I would love to say yes because we're talking about it, but really no, really no. You know, there's been a little offshoot conversations here and there where, you know, maybe if I'm at one of the cons or something, there will be those Disney people and go, hey, I really love doing the thirteenth Year. You know, I know you're here for the full House, you know, but I really love to do.
Wait, we get that a lot with with the dcoms. We get people that will say I have net will be like, you're in the third most popular dcom ever, Like, no one's ever mentioned to me once that about this Decom's like.
Okay, or if it happens, it's like shock, Like, oh you watch that?
That's so cool? What about these other giant movies that I've done?
But no, No, it's this decon that you're talking about.
Can we go back a little bit and talk about your start in the industry?
Sure, yes, the stand up You started in stand up?
Right? I did. I started in kind of a golden age of stand up. I slept on Bob Saggat's couch when I was nineteen years old, So I mean, I go back to those days. Me, Gary Shandling and Bob Saggatt were really close buddies. And Brad Gray was our manager who Brad later became like the chairman of Paramount Studios. Was partnered with another legend, Bernie Berlstein, And you would go into their office and you'd see Danny Ackroyd, and you'd see Martin Short or Steve Martin or Lauren Michaels
or you name it. That. It was just kind of a revolving door. We would just go and hang out at their office because it was fun, and you know it was it was a really incredible time to be a stand up in the late, you know, the early eighties. I mean my group was Dennis Miller, Louis Anderson, Jim Carrey,
Howie Mandel, Jerry Seinfeld, Carrey Shandling, Saggott. You know, it was pretty much you know, you'd you'd walk off stage and Robin Williams would be coming on, or you'd walk off stage at the Comedy Store mainroom and and Prior would high five you. You know, it was. It was a pretty special time. And you know we were all unknowns, but you couldn't with that group, you really couldn't, you know,
and Leno and Letterman and Dana Carvey. I mean, the list just keeps going on and on, and you know it was so wonderful and Roseanne and you know, Sarah Silverman, all these wonderful people. It was. It was really a time though, when you were in those Hollywood rooms like the Improv or the Comedy Store, you couldn't lay off. You couldn't like do a set that you would do on the road. You had to go up and kind
of do your A material. If you're following Seinfeld, you know, you couldn't just go up and go, hey, I'm gonna try a few things. Here's my notepad. You know, anybody here, why would you eat a duck? You know? You know. So it was that kind of a feeling, but it really made you, you know, play your A game every night. You knew you had to be great once you made it on that stage, at that level. It's funny. Someone just asked me the other night, you know, have you
ever worked with Richard Pryor? And I said, like, every night at the comedy store, you know, I would sit and watch him. He was like masterful. It was like a master class in how do you go from zero to one thousand in eight weeks? You know, and in prior had the ability to do that. I have a comedy store poster. We just moved into a new house, so we were looking through all this old stuff and storage and going through going oh, I don't need that. It's it's my old bowling trophy from seventh grade. I
don't need that. What in there? So in there there was a comedy poster from the Comedy Store main room and the lineup was Argus Hamilton and then Jimmy Brogan, me Arsinio, Jeff Altman, Saggot Shandling, Robin Williams, and Richard Pryor. That was the lineup. And you know, I looked at that and I said, you know, at the time, I didn't realize where I was. I was just like, oh boy, I got to do a good set tonight.
Yeah.
I didn't realize that I was in this immersed in this world of great people around me. And you know, I think, you know, I was peddling the bike as fast as I could, so I couldn't really stop and just kind of breathe and take it all in and go, wow, I'm on stage with with some some you know, because we were still unknowns. There were a lot of those guys weren't known yet, like me and Ursineo and Gary
and Bob, you know, we weren't known. And you know, but prior in Robin Williams, you know, I would just go, Wow, I'm gonna call my mom tell her about this. Yeah, because it was pretty cool. It was a really cool time.
