Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

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

Rate this book
Millions of viewers know and love Bob Saget from his role as the sweetly neurotic father on the smash hit Full House, and as the charming wisecracking host of America's Funniest Home Videos. And then there are the legions of fans who can't get enough of his scatological, out-of-his-mind stand-up routines, comedy specials, and outrageously profane performances in such shows as HBO's Entourage and the hit documentary The Aristocrats.

In his bold and wildly entertaining publishing debut, he continues to embrace his dark side and gives readers the book they have long been waiting for—hilarious and often dirty. Bob believes there's a time and a place for filth. From his never-before-heard stories of what really went on behind the scenes of two of the most successful family shows of all times, with co-stars like John Stamos and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, to his tales of legendary friends and colleagues like Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Pryor, Don Rickles, and other show business legends, Saget opens up about some of his personal experiences with life and death, his career, and his reputation for sick humor—all with his highly original blend of silliness, vulgarity, humor and heart, and all framed by a man who loves being funny above all else.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2014

156 people are currently reading
2244 people want to read

About the author

Bob Saget

10 books19 followers
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget (born May 17, 1956) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. Although he was best known for his family-friendly roles as Danny Tanner in Full House and the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos, Saget was also known for his very vulgar stand-up routine. From 2005-2014, he provided the voice of the future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother.

Saget was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish family. His father, Benjamin (1917-2007), was a supermarket executive, and his mother, Rosalyn (1925-2014), was a hospital administrator. Saget lived in Norfolk, Virginia and in Encino, California, before moving back to Philadelphia and graduating from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher, Elaine Zimmerman, saw his creative potential and urged him to seek a career in films.

He attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery, and was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. His friends called him "Sags". He graduated with a B.A. in 1978. Saget intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California but quit a few days later.

Following a short stint as a member of CBS' The Morning Program in early 1987, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a huge success through family viewers and landed in the Nielsen ratings's Top 30 from the third season onward. In 1989 Saget was cast as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s Saget worked both on Full House and AFV simultaneously, and in 2009 returned to AFV for a 20th anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Tom Bergeron.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
570 (16%)
4 stars
887 (26%)
3 stars
1,210 (35%)
2 stars
532 (15%)
1 star
209 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 436 reviews
Profile Image for Fabian.
1,004 reviews2,120 followers
May 27, 2017
"Dirty Daddy" is giddy but tame. By highlighting this one overriding fact constantly-- Saget says he is "filthy" yet an all-around nice guy-- we immediately find out that he's not. The same type of joke abounds in this autobio.: Saget gives us something lukewarm-nasty, then retracts it in the following sentence. Kinda like thinking of jumping in the pool, putting a few toes in, then returning to your land-locked position. Very vanilla. He is not a daredevil, nor a risk-taker. That being said, it is great to read about famous people-- although Saget never gets truly mean. And that's a shame, because other comedians' efforts have that, PLUS more. & Saget falls short, admitting to being "inspired by young people." Immaturity is funny, but somehow NOT coming from this TV icon.

What made me read this? I was being compulsive. Maybe a 'lil of that bittersweet "Full House" nostalgia. Saget's account is disorganized, sometimes running too long on too many small jokes. Too serious and not serious enough. He writes: "Getting on television gives nobodies instant power." (316) Ouch. Don't be THAT harsh on yourself, Danny!
Profile Image for Andrew Hicks.
94 reviews43 followers
January 12, 2015
It took me five weeks to trudge through all of Bob Saget’s Dirty Daddy to the end. There’s a uniquely frustrating combo of filler and narrative that explains that the author knows that the filler is filler, which is of course, MORE FILLER.

Next, Bob will change the subject to more off-topic filler, while loosely tying it all together with Hollywood and standup comedy stories that are Just Interesting Enough to make you keep reading. Albeit, after you put the book down for a few days and read completely through a couple superior books. And an Aldi shopping circular or two.

