How I Met Your Mother

No one has ever benefited from being on a family sitcom more than Bob Saget.  Saget, a comedian of the raunchy variety, somehow acquired the role of Danny Tanner on Full House in 1987, became the host of America's Funniest Home Videos soon after, and the rest is history.  He's always been a racy comedian at heart, but the general public was more or less unaware of this fact until The Aristocrats, a hilarious 2005 documentary featuring comedians telling different versions of an age-old joke, where Bob Saget gave perhaps the raunchiest version of an already devastatingly raunchy joke, was released.  The inherent shock factor of people learning that good ol' Danny Tanner was, in fact, a dirty middle-aged man made Saget relevant again, even garnering Saget an HBO comedy special.  Comedy Central announced today that Bob Saget will be the latest person to get roasted on the network, following in the footsteps of Pamela Anderson, Flavor Flav and William Shatner.  The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget will be taped in Los Angeles and air on Comedy Central August 17.  


Saget currently narrates the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and was the host of NBC's silly game show 1 vs. 100.  If I may finish my above thought, Saget's career is remarkably interesting, especially given the duality of his public persona.  The ability to re-invent himself (to the public, that is) as an adult comedian is clearly impressive, and is a far cry from the character he portrayed on both Full House and America's Funniest Home Video.  Ever since his responsibilities on those two shows ended, Saget has worked tirelessly to shed the family-man image, starting with his cameo in Half-Baked, and continuing with his appearances in The Aristocrats and Entourage, and his stand-up comedy (Saget also directed the much underrated Norm MacDonald film Dirty Work).  This is all impressive stuff, especially when you consider this important fact: Bob Saget has never been funny.  

Full House (even after acknowledging I watched it religiously as a child) was horribly schlock-y television, a weekly Hallmark After School Special in the guise of a sitcom.  Saget's work on America's Funniest Home Videos was cringe-worthy during his reign.  His recent HBO special is nearly unwatchable; no amount of f-bombs and sexual innuendo can make up for crappy material.  I can only conclude that Saget's re-emergence only came about as a result of that family-man persona being purposefully ripped to shreds.  Saget is an oddity; comedy is generally performance based.  If you aren't funny, you'll eventually fade away.  Saget has endured, despite his lack of talent as a comedian.  That being said, Saget is a good comedic actor, especially if given the right material (or, perhaps again, his film cameos have only worked because we know him as Danny Tanner, kind of like how hearing your grandma cussing would be hilarious).  

No malice intended here.  Bob Saget seems like a good guy, and I've liked a number of things he's done.  Regardless, the Comedy Central Roast should be a lot of fun, especially considering the parade Olsen Twins jokes we're likely to hear.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Zap2It
(Image Courtesy of ABC)