I mean, now, I always wonder about this because you you list names like that, where it's just one banger after the next. Of all these incredible comedians, was there a person, especially from that era, that you saw that you would have put all your money on that was just never given the opportunity to break the way you thought they would.
Yeah, there were quite a few of those. And and some them we're so talented and you've never heard of them. Some just never got the breaks. Some sniffed a lot of stuff up their nostrils or shoved stuff, you know, whatever, you know, so that you could see their career slowly dying on the vine because of something, you know, whether it was not paying attention or not, you know, having a work ethic because comics, you know, we have weird hours.
You know, it was you fall asleep at four in the morning because you had a set at one point fifteen, you know, and you didn't get off stage till then, and you're amped up and you fall asleep at four, and you know, it's kind of tough to have a normal life with those stand up hours, especially on the road, you know, when you're doing seventy eight nine ten shows
a week and you're you're living that lifestyle. So I saw plenty of people who are really super talented, and all of a sudden they were just kind of had faded away and they weren't in they weren't in the lineup, or they weren't you weren't seeing their name on the posters and the comedy clubs. But there was always that that group you know that you just knew, Uh, it's just a matter of time before you know, she's on a series or he's you know, great or whatever. Because
we all watched each other. It was such a small world, you know, when when one of us did the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, you know, everybody was like so so we watched each other closely because that was the bar.
Yeah, and it was.
It was exciting and terrifying and weird all at the same time.
Yeah, it was great. About what about now?
Are there any young comedians that you have really fallen in love with and enjoy what they're doing now?
Yeah? I love Sebastian Menace, cal Too is so great. You know, I love so many of the young comics there. There's so much talent. Now, it's I'm glad, I'm glad I'm not doing it now because it's so competitive and it's it's really inspiring for me to see, especially in the world that we live in, you know, which can be so politically correct and and people are really super hyper sensitive towards certain topics, I think, depending on the
swing any other way on that. But you know, the thing about it is, you don't ever want to not have comedy because comedy peels away that social strata that exists where everybody's thinking it, but the comic's going to go on stage and stand in a microphone and actually say it, and that's why it's funny. And another thing is, you know, we need to talk about our differences because we are different as cultures, as races, as people, as genders, whatever.
We need to talk about all that stuff because we're not all the same. And right now there's this weird thing that's going on where we're all the same and everybody's in the same class and everybody's equal. Well, life's not, and you know, we really need to keep the dialogue open to you know, like it's a shame because there should be a Don Rickles right now. There should be there should be a Richard pryor right now. You know, there's you really need a Joe Rivers. You really need
you know, the Lily Tomlins of the world. You need those people that are going to Gilda Radnurs, you know, so it's chrderful, George Carlin. You need those people who are going to make fun of us, because we need to laugh at ourselves. And when we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves, we're all in trouble. And I think we're seeing some of that.
Absolutely, that's what it is.
It's not about indpointing and making fun of someone. It's being able to make fun of yourself well, you know, whatever that kind of is. And keeping the humor in our lives is what's going to keep us living and laughing longer than honing in on the negativity of it.
And that is hard.
I have to imagine for stand up comedians that'll go up there, put themselves out there, and you know, I hope that it's not a big swarm of getting ripped apart about doing something that you love to do.
You know, Well, it's the physical stuff. Now that's so scary when you see the comedians, is that there's there now at one point seemed to be kind of an open season on you know, running on, rushing on stage and things where it's well, you insulted me, so I can't. It's getting crazy where it's like no, you got they're comedians, this is this is their job, this is what they're supposed to do.
By the way, it's what you paid money to me.
That's what you can see.
Yeah, exactly, you know, and and and and here's the other thing. Don't go to a comedy club and.
Then go.
Yeah, you know, like, don't go out, just don't go on, don't leave your apartment, don't go out, because you should go out to hear someone going over the line. That's what you're going out for. You know. Stay home if you want to be safe, and you only want to hear safe things.
Hit the back row if you don't want to be made fun of. That's what I do. I do not go sit myself.
