How rude! John Stamos says he once got the Olsen twins fired from ‘Full House’
Uncle Jesse did not “have mercy” toward the Olsen twins on the set of “Full House.”
John Stamos, who played the Elvis-obsessed uncle Jesse Katsopolis on the hit ’90s sitcom, revealed that he insisted that twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen be canned from their “Full House” gigs after they “screamed” through a pilot scene with co-star Dave Coulier.
On Monday’s episode of the “Good Guys” podcast hosted by Josh Peck, Stamos dished about on-set drama. Stamos said he found certain aspects of filming “disruptive to his process.”
Peck asked Stamos to confirm a rumor, asking, “Did you try to get the Olsen twins fired?”
“I didn’t try,” Stamos said. “I did it.”
During the pilot, Stamos and Coulier shot a scene in which they’re tasked with taking care of baby Michelle Tanner (played by the Olsen twins) while her dad, Danny Tanner (played by Bob Saget), is away.
Uncle Jesse and Coulier’s Joey claim they have it under control. But when it’s time for a diaper change, the men go through a series of slapstick theatrics.
“We’re carrying her downstairs. I think I was holding her under the armpits and Dave was holding her little feet,” Stamos recalled. “We take her in the kitchen and we hose her down, and fan her fanny. We wrapped her up in paper towels.”
But Stamos said the twins were screaming as they tried to run through the scene. Although the crew tried to switch the twins, hoping one could make it through the shot without crying, Stamos said, “they wanted to be anywhere else but there, and so did I.”
“They were 11 months old, God bless them,” he added.
“I couldn’t deal with it,” he explained. “I said, ‘This is not gonna work, guys.’ I screamed at them, ‘Get rid of them. I can’t work like this.’”
Stamos then said the ’90s’ most famous twins were fired and replaced with another set of twins.
Stamos reflects on more than 35 years of friendship with his beloved ‘Full House’ co-star, who died Jan. 9 at 65.
“They bring on these two red-headed kids — and I’m sure their parents loved them and thought they were attractive — but they weren’t attractive,” Stamos continued.
When Peck asked Stamos if the Olsens knew they’d been fired, Stamos replied, “They do now.”
Only a few days passed before Stamos demanded that the Olsen twins be rehired, saying the red-headed children were “terrible.”
“And now [the Olsen twins] own this building we’re in,” Stamos joked.
Peck had his own story to share about the Olsen twins, admitting he’d asked Mary-Kate on a date. It was an immediate no.
Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, meet the Row.
The Olsen twins apparently visited Stamos’ house for a memorial get-together the day after beloved comedian Saget’s funeral. Peck was in attendance and admitted he wanted to say hello to Mary-Kate, but he chose to hang back instead.
“Mary-Kate, God bless her, you would have walked away disappointed,” Stamos told Peck. “She probably would have said, ‘Oh OK, great, can you light my cig?’”
Mary-Kate and Ashley portrayed the youngest daughter in the hit sitcom for eight seasons, from 1987 to 1995. They went on to star in several films together including the 1995 film “It Takes Two” and the 2004 teen comedy “New York Minute.”
By 2012, they had retired from acting and opted out of returning for the “Full House” Netflix reboot, “Fuller House,” which ran from 2016-2020. In the opening episode, Stephanie Tanner (played by Jodie Sweetin) asks about her “little sis,” and Saget’s Danny Tanner replies, “Well she sends her love, but she’s busy in New York running her fashion empire.”
The cast breaks the fourth wall and turns to the camera, giving prolonged, knowing looks. Because the Olsen twins actually were in New York, running a high-end fashion empire.
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