I think ideally the meat of the Dirty Daddy manuscript clocks at about 40 good pages, spread throughout the 263-page whole like M+Ms in otherwise crappy trail mix that keeps telling you it’s crappy trail mix with good intentions and a heart of gold. Bob should’ve sold that 40 good pages to a magazine and let them cut it down from there. Repurpose it as an interview, maybe. I would’ve loved reading that.

Instead, we get this self-aware, stream-of-consciousness rambling about how he’s writing a book, and this friend told him he should put this story in a book, but maybe he shouldn’t tell it because of lawyers, and how he has a laptop on his lap, and it’s cutting off the circulation to his balls, which is a shame because balls need blood, and oh yeah I was maybe gonna tell you a story, I’m a decent guy, don’t think I’m dirty, I have daughters and they love me. My sick sense of humor is therapeutic.

Best example of the weird bait-and-delay of the narrative: Bob spends a few pages telling us how he wasn’t gonna tell the story in his book of how he lost his virginity, but then John Stamos had a web show called “Losin’ It” that was about stories of virginity loss, and Bob went and told his story on that show. And more delays amounting to pages... but then Bob still doesn’t tell us the story. Come the fuck on. There was an editor on this project, yeah?

Most interesting is a stretch toward the two-thirds mark that covers Saget’s post- Full House / America’s Funniest Home Videos career resurgence as renowned gross-out reciter of dirty jokes. To hear Bob recollect it, none of that was by design - they wanted him to cameo in Half Baked (“I seen ‘im!”), and they came after him to appear in The Aristocrats . However, the decision to direct 1998’s Dirty Work - the Norm MacDonald vehicle also featuring Artie Lange, Chris Farley and Don Rickles - appears to have been made by Bob himself. But he won't tell you that right away.

Runner-up on Most Interesting by default is an extended chapter in the middle of the book that covers Full House and AFHV . It’s loaded with random, barely organized but still earnest anecdotes. No dirt is dished - he loves all these guys, he even loves the current host of AFHV , Tom Bergeron, who has a memoir of his own (narrative hook: Tommy has anger issues!).

The best revelation during the Full House / AFHV stretch, the most satisfying to me anyway - Saget knew the voiceover bits during his heyday of AFHV were annoying, he knew he had no range, and he spent next-to-no time coming up with the bits. I had blocked most of this out of my memory, but it all came back to me - I used to HATE Saget’s narration during the home videos. And I’d also completely forgotten, but I totally started and bailed on Farce of the Penguins , Saget’s film-length, all-voiceover March of the Penguins parody.

A good portion of the first half focuses on Saget’s childhood. His dad ran a deli or was a butcher or something. I don’t remember. He died. There were a couple uncles. They died. Aunts and cousins. Dead. Two sisters. Both dead, most sadly. The mom? Still alive, at the time the book was about to go to press… Nope, an add-on end page mentions that Dolly Saget just died as well. RIP, all you dead Sagets.

There’s no traditional photos section in this book - instead, Saget drops B+W pics into the narrative. It’s probably 70% dead family, 30% Bob and celebrities. Saget is actually more willing to photo-drop than to name-drop.

I’m coming away from Dirty Daddy with the impression that Bob Saget is a decent, nice guy. He’s worked really hard on his book, and HE NEVER SHOULD’VE WRITTEN A FULL-LENGTH BOOK. He’s a decent, nice guy though, and he’s got enough stuff that I just kept taking breaks and coming back to it, even though I NEVER SHOULD’VE READ BOB SAGET’S FULL-LENGTH BOOK. Which is to say, there’s not a single reason for a single soul to get to the end of this review.
Profile Image for Amber.
115 reviews11 followers
April 30, 2014
It's Danny Tanner on the cover.

I imagine a lot of people thought this.

I know I did. I'm a huge fan of Full House.

However, Bob Saget is not like Danny Tanner. He curses. A lot. He talks about penises. And he enjoys dirty jokes.

This doesn't bother me. I also curse. I don't talk about penises a lot, but maybe it's because I don't have one. Dirty jokes amuse me. I think Bob Saget and I would get along if I promised not to always talk about Full House.

