Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian

by Bob Saget

Overview

Bob Saget, the decidedly irreverent stand-up comedian and beloved TV star, delivers uproarious, uncensored, and heartfelt stories from a life in entertainment.

Millions of viewers love Bob Saget as the sweetly neurotic father on Full House, and as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos. Then there are the fans who love his outrageously profane comedy and performances in such shows as HBO's Entourage and the documentary The Aristocrats. In his bold and wildly entertaining publishing debut, Bob gives readers a book that is hilarious and often dirty, yet warm and disarmingly sincere.

Bob talks about the connection between humor and pain, offering insights into his own life, including the deaths of his beloved sisters. He pays homage to the people who shaped and inspired him: his parents, Ben and Dolly, the teacher who encouraged him to make people laugh, and his close friends Rodney Dangerfield and Don Rickles.

Told with his blend of silliness, vulgarity, and heart, Dirty Daddy reveals Bob Saget as never before—a man who loves making people laugh above all else.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062326935
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/22/2014
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Bob Saget is a Grammy-nominated stand-up comedian, actor, director, writer, producer, and television host who has been performing for more than thirty years. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction: We Are What We Are 1

Chapter 1 A Life of Free Association 7

Chapter 2 Death and Comedy Are Closely Related 27

Chapter 3 The Loss of Two Great Women 47

Chapter 4 Surviving Stand-up 61

Chapter 5 As One Door Opens 91

Chapter 6 Parenting My Own and Other People's Kids 109

Chapter 7 The Bipolar World of Family Television 141

Chapter 8 Things I Shouldn't Have Done 153

Chapter 9 The Ten-Years Theory 179

Chapter 10 The Aristocrats, Entourage, and Getting Roasted 205

Chapter 11 Relationships I'd Rather Not Talk About 225

Chapter 12 Falling Upward; or What It's Like to Be Loved and Hated 249

Conclusion: Missionary Statement 257

Author's Note 263

About the Author 264

Editorial Reviews

Both funnier and darker than you might expect . . .

AskMen.com

Hilarious and at times heartbreaking . . .” — Vanity Fair

“Equal parts smut and sincerity . . .” — Larry King Now

“Both funnier and darker than you might expect . . .” — AskMen.com

From the Publisher

Hilarious and at times heartbreaking . . .

Vanity Fair

Equal parts smut and sincerity . . .

Larry King Now

2014-03-31
Family entertainer and champion of filthy humor aims to track his two divergent voices in his memoir. The author, best known for starring on popular TV shows Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos, theorizes that his bifurcated approach to comedy— kid friendly for the TV audience, scatological and ribald in his stand-up—derives from an upbringing in which strong family ties were tested by illness and early deaths: "The more tragedy befell us, the more odd gallows humor I would release." Saget discusses the difficult losses of beloved childhood uncles and, as an adult, his two sisters with a touching straightforwardness before moving on to portray his career arc, beginning with his hardscrabble initiation as a touring comic in the early 1980s: "For me it took ten years to even start to happen." He has a long memory for the comedy veterans who were kind to him, including Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, leading to many amusing showbiz anecdotes and a few off-color ones involving the likes of Rodney Dangerfield. Yet, Saget was surprised when his initial success led to being cast as "a conservative, neurotic widowed father of three" on Full House, which he admits propelled him into the cultural mainstream. Saget's prose is frequently droll (on his concurrent success with America's Funniest Home Videos: "I was double-teamed by family TV"), but the overall effect is one of casual impressions and a broad account of his life rather than a sharper narrative about performance or his eventual experiences producing and directing. Instead, the author frequently indulges in asides, midlife musings and advice for readers, which may produce diminishing returns for anyone who is not a die-hard fan—e.g., "Anything good is hard. But enough about my penis." Some readers may sense the complexity and darkness beneath Saget's comedic stance, yet this memoir remains bubbly and superficial.

Kirkus Reviews