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The dark side of TV’s Danny Tanner

[additional-authors]
August 14, 2008

I’ll never forget the first time I watched “Half Baked,” almost 10 years ago, because of a scene when Dave Chappelle’s character, Thurgood the pothead, seeks help through group therapy.

“You in here for some marijuana?” they ask incredulously.

And as the crowd boos Thurgood, the former Danny Tanner, real life’s Bob Saget, stands up and asks a vulgarity straight out of “Basketball Diaries.” (It’s in at the 2:10 mark this video.)

I couldn’t believe my ears. This was Mr. Clean from “Full House,” a goody-two-shoes second to none. And here he was sounding like your average comedian at open mic night. Which is, of course, what made the line so funny.

This Sunday, Saget will finally get the glory he deserves: His own roasting on Comedy Central. I’ve already got my DVR set; I’ve been looking forward to this for about a month. For my generation, Saget is kitsch brought to life, and it was with great enthusiasm that I picked up today’s Jewish Journal, knowing he’d be on the cover.

“Bob is particularly funny because he has this dual, schizophrenic reputation from the G-rated family shows to the X-rated stand-up show. I appreciate his humor, because I know where it comes from: a sweet and loving way of communicating with people,” Saget’s rabbi, Steven Carr Reuben of Kehillet Israel in the Palisades, told The Journal.

His rabbi. Well, in that spirit, we ran two versions of the story online. One is clean and the other down and dirty.

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