His book does discuss Full House--but the book isn't only about Full House. Bob, after all, had a life BEFORE Full House. He had a life AFTER Full House. So if you're hoping for a warm book filled with happy stories about Mary Kate and Ashley, this book might not be for you.

Some things that tickled me while I read this book?

Bob has three daughters in real life.

Bob, who was also the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, saw some disturbing home videos. A couple sent a video of themselves having sex in the shower, and then they tripped and crashed through the glass. Funny, yes, but not for a family show. (I would watch the video..)

Bob was friends with Dave Coulier (Joey) before he was cast in Full House.

Bob almost wasn't Danny Tanner--he got the part because he was fired from another job. (The creator of the show always wanted Bob though but Bob obviously couldn't do the show since he was committed to another.) I know it was probably in poor taste of me to think, "Bob, thank goodness you were fired," but oh well. I'm GLAD he was fired. I can't picture anyone else as Danny Tanner. (And oops. There I go again Full Hous-ing. That's probably why Bob wouldn't be able to be around me for long periods of time--because I'd always, eventually, turn the subject back to Full House.)

You'll find all sorts of interesting stories in this book. Yes, they might not be all about Full House, but still, they are entertaining.

Bob might be a Dirty Daddy, but it's certainly okay with me.

Full House!

(Sorry. I couldn't help myself..)
Profile Image for Darcy.
14.4k reviews543 followers
April 13, 2014
This one was just ok. I think it might have been better had it been edited and pulled together better. Things were so scattered. It seemed like if a thought came into Bob's head he wrote it, the narrative often became convoluted and messy. The one thing that I did like was how Bob tried to make sense of his two halves, the wholesome family man and the dirty comic.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
4,190 reviews3,450 followers
April 9, 2014
Full House fans, proceed directly to Chapter 6. America’s Funniest Home Videos enthusiasts, skip to Chapter 7. If you’re not nostalgically fond of either show, why in the world are you reading this book? Granted, this is a celebrity autobiography; I should have known what to expect. [Not that I’ve picked one up since Clay Aiken’s (uh, let’s keep that just between us).] I did rather enjoy the narrative of Saget’s childhood: he was born into a family of Philadelphia Jews, and his father Ben was in the deli meats business, which took them to Norfolk, Virginia (oh boy, would Saget love the kinky story “The Thing About Norfolk” in Murray Farish’s Inappropriate Behavior!) and then to LA, where the whole acting and comedy thing started for him.

During adolescence and young adulthood, Saget lost someone close to him nearly once every two years. His four uncles died of heart attacks; his sister Andrea died at age 34 of a brain aneurysm; his sister Gay died of the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma (a medical research cause that Saget now enthusiastically supports) at age 47; and his ex-wife nearly died during the difficult labor with their first of three daughters. So it’s not surprising that, as Saget puts it, “joking has...been a means for me to avoid pain.” But the tenor of these jokes? Really, the gratuitous filth in this book is just unpleasant. Saget merits “For Mature Audiences Only” labels on his stand-up shows, but he himself admits that should probably read “Immature” instead. I really didn’t need to hear so much about his testicles, or all the gross asides about pedophilia and bestiality.

Apart from the Full House gossip (most interesting piece of trivia: Comet the dog went on to star in Air Bud – the first ‘actor’ on the show to break into the movie business), I most enjoyed hearing a few random stories about his connections with Hollywood legends, such as his meeting an aged Jimmy Stewart (twice in ten minutes, he was so star-struck), and officiating at Rodney Dangerfield’s funeral.

In general, though, there’s too many clichés about how relationships are hard and success doesn’t come easily. It’s all delivered in fairly pleasant self-deprecating style, however. I especially liked this anecdote: “Someone not too long ago walked by on the street and said, ‘Bob, you are the shit.’ And I answered sincerely, ‘Thank you for adding the the.’” (Well, I’d say Danny Tanner was the shit; Bob Saget, I’m not so sure.)
Profile Image for Orsolya.
651 reviews284 followers
April 19, 2014
Actor, comedian, and writer Bob Saget is the king of dual personalities. His most well-known role was playing an uptight, geeky father on the television hit, “Full House” while at the same time delivering dirty and raunchy one-liners in stand-up comedy clubs. Saget pens his first memoir in, “Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian”.

