Comedy Clubs

words by > D. Heimpel

The artist formerly known as Danny Tanner

*Wholesome TV dad turned controversial comic, Bob Saget talks about his latest endeavor and his favorite comedy clubs.

Today, he’s sitting by the pool, smoking, with a pair of bikini-clad women on either side of him, on HBO’s “Entourage.” Eleven years ago, he was daddy Danny Tanner on the utterly wholesome TV show, “Full House.” Only Bob Saget could live the dichotomy of his newest release, the lewd Farce of the Penguins, and the family values of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

“I’m really both guys at once,” Saget says. “I have three daughters. I’m very serious about that. But I’m just like an 11-year-old kid who finds out what dirty words are.”

Despite work on TV series like “Entourage,” “Law & Order: SVU” and his game show hit, NBC’s “1 vs 100,” Saget, 50, says he needed to get back on stage to find out if he was still funny. “You’ve gotta go out in the trenches and be funny. You can’t be polite or apologetic. Inside I knew I was funny, but I couldn’t feel it.”

Crowds at campus theaters told him he was. “I don’t wanna talk about the White House, just ‘Full House,’” he said to a rowdy bunch of kids in Washington, DC. Afterwards, he ended up at a packed Georgetown bar with screaming, intoxicated college students. “It got too crazy, I had to run out the back,” he says. “A bunch of college kids drinking shots of booze and yelling ‘Danny Tanner’ can be a bit much.” In Florida, 2,500 spectators had to be turned away.

It is this side of Bob Saget that is making him the success he is with “1 vs 100” (averaging more than 10% market share of viewers during its prime time slot), guest appearances and his latest, Farce of the Penguins.

He didn’t want to do a game show, not after multiple tightly scripted seasons of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” But when the producers of “Deal or no Deal” came to Saget with an idea for a new game show that pitted the intellect of one contestant against a 100-person mob of trivia opponents, he went for it. “They let me be pretty subversive on the show.”

Guest spots like playing a killer on “SVU,” the “Entourage” appearance and a rap cameo in Jamie Kennedy’s wildly popular “Rollin’ With Saget” music video were gifts he never expected. “All the edgy stuff just came to me. People were calling me up and asking me to do things. Hey, I’ll say the worst stuff.”

It was that kind of audacity that landed him in a meeting with Adam Leipzig, president of National Geographic Feature Films, asking for footage from the Academy Award-winning March of the Penguins. Saget’s idea was to use the images to go along with his very un-G-rated DVD, Farce of the Penguins.

“We thought the idea was funny, too,” Leipzig says of Saget’s request. But the notion of having a raunchy Saget script over the footage that contributed to high-art in documentary making wasn’t convincing enough. “I haven’t seen the movie,” Leipzig adds. “I will have to buy a copy, I guess.”

Using stock footage compiled from around the world, Saget wrote the parody’s script. For narration, he got Samuel L. Jackson. He gave the penguins the voices of Christina Applegate, Tracy Morgan, Jamie Kennedy, Dane Cook, Norm MacDonald and others, including himself. Despite such famous penguins, the movie was released straight to DVD. “This isn’t the type of movie you fill the multiplex with,” he says. “If you saw it on the big screen, you’d be like ‘what am I looking at?’”

But before wholesome Saget became dirty Bob, he had to make his name. He did that in the comedy clubs of his native Philadelphia, Los Angeles and everywhere in between.

While his current appearances are more likely onscreen—big or small—Bob Saget knows that the only place where a comic can gauge his or her relevance is on a comedy club stage. For that reason, Bob Saget could be bawdily talking about any number of naughty subjects in his live routine and quickly erasing any innocent memories you might have of Danny Tanner at a club near you.

Bob Saget’s Favorite Comedy Clubs

THE MIAMI IMPROV
Miami
Saget always tries to book a few shows at the Improv in Coconut Grove. “When I’m in Miami, I love playing that room,” he says. “Some people are scared of it. It’s got a big pillar and it’s a dungeon kind of place. It’s set up weird; backstage is separated from the stage by a door, so you step out, and the crowd is in your face. It’s like you are doing public speaking in a club.” Saget’s not scared. www.miamiimprov.com

THE FUNNY FARM
Roswell, GA
Saget likes this room, which is half an hour from Atlanta, because he says the people are “really nice, good people.” But sometimes they are too nice. One fan Saget met there even created a website in which Saget is elevated to the level of deity. “Th e poor guy had made this website. I had wanted the thing shut down. I mean it’s kind of weird to have this website about me. Anyway, this guy is there and he just reveres me. He gets down and starts bowing, saying, ‘I’m not worthy.’ I say, ‘Arise my son, it is me.’” Despite the attentions of at least one over-ardent fan, Saget says, “the Funny Farm is an unusually good club.” www.funnyfarmcomedyclub.com

TEMPE IMPROV
Tempe, AZ
Seating a maximum of 420 people on two levels, the Tempe Improv was no match for the crowds that came to see Saget the last time he was there. To accommodate, he had to book three shows.

Ivan Zovko, who works the door, remembers one of them. “Everyone loved it. Th ey were cracking up. I think they were laughing at the unexpected. Th ey are so used to Danny Tanner.” Nothing in these new sketches resembles the Tanner days.

Saget always finds this room enticing. “It’s a beautiful club,” he says. “And everybody says there are the most beautiful women in the world there [in Tempe].” www.tempeimprov.com

COBBS COMEDY CLUB
San Francisco
Since the days when Saget used to headline with Robin Williams, Cobbs has moved locations a number of times, finally coming to rest at its current location in lively North Beach. Aft er 23 years, the club still attracts some of the country’s hottest comics. It’s a big room, usually packed with a lively crowd. “Cobbs is my home club in San Francisco,” Saget says. www.cobbscomedy.com

THE COMEDY CONNECTION
Boston
Because of all the colleges in town, Saget says, “I always end up in Boston.” When he does, one of his preferred clubs is Th e Comedy Connection in historic Faneuil Hall. Th e club was recently voted “Th e Best Comedy Club in the Country” by USA Today. He loves the brick walls, the crowd and the old feel of the place. www.comedyconnectionboston.com

ZANIES
Chicago
When Saget is in Chicago, he has a large number of good clubs to choose from. However, he always has one spot that he tries hard to fit into the schedule. “I really enjoy Zanies,” he says. “It’s the little club that just makes you feel good. It’s so small and intimate, I go in and say ‘hi’ to the audience.” www.chicago.zanies.com

THE COMEDY WORKS
Denver
Many agree, along with Saget, that the Comedy Works is one of the premier comedy clubs in the country. A line-up that includes regular appearances by Dave Chappelle and Dave Attel further backs the claim. The owner, Wende Curtis, notes Saget as, “Brilliant, he’s a crowd pleaser and comics love him. That’s not always the case. He’s smart, edgy and relevant.” The Comedy Works, Saget says, is “a place where you just feel good as a comedian.” www.comedyworks.com