In the front open target.
I find a good table where I can still see and enjoy it.
You could do that too.
Yeah, comedy is a jungle, and you know you're going to see all kinds of species in the jungle. Yeah, you better be prepared to see some wild stuff and hear some wild stuff. That's what comedy is. And if you don't allow comedians to push the limits as far as they can, you're not going to be able to discover, uh, really funny stuff by being safe.
Yeah yeah, I agree. Well, you're talking about some of the funniest people around. You're also did a show for years highlighting some of America's funniest people. That's my segue. Thank you very much. And I was just wondering because there was a time where you would have guest hosts come on with you. You had this wonderful, incredible, really funny young talent named Wilfredell who came on and hosted a show with you. I came on, I did one show.
It was a ton of fun. But I'm wondering, off the top of your head, can you think of like one of the funniest videos of people that you saw that pops like, you know, if you think back of all the years the show was on, is there one that just goes, well, there was this one guy or this one gal that just comes right back to you.
There were a few, you know, we did four seasons of that show, so there was a lot of different clips and things, and I usually didn't watch the clips, they would assemble them together. I would fly to Florida host two of the shows, and then fly back and get back to LA to do full House. But occasionally,
you know, the ones that percolated the top. I always loved the impressionists, people who would do impressions, you know, the men and women came on and even if it was a silly, stupid impression like this is my grandmother brushing her teeth, it just you know, maybe I'm a simpleton, but it made me laugh those because they were so genuine, you know, because everybody can do like one impression. You know, everybody's got one in their back pocket, like Okay, I'm
gonna do Sally Fields. Uh, you know stepping stepping on a turtle, like okay, put them all.
In, let's sick.
Yeah.
If you want to see something very funny from that show, if you can find the clip of me on the show you introduce me and I have to run down a staircase and I.
Run down in the weirdest, most just bizarre way to where my mom called me and asked if something was wrong with my legs. So if you can find that of me, kind of duck running down the staircase with Dave kok It.
It happened to you right before you and it was very strange.
Did we please find that we.
Have Noney right now?
Our producers are, They're on it.
That was so strange. So with all the stuff you've done, you have now embarked on a brand new journey, one that we know from our other podcast. Because you're rewatching all the episodes of Full House for Full House Rewind and as somebody going through that and and something from thirty years ago? Do you also get the feeling that you're just watching somebody else?
I do, because I never The big catalyst for me wanting to do Full House Rewind was that I've never watched the show my son did when he was little. He used to call it Daddy's Show. And I say, can I watch Daddy's show? This is like when he was four or five years old, you know, And I would I would use it as a ploy to make him eat his vegetables, said, can I watch daddy show? I'm like, you got to finish the broccoli or there's no daddy.
That's what I ever worked.
And I tricked him. I tricked him because the show would give me VHS's that I could take home. I never watched him, but I would pop one in for him, so he always thought I had to work the VHS machine for him to watch it. So I'm not sure if he ever watched one actually on network television Friday night at eight o'clock. But I just told Stamos this the other day. I said, John, I'm on episode thirty three.
You and I were pretty funny together. I actually made myself laugh a couple of times, stupid stuff that we did. And he goes, you know, my son's five years old now, And I finally get it, and I said, we were funny. There's it holds up. Like I was, I was terrified to go back watch one hundred and ninety two episodes of Full House and be.
Like, yeah, oh yeah.
I mean I do that with you know, I had to buy into the bad mullets and.
The keithing that you can't help though.
That is just what's going to happen when you go back like that, right, right.
But the comedy held up because it was physical. It was silly at times. A lot of it was very silly, but it was it was very you know, warm, the feeling I guess I'm trying to explain is it was a warm feeling instead of a cringe moment for me where I was like, Okay, I don't know what this is going to feel like, and I've just kind of fallen in love with the show. It's it's a really nice feeling. I have to tell you. I didn't expect that. I thought, am I going to be watching this? And
I'm still gonna have to say nice things. It's kind of like video comfort food. I get it. And I understand why kids come up and say, you know, I had a tough childhood and you guys were my family. Thank you.