“Dirty Daddy” is not your typical Hollywood memoir. Although Saget combines personal life experiences with that of his professional career; the similarities end there. Saget makes it clear in the introduction to “Dirty Daddy” that he will not follow a chronological autobiographical narrative with his story-telling. He couldn’t be more honest.

To be blunt, Saget’s writing is best described as “all over the place” in the vein of stream of consciousness. He describes a story which springs back to an older memory and then returns to the first thought. This may be a bit choppy for some readers and not what one expects from a memoir. Yet, there is a method to his madness and it reflects the way human minds truly work rather than exhibiting poor writing skills.

Although “Dirty Daddy” can only be taken in small chunks because of its randomness; it has soul. The writing has life to it, laugh-out-loud funny moments, and pure emotion. The reader will truly feel Saget’s personality, resulting in a vivid connection. Admittedly, there are times when it feels Saget is trying too hard to be funny but this isn’t detrimental to the book.

“Dirty Daddy” is not gender specific and appeals to both genders with a plethora of male-friendly penis jokes but with heart-rending tales of his love for the women in his family and life morals. It is quite clear that Saget is a loving romantic at heart. The disappointing factor is that Saget’s defense mechanism of dealing with pain by using comedy always kicks in when telling an emotional story and thus, they feel cut short and abrupt.

There is something about “Dirty Daddy” which makes it quite riveting and a page turner. Saget is without a doubt entertaining. Not to mention, it is very refreshing to not read a Hollywood memoir with the standard, “I am an entitled drug addict but woe-is-me” plot line. Saget may be dirty but he is more intelligent than that. Naturally, “Dirty Daddy” contains name-dropping and Hollywood stories as is typical in celebrity memoirs. This does become somewhat tedious but the stories also have messages/morals which are worth repeating.

“Dirty Daddy” becomes less scattered as the book progresses. Perhaps, the reader simply becomes accustomed to his writing. Either way, it works. Generally, all of these tangents would be off-putting, but there is something in Saget’s sincerity which softens this flaw and drives the book.

Sadly, “Full House” fans seeking juicy gossip will have to look elsewhere. Saget mentions a couple tidbits about his “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” days but he clearly filtered himself and erred on the boring side (one can find the gossip in Jodie Sweetin’s memoir, “UnSweetined”). Don’t expect “Dirty Daddy” to be a “Full-House” tell-all.

The final chapters of “Dirty Daddy” are meaningful and positive in their messages. Again, Saget is more of a family man than the dirty man (but he has a nice combination of both).

Even those readers who can get past Saget’s hyperactivity may have an issue with editing (or lack thereof); as there are some issues with repetition and grammar/punctuation. Plus, the photos throughout the text would have been better with included captions for those readers unfamiliar with the people posing with Saget.

Overall, “Dirty Daddy” is certainly NOT for everyone due to its choppy, non-chronological narrative. It is also not for readers aching for juicy gossip on the Olsen Twins or John Stamos. However, fans of Bob Saget will enjoy his candor, good nature, and revelations of his self and views. “Dirty Daddy” is a quick 1-2 day read and is therefore ‘fun’ entertainment (much like Bob Saget, himself).
Profile Image for Daniel Montague.
361 reviews36 followers
March 9, 2022
After scanning through pages and pages of fetish erotica with similar titles to this book, I realize that Bob Saget may have gotten the last laugh. I can not say that I am completely surprised that the subgenre of "dirty daddies" is so popular. I could bitch about this weird glitch or bitch about this book. I'll go with the later. For better and worse listening to this book which was written and narrated by Bob Saget, proved to be quite laborious. Which is strange considering how easy and breezy it was. Bob has this maniacal energy which works fine in small dozes but much like the law of diminishing returns turns into a hinderance. I put my theory into practice by watching one of his comedy specials and lasted around 10 minutes. His constant neediness and seeking of validation by never fully committing to a joke rankled me. Bob Saget seems like a nice guy, a great dad, an amazing friend but is not an engaging author.

