“Full House” star Bob Saget has died while on tour in Florida. He was 65.
Citing “multiple sources connected to the iconic comedian and actor,” TMZ first reported Sunday evening that Mr. Saget died at his hotel in Orlando earlier in the day.
“We’re told he was pronounced dead on the scene, but the circumstances of his death are still unclear,” the celebrity-news site reported.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed the death.
“We have no information on cause of death, and detectives have found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case,” the office said. “The Medical Examiner’s Office will make the final call on the cause and manner of death.”
Authorities arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel around 4 p.m. EST in response to calls from hotel security, who had found him in his room unresponsive.
On Saturday night, the former stand-up comedian and the star of “Full House” and “America’s Home Videos” had tweeted about his Saturday night show in Jacksonville, Florida, apparently in good health and high spirits.
“Loved tonight’s show @PV_ConcertHall in Jacksonville. Appreciative audience. Thanks again to @RealTimWilkins for opening. I had no idea I did a 2 hr set tonight. I’m happily addicted again to this []. Check http://BobSaget.com for my dates in 2022,” he wrote to the world about 12 hours before he died.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Saget starred in two of America’s most popular TV shows, both for ABC.
From 1987 to 1995, he starred as the widowed father in “Full House,” opposite John Stamos as his brother-in-law and Dave Coulier as his best friend, the three men raising Mr. Saget’s TV daughters played by Candace Cameron, Jodie Sweetin and the alternating twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
At roughly the same time — from 1989 to 1997 — he hosted one of the most popular and ground-breaking shows in TV history — “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
Video recorders were becoming a widely owned consumer good at the time, and ABC, building around Mr. Saget’s amiable persona, turned the show over to clips submitted by ordinary people — something unprecedented.
But his performing persona wasn’t always the lovable dad.
His stand-up routines, which is what his latest tour was, had a reputation for raunch, often coming across as even funnier because of the gap between the material and Mr. Saget’s “Full House” and “Funniest Videos” presence.
Among the memorable raunchfests was a Comedy Central roast, in which Mr. Saget gave as good — and as filthy — as he got from he likes of Greg Giraldo, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Lovitz and Norm Macdonald. Also causing dropped jaws was his legendary telling of the titular joke that featured in the documentary “The Aristocrats.”
Mr. Gottfried was one of the first comedians and actors to mourn Mr. Saget’s death on social media.
“Still in shock. I just spoke with Bob a few days ago. We stayed on the phone as usual making each other laugh. RIP to friend, comedian & fellow Aristocrat Bob Saget,” he wrote in a Twitter post, accompanied by a photo of the two together.
Jon Stewart called him “just the funniest and nicest,” while Joel McHale similarly referred to him as “one of the most kind & thoughtful people I’ve ever come across & he just happened to be one of the funniest on the planet.”