Yeah, and wow, that resonates now. It lands now, yeah, whereas before it didn't really land on me so heavily or in such a sweet spot I should say, And it's nice.
It's just nice.
Yes, it is, well, it does. The show absolutely holds up and you know, the comedy is there, and it is. It's weird. It's the closest to actually owning your own time machine is being able to go put on years of your life, literally years of your life that then triggers memories and sensations that you haven't felt in a long time. It's very odd.
Yeah, And I think it's really cool when you get to go back and rewatch that stuff, because obviously you're rewatching the storylines, but you're also thinking, oh my gosh, I remember that day of shooting and so and so was on set, or we did a barbecue after, or
you know that that kind of stuff is fun. I'm sure for you guys to revisit all of that, because that's that's the part that making having those incredible experiences through work is so great when you go to work and it doesn't feel like work because you love the people you're working with and you're having so much fun for sure.
And what it's done is I not only have the memory of the show, but it's exactly what you just talked about. Is I remember we went get the Hawaii episodes. I remember me and Laurie Laughlin going to the hotel pool and we were doing these stupid characters after the shoot, you know, in the pool, and people must have thought we were nuts, but we would let it was funny only to us, and we were but we were doing that,
you know. So it brings back those moments where it it didn't have and on the set it didn't happen in the episode, but it was a byproduct of something we were doing.
Really, I love that. That's so fun.
And you've had on so far. You've had John Stamosler, Lachlan, Marla Sokoloff, the show's creator, Jeff Franklin. Is there somebody that you're dying to have on to interview that you haven't had a chance to yet?
Taylor Swift? Yeah?
Oh well, I mean everyone wants a little piece of day.
Yeah, Taylor Swift, Well.
Her boyfriend, that one guy, he'd be cool too.
I'd rather have her.
I'm trying to find out if she grew up watching Full House.
Of course she did, and of course she did.
Yeah, well that's that. You know. We're we've had people like you just mentioned. We have had Jody and Andrea, and and Candace and John and Scott Weinger and Jeff and John you know, and those are all people that were in the heart of Full House. But I'm what I'm saying to my partners now, is here are the people we need to get on Full House? Rewind It's people that you would never have thought, like, is John Legend, you know? Was Chrissy Teagan? Were they Full House fans. I want to get them on.
That's such a good point.
Yeah, talk to.
People about what was your full House experience, Like what was Friday Night like at your house? And was t G I F a part of your life? You know, like those people are I know those people are out there.
Oh yeah, or a specific episode that one of the characters went through that really resonated with you, you know.
That that kind of stuff.
Well, we know Taylor Swift was a Boy Meets World fan, so I will guarantee that Taylor Swift was a full.
House Okay, Taylor, if you're listening, if you're watching, Oh, she definitely tunes into this one.
I'm sure of it.
You on the show.
Yeah, is that mister Woodchuck behind you right there?
It is inde at it the whole time.
You want to hear the story, Yeah, there's a story behind this is the original mister Woodchuck that I had on Full House. So when we wrapped in nineteen ninety five,
they gave me mister Woodchuck. I designed mister Woodchuck with a puppet maker named Randy Simper who had a creature shop way out in Palmdale, California, and I had to go to his creature shop when the producer said, we want you to do this puppet show thing, and we're going to send you to see Randy Simper and okay, and so I sat down and started sketching with Randy. You know what mister Woodchuck was going to look like.
That's a very expensive puppet. It was like twenty five thousand bucks or something because it was designed by Randy Simper in his creature shop. He designed elf a lot of creatures for Henson, like major, major stuff.
Wow.