By Bobs own account he had an idyllic childhood filled with stability and a loving family. His male relatives, primarily his uncles did have a habit of dying at a young age which bummed him out. His father, was a butcher with a wicked sense of humor and his mother put up with all of their shenanigans. Despite this positive upbringing, Bob felt he was missing something. He tried filmmaking and found some success at Temple (not to be confused with the Jewish place of worship of which he spent plenty of time). But he always felt a pull towards comedy. This book is Bobs' paean to comedy.

While, I enjoyed plenty of the stories that are told in this work, even the cruder ones it struck an odd balance between perverse jokes mixed with serious recollections and even the maudlin. One minute Bob was telling a graphic joke about his newborn daughter and the next he would be talking about his deceased sisters. He would wax philosophical about trying to find to true love and then lecture about not drinking and driving. This created an almost incongruent tone throughout. No doubt a good amount if not most of comedy comes from a place of pain but in book/audiobook form it should flow easier.

Another bone of contention I had was the utter lack of shit-talking. A good part of the fun of reading a celebrity biography or memoir is learning who is a pain in the ass. Bob makes it explicitly clear that he is not going to tell any stories that impugn anyone's good name. The best we get is a story in which he and his good friend, Dave Coulier (Uncle Joey) watch a homeless man masturbate in public in the 1980s. None of his comic or actor friends are shown as anything but decent and kind human beings. He does not even mention unscrupulous agents, producers or directors.

I enjoyed much of this work but while I was chuckling early on, the book lost a good deal of steam. I like a good crotch burning from an overheated laptop joke as much as the next person but the joke soon becomes stale. It did fascinate me that by becoming something that he was not, wholesome, he was able to find lasting commercial success via Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos. He had to subvert his own natural inclination for puerile and profane jokes and by doing so he carved out a place in television history. Mr. Saget will be missed and his self-deprecating style of humor and wink and nod approach will be remembered by his legion of fans and friends.
Profile Image for Karen Locklear.
77 reviews5 followers
March 19, 2017
I'm a sucker for two things:

1. Personal narratives.

2. The $1.99 selections on the Barnes and Noble reader.

Often the combination is horrific.

I knew Bob Saget was hideous. If he were thirty years younger and coming up in stand up during the era of social media where everyone records EVERYTHING, he'd never gotten the Full House gig. His stuff is just that dark and filthy.

Honestly, though, he's interesting. Disturbed. Complicated. I wouldn't date him because he's OCD. But we could be friends.

And the book, at times, is really funny. But part of Saget's humor-- the stuff where he says something and then says "no just kidding", and then says something else which conflicts with the "just kidding", doesn't translate well with writing.

In the book he comes off as a nice guy who was trapped on a family show for almost a decade and so now all of dude grossness is being released onto the universe-- and that part of the book is really funny-- hearing the stories of the men rehearsing while the kids were in school turning that show into absolute filth. Yeah, that crap was FUNNY.

But I don't want to hear him pontificate regarding relationships. Because it's just boring.

He also talks about the Aristocrats and the vile joke which I will not repeat because: 1. It's not funny and 2. It's just gross. But he does bring up a good point with that joke because it's really not supposed to be all that funny. It's supposed to be really a commentary on what people will do for notoriety, which is highly, highly applicable today. And pretty shocking as well.

