COMEDY ACT After 'Full House,' Coulier has no reason to say 'uncle'

His live show is eclectic and clean.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
When it comes to his longtime friend and former "Full House" co-star , Bob Saget has a running gag.
He likes to tell audiences that Coulier shaves certain areas of his body -- below the waist -- that men don't normally put a razor blade anywhere near.
"He tells everybody and people come up to me all of the time and yell that from the audience," said Coulier, calling from his Los Angeles home. "Bob thinks that is the funniest thing in the world."
In fact, a good chunk of Saget's Cleveland performance last year was dedicated to hammering the audience with this rumor until it achieved urban legend status. Coulier laughs at the entire scenario, seemingly biding his time for revenge.
"I don't just have dirt on Bob, I have a mound of manure," Coulier said. "But I tell everybody Bob is like my long lost Jewish sister."
Still working
During the decade that has passed since "Full House" went off the air, Coulier has remained busy as a comedian, actor and cartoon voice-over performer. In fact, it's the latter category in which the Detroit native got his most improbable start in Hollywood.
At the age of 19, Coulier landed in California and immediately sent his voice demo tape to Hanna-Barbera studios. He remembers the package was delivered on a Friday. On Monday, they called him to work on an episode of "Scooby Doo." Talk about good fortune.
With a steady source of income, Coulier then began honing his stand-up talents at legendary comedy clubs The Comedy Store and The Improv alongside up-and-coming peers such as Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Gary Shandling and some guy named Saget. Soon, Coulier got his first big break performing on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" at the age of 23. After his set, Carson gave him the "OK" sign, and he was hooked.
"I love standup, I always have," Coulier said. "There is no other feeling like it because when somebody hands you a script, it's really their words that you are saying. It's their story that you're telling and you're just kind of a puppet. But with standup, it's live and you don't know what's going to happen. There's that adrenaline rush. So for me, there is nothing better than doing standup comedy and hearing people laugh."
Girard and Boardman
Although he averages only 20 standup gigs a year, you can see Coulier on Friday and Saturday in both Girard and Boardman. As for his material, Coulier said he hasn't followed Saget down the potty mouth trail. Instead, his live show is very eclectic, ranging from sound effects and stories to impressions and observational humor.
Whatever the future may hold for Coulier, invariably he'll always be linked to "Full House" and to a lesser extent "America's Funniest People." He doesn't mind.
"Yeah, I used to say the Brinks truck used to pull up to my house every week when I was doing two network series at the same time," Coulier said.
Considering "Full House" remains ubiquitous with two cable channels (ABC Family and Nickelodeon) airing its 200 reruns, one could assume the royalty checks are still pretty sizable. "It's great," Coulier said, laughing. "I have a very happy mailbox."