So the stuff on him here, that the fur looking stuff. That's called muppet fleece. And you had to license that from Jim Henson's company. So it's called muppet fleece. And the reason that they put that on is it absorbs the light on a set. It doesn't reflect light, it absorbs it. And so Jim Henson is in his genius, figured that out that it's made his characters look very very warm. So that's muppet fleece. Now, if you notice he's missing his face, his face is ripped off. Do you want to see it?
Oh God, please, yes, I know I have to no tail, you were lying, no tail.
So here's the story there he is, there's no face.
Oh god, awful.
Yeah, it's terrible. So what happened was I had a yellow lab Ranger Dog, greatest dog in the world. When I brought mister Woodchuck home, I put him on just like he was back there. I put him on a desk at the end of the hallway, and every day Ranger would go and just look down the hallway and growl at mister Woodchuck, and I would just go, it's okay, it's all right. He's not alive or anything. As soon as I would go over to him, he would freak out, like that thing's gonna come alive.
And kill me.
Gonna get you dead.
I mean to eat it someday. So one day I walked in and I see mister Woodchuck laying on the on the living room floor, face down, and I see foam everywhere. Oh no, oh, no, him over And that was what I saw. And I see Ranger and he's laying across the living room and he's got pieces of foam all around his face on the floor and he's just looking at me. He like I got him.
Dad took care of it.
I found the perfect opportunity You're welcome, Pop, He's good.
So that's what happened. And then when we brought back Fuller House, uh Me, John Stamos and Bob Saget did a sketch with with Jimmy Fallon. So we went to New York and Jimmy said to have Dave bring the mister Woodchuck puppet. And I said, I told the story and he laughed and he said, well, can we make you a new one? And I said absolutely, So we did the sketch with the puppet that Jimmy's guys made for us. And then when we were leaving, I thought,
oh man, it'd be nice to have that puppet. And I was leaving and Jimmy said, it was like that. I don't know if you guys remember the Pepsi or coke Mi Jo. He throws him his jersey, kid, here you go, kid, And I was like, oh man, the Woodchuck. So so the other Woodchuck that we used on Full House rewind is the one that we used on Fuller House. Okay, so that that's that's the quick.
Poor guy, Hey right it is. But you know Ranger took care of it. He did. Yeah, Ranger took care of business.
He did, and you know what, Thank goodness, I have a sense of humor because that was one expensive puppetize.
I was gonna say, Okay, thank you for joining us so much, but for the we I have one last question because I'm you and I also have a passion and love in our lives, which is voiceover. And it's something that I've won for twenty five years and been a huge part of my life. And you've done so many iconic voices. Wow, I'm just curious, what's your favorite one to do?
Uh? There's two little Emmy awards up behind me back there, yep. And those were when I he won the Best Animated Series Emmy Award on Muppet Babies four years in a row. And I got to work with Jim Henson, which was which was unbelievable, and the writing was so smart and
so clever, and these iconic characters so animal. I did Animal Bunch of Honeydew, the two old men in the balcony, Waldorf and Statler and Bean Bunny, and I think probably Waldorf and Statler were my favorite guys to do, you know, yeah, yeah, And and Jim Henson would give notes and he sounded like Kermit the Frog. His natural speaking voice was gave one animal falls here, Why don't you just can't do some effering sounds and then you know, you'll fall backwards?
And then Fozzy and I would sit there and here's a guy with long hair and a beard, and I just I'm like, wow, Kermit the Frog is a hippie.
Yeah, yeah, So that show.
I think one of the hardest times I ever laughed was recording that show and Greg Berg, me and Frank Welker sat next to each other, and they eventually had to separate me and Frank because we would make each other laugh too hard Ever Recession, and that was before there were time limits on recording sessions. So we would have these marathon sessions where we'd have to walk out of the room and regroup because we were laughing so hard.