Anyway, that's my poorly-written ramble about "Dirty Daddy". Don't know what else to say other than it's $1.99 on the NOOK!
Profile Image for Melissa.
581 reviews2 followers
November 30, 2014
I cannot get through one chapter of this, or even three pages! It's not funny, not entertaining, and not organized. Even the one chapter supposedly about Full House is all over the place and not funny. Boo.
Profile Image for Tory Hunz.
926 reviews
March 24, 2015
2015 Book Challenge: A book with bad reviews. And understandably so! The title and his perception of himself are misleading because all he does is spend the whole book talking about how dirty he is and then everything he talks about is PG. Whenever he made an off-color reference, he immediately followed it up with 'just kidding'. He also spends half the book talking about what a family man he is and how low-key he is. Yawn.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
140 reviews308 followers
April 16, 2017
This book was just awful and I'm not completely sure if it was the author's horrible attempt at racy humor (ie. penis jokes and bowel movements) or if it was just not what I was expecting from the father of Full House, but either way, I'm not impressed. I barely made it past page three before shutting the book and tossing aside.
Profile Image for Leah Ratchford.
140 reviews7 followers
January 18, 2022
This is a terribly hilarious and heartbreaking book. There were parts that I skimmed through, his humor doesn’t always entertain me, but knowing what we all know now, I knew I wanted to hear his message. He had his dark humor, but he was also tender, loving and caring. He loved his people with all that he had, and he truly wanted to touch the lives of everyone around him.
Profile Image for alana.
986 reviews46 followers
June 2, 2015
Sigh. Giving up on this one. I'm tired of waiting for the humor to move beyond expressionlessly delivered information about his man bits.
Profile Image for Edgarr Alien Pooh.
338 reviews264 followers
March 29, 2020
"Heyyyyyyyyyy it's the guy from Full House, Danny Tanner, the neurotic squeaky clean Dad and every second word he writes is a swear word. WOW!!! And he seems to be in love with his dick and balls because he talks so much about them and...................... well, no, that's it!!

This was a completely unfunny memoir, full of the same formulaic jokes that make Dad jokes sound funny. To be honest, if his stage act was like this I would probably give it a miss. I found myself more interested in his comedic friends and wanted to know more about the likes of Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, Richard Pryor and so on.

""the chronicles of a family man turned filthy comedian"" for sure but did you need to be or were you
just trying to banish your previous work like kid friendly Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber?

But you turned this around Bob and I don't think you really meant to. In your 'summary', in the last chapter of the book where you spoke of comedy being a way people deal with negative events in life. This is true, we all crack inappropriate jokes to ""deal"" with the situation. But when you spoke of your Father and his losses, your Brothers and Sisters and your deep personal losses I got it. This memoir is an elongated version of those inappropriate jokes in an attempt to heal wounds or perhaps choke back tears.

I would suggest this book not be read in the hopes of side splitting humour. That is just not there, nor is it in any way a nostalgic trip down the TV highway back to Full House. To me, it felt more like a man getting a burden off his chest in the best way he felt possible and credit for that Mr. Saget. This book was never more than a two star the whole way thr
ough, poor and repetitive jokes and the sense of a man trying to fit in with comedic legends. I was not there, perhaps they were his close friends. But in those last few pages, I think I understood. Bob Saget said it himself - sometimes humour is the easiest way to deal with things, and our best defence. I think in being true to your word, you wrote a whole book as such."
Profile Image for Freda Mans-Labianca.
1,294 reviews124 followers
January 14, 2019
Entertaining!
Bob Saget is more famous for his tv roles than his comedy, but I appreciate the latter more. He's funny, and he's kinda graphic for a comic.
I liked reading his words, as scattered as they often are, and learning more about Bob. I now know who he looked up to, and how long he has been into comedy. Neither I knew until the book. I loved seeing the photos within the book, really showing you what he cares about as a person.
He did quite a bit of name-dropping, so celeb fans will love reading all of those.
All-in-all, a decent read.
Profile Image for Steve.
287 reviews
August 19, 2014
Spoiler alert. If you still think Bob Saget is Danny Tanner in real life, please don’t read this book. In fact, truth be told, whether Saget admits it or not, I think he released “Dirty Daddy” for the single reason to document that he is not that “Full House” father off stage. Reader beware. Consider yourself warned. Proceed at your own risk.

