Dave Coulier might be the biggest cartoon fan of all time

The comedian got to Full House on the strength of his cartoon impressions.

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Before Dave Coulier became a TV star on Full House, he was a stand-up comedian who was known for his amazingly accurate cartoon impressions.

If you’ve watched the sitcom, you know that on Full House, Coulier’s character Joey Gladstone was pretty much based exactly on his real life.

Joey’s best friend was Bob Saget, he was an avid golfer, and above all else, he loved to watch Saturday morning cartoons and often worked impressions into both his daily life.

In the Eighties, as Full House topped the ratings for Friday night television, Coulier also crossed over into actually originating cartoon voices as a voice actor pulled into hit cartoon franchises.

On The Jetsons, he voiced a newsboy in an episode called "Rip-off Rosie."

And he was known to voice villains on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

For The Muppet Babies, he voiced two very different characters — Baby Animal, known for being the unruliest, and the nursery’s brainiest, Baby Bunsen.

He even got a chance to become a Real Ghostbusters star, voicing Peter Venkman across many seasons and in the Slimer! spin-off.

All this work came from Coulier showing some gumption in the mid-Eighties and chasing after his cartoon dreams.

He had begun doing cartoon impressions on a rock radio show, and he got curious what he would have to do to submit his name for consideration to do real voice work.

So he called up Hanna-Barbera and asked about sending in an audition tape.

"What should I put on my tape?" Coulier asked.

"They said to put on some original characters, so I made up some original characters, put a 3.5-minute tape together and sent it on a Friday," Coulier told The Los Angeles Times in 1989. "That Monday, they called me and said, ‘We have work for you today.’"

The L.A. Times story described Coulier as a "hard-core fan of cartoons," and we think his career stands as testimony to that fact – performing 40 weeks a year as a stand-up doing cartoon impressions, before voicing his own original cartoon characters for Hanna-Barbera, before playing hard-core cartoon fan Joey Gladstone on Full House.

But at least one reporter for L.A. Weekly suggested that Coulier became so successful not just because he was so good at doing cartoon impressions, but because he was actually built like a cartoon himself:

"Dave Coulier resembles a cartoon character – head slightly too big for body, herky-jerky movements, the look of someone whose coloring might leave the confines of the drawing at any moment. Hey, Dave sounds like a cartoon, while evoking the Saturday nostalgia of Mr. Peabody, Sherman and Bullwinkle."

Keep all that in mind as you watch Joey do his best impressions season to season on Full House: you’re watching one of the biggest cartoon fans of all time spread his love for classic cartoons to millions.

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17 Comments

VBartilucci 19 months ago
Dave Coulier used to claim in his promotional bio that he had done the voice of Scooby-Doo. I called his agent, who explained that he meant that he did the voice in his act. I called a guy I knew at Hanna -Barbera, and THEY called his agent, and that line disappeared from his bio.

Years later, after Don Messick died, Coulier was passed over for doing the voice of Scooby-Doo for his friend Scott Innes.

In the years since, and all of the people who have gotten to do the voice in an HB production, Coulier has NEVER done the voice.

I like to think I'm partially responsible for that.
Moverfan 25 months ago
"Joey's best friend was Bob Saget"? No, guys, I think you mean DAVE'S best friend--he played a character named Joey, but he never changed his name.
profbalipp 25 months ago
If I remember correctly, Dave Coulier was on The Gong Show (daytime version) received a perfect 30 score and was named the winner.
Pacificsun 25 months ago
Here today again... and was here 3 days ago, LOL!
LoveMETV22 25 months ago
Seeing as they have The Brady Bunch and Full House on Sunday afternoons, why not make Sunday afternoon a family block. They acquired Full House, Why not try to also acquire Family Ties, Eight is Enough and other Family oriented programs. Just a thought.
Pacificsun LoveMETV22 25 months ago
Many would enjoy it!!
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 25 months ago
Yes. Seeing as some of the programs they run are available on other networks, ( ie.. Monk, The Waltons, FH, and maybe a few others), they could at least try for broadcast rights. Although there are probably some shows that may have exclusivity rights ? , I don't imagine all programs are in that category. Who knows?
LoveMETV22 25 months ago
They should have Dave Coulier appear and host an episode of Toon In with Me with Bill Leff, as they are both cartoon enthusiasts.
Pacificsun LoveMETV22 25 months ago
He could be another MeTV Ambassador like CB! That would be nice.
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 25 months ago
Lol. Like Chicago's WCIU phrased it "Ambassador":
madvincent 26 months ago
Hello after 5 big hrs I’m the 1st response.......
Is this page going down hill like the ski guy. on the “old” wide word of sports.....
madvincent LoveMETV22 25 months ago
That’s a classic
Saturday’s at 4pm when I was a kid
I thought METV took this Story down
LoveMETV22 madvincent 25 months ago
They did, they reposted it a few hours ago.
madvincent LoveMETV22 25 months ago
Steel belted tires lol
Pacificsun LoveMETV22 25 months ago
We'll never figure this one out.

Maybe the maintenance of the website is just as much of a mystery to MeTV too!

They've been posting a lot of duplicate comments too.
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 25 months ago
Yeah I wonder why the duplicate comments come up, maybe it's just the way they have their comment sections configured. It's interesting when they repost stories they did in the past and the older comments still show.
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