Good story, so quick story. So Frank was Kermit, and then Barbara Billingsley, who was missus Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver. She was in She would wear pearls and all decked out, and so she was so lovely and wonderful and kind. And then we had Rusy Taylor who did Gonzo, and then we had Greg Berg who did Fozzy, and Katie Lee was Ralph, and then you know, I did my characters, and so there's a scene where Animal is pushing Fozzy up a ladder and we're doing these
these efforting sounds. So I'm going in Fozzy, well, Greg Burn doing these efforting sounds farts, and we all hear it is like the room did one of those looks right, And I looked at Frank Welker. We realize what has just happened that Greg has parted right. We we all fall down and Barbara Billingsley either she didn't hear it or she didn't get it, but she was so stoic, like what just happened. We're dying. I'm on the floor crying.
Hank Saroyan, our director, is crying, and and I can't compose myself because it's one of the funniest things without it, without missing a beat, all of a sudden, it's quiet for just a second as we're breathing from laughter, Greg in character as Fozzy just goes, excuse me, So now it happens all over again. Now we're crawling back out laughing. And it was one of the hardest times I have ever laughed in my life, and I'm very happy to say it was because of a fart.
Oh, I love. That's amazing though. I mean, there's nothing like being in one of those voiceover sessions and you're just around funny people doing things like that. Oh, that's great, And.
You've had such a great voice career.
Man, it's very lucky.
It's really fun, isn't it.
Yeah, it is the greatest job in the world. It really is the greatest job world. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us. At least we talked for most of it about the thirteenth Year. There was too much to talk to you about. But we wanted to talk about thirteenth Year a bit because we just watched it. But when is a full house rewind coming back so people can start tuning In the.
End, we are back. We are back shut down from the strike and we lost a lot of people. But it's building up quickly again and we have some great guests coming up. And it's on our YouTube channel and it's wherever you get your podcasts and all that blah blah blah stuff. But I'm having a blast and can't wait to keep going.
Well, it is a great show and it brings all of the Full House fans right back to everything, but with just a heightened experience, so you get to hear all the inside stories and all the fun stuff.
Well, thank you, Dave. It was awesome meeting you, so thank you.
I appreciate you guys.
So much, and hopefully we will see you at another convention of course.
Well the best to you guys.
You as well. Thanks Dave, bye bye. Yeah. The other person that I could just sit down and just listen to him tell stories.
All yes, And I mean I just imagine how obviously this movie was fun to do.
He just had so much going on at.
The time, right, I mean, oh yeah, and to be who he is and just get handed a script and said, we're so glad you're gonna do this.
You're going to do this? What that's just the stand up stuff alone. I think about that. I think about that he saw and the lineups that he saw and all that stuff. And then full Full House comes along and then you're doing that, and then the thing where I love and then the thing we're talking to about his thirteenth year.
Yeah, right, good movie.
It's a good good movie, isn't it?
Crazy?
Though?
When you when you when you get a chance to talk to somebody who has just had just a career that just grew up for years and years and years, and they all have that same idea of you know, when he was first getting ready, which is a lot of times what we get to chance to talk on this podcast with the young at the time and when it blows up and how they're all like I was on this bike that I was just going as fast
as I can and and not stopping to think. And you know, I know I remember so many moments of feeling that way too. And yeah, but it's hard because the industry makes you think if you stop, you're done, you might not start again. You know, you you're done, so you just keep going.
With both hands while you can exactly. No, it's true. But I mean, he is just so talented. And again, I we didn't get into a whole lot of the voiceover stuff, but voiceover is such a passion of mine. I mean, he's he's phenomens, one of the great. Yes, well, thank you everybody for once again joining us on this episode of Magical Rewind. When we got to speak to the amazing they were doubtable. I'm gonna say, Dave.
Thank you, Dave, because that was amazing.
Gosh, I could just sit and listen to him talk about all his stand up comedy for.
Shore absolutely and go check out a full House rewind. It is a great podcast, a lot of fun. He is a great host, and you get more stories like that, but all you know mostly full house based, which is for full house fans out there. What you want to add that extra little more soul to your full house memories. So thank you everybody for joining us, and join us next time.
Bye bye,