Dave Coulier says he almost starred on 'SNL' instead of 'Full House' (original) (raw)
NBC execs apparently thought the comedian was too similar to Dana Carvey.
How rude!
Full House star Dave Coulier recalled in a new interview that his TV career almost took a very different route in the late '80s — but he got upstaged by the Church Lady.
The actor and comedian, who's best known for playing Uncle Joey on the beloved ABC sitcom, said on Jim Norton & Sam Roberts on SiriusXM that before scoring his Full House gig, he auditioned for Saturday Night Live and received a call saying he got the part.
"I told everybody I knew," Coulier said. "I boxed up everything in my apartment… but then 10 days go by and I don't hear anything."
According to Coulier, one of NBC's major executives thought he was too similar to another cast member who had just started on SNL: Dana Carvey. "So I had to call everybody in my life and say I'm not going," Coulier explained.
Fortunately, Coulier's luck was about to change. A year later, he said, "I was given that script for Full House, and then, boom! I got it and I thought, how was that so easy?"
Coulier also stressed that he holds no ill will toward Carvey, especially since his fellow funnyman had nothing to do with SNL casting decisions. Besides, snagging a plum role on a prime-time sitcom worked out pretty well for Coulier: He played Joey for eight seasons of Full House and returned for the revival, Fuller House.
Still, we can't help but imagine an alternate universe where Coulier appeared in the "Wayne's World" sketches and Carvey was the one telling the Olsen twins to "cut it out."
Watch Coulier's interview above.
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