If you are not aware of Saget’s stand-up comedy career, (and I wasn’t before reading this expose), “Dirty Daddy” will shock you. Apparently what we get in these 260 pages is the world’s longest monologue Rated R. In fact, Saget writes just like he was delivering a live set at The Improv or the Comedy Store. Saget’s comedic style comes across here in this stream-of-conscious rant. The author is constantly, (and I do mean constantly), making outrageous statements and then backtracking. When he’s not shocking you with off the wall one-liners and then quickly admitting “that’s not true,” he’s forever going down rabbit trails. But, I digress. (Also one of Saget’s signature lines here.) The comic’s AADD-writing style will drive you crazy!

I did not find the constant off-the-wall-statements followed by disclaimers and then disclaimers of the disclaimers particularly funny. I did not find Saget’s use of every four-letter, not-for-polite-company word very funny. Seemingly by his own admission, Saget employed a potty mouth here for purely one reason. Just to shock.

Saget’s autobiography may remind you of Shirley Jones’ recent release. She too owned a Danny Tanner-like or Shirley Temple public persona from her work on stage and screen. In my view, Jones, like Saget, also penned her story primarily in an effort to reveal her dark side. After reading and reviewing both celebrities��� tell-all tales, I’d recommend Billy Crystal’s bio as more family friendly.

Again, by his own admission, Saget comes across here as an eight or nine year-old boy stuck in a 58 year-old man’s body. Saget’s closing chapter says it all. “Nothing could be more immature than my stand-up. It’s all derived from the silly humor my dad instilled in me. Poop and penis jokes. I really should be billed in perpetuity as ‘For Immature Audiences Only.’”
Profile Image for Wes Young.
336 reviews7 followers
April 28, 2014
I feel like in the early running that Saget's autobiography is being unfairly lambasted. Whether it is because people expect to read something from the wholesome father figure he portrayed on TV, or for some other reason, to pigeonhole this memoir isn't right. Saget is first and foremost a stand-up comic, and Dirty Daddy is written not unlike Saget his stand-up act, dating all the way back to the early 80s. That said, both his act and this book, is manic, crass and not the least bit scatter-shot. The jokes in this memoir come quick and heavy, and if you don't mind or at least expect their juveniliac tendencies, then you are in for an entertaining read. More than just entertaining though, Saget writes about some real heart-rending family stuff. Call his jokes what you will, but in some instances they are the epitome of defense mechanism - it can't be easy to have experienced as much loss as he has. Even so, his outlook is positive and I think that a certain bit of that positivity radiates out to readers of this memoir. Readers must be open to it though.
Profile Image for Adam Sockel.
85 reviews33 followers
February 16, 2017
Bob Saget is an interesting dichotomy. On one hand, he's known as the stereotypical father-figure thanks to Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos. As a comedian, however, his jokes are dirty and sometimes crude (though often entertaining). He seems to shy away from his full onstage antics in the comedic portions of this book and so the humorous parts are more sophomoric than funny. The parts where he shines is when he offers advice and tells about his upbringing, both in life and comedy.

I listened to the audiobook which made this feel like a long episode of How I Met Your Mother but without Ted being annoying and terrible. If you're a fan of his work it's worth listening to as he tells some fun stories about how he came to be THE sitcom dad we all think of and his love for his former cast members (and now friends) is evident and heartwarming. Just know that you'll have to get through some not-so-great bathroom humor to get to those stories.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
636 reviews20 followers
March 20, 2018
Library Biography #26

I feel like I should get some kind of award for finishing this book. Bob Saget says it the best, at the end of this book, "I really should be billed in perpetuity as 'For Immature Audiences Only.' " In other words, my twelve year old would have loved this book more than I did.

Saget warns the reader from the beginning that his writing is spontaneous, but it was much worse than I ever imagined. He takes every opportunity to make some really lame jokes, and very few are actually funny. He also has an obsession with talking about any famous person he's ever worked with, but mostly to the point that he's just bragging rather than telling the reader anything substantial. I'll give him credit that he eventually catches on to himself in this regard.

There are very few parts of the book where I felt Saget was looking to sincerely give some type of commentary and advice based off his life. I felt this book was very mis-mashed and not well put together.
Profile Image for Connie Curtis.
518 reviews6 followers
July 28, 2022
Bob Saget was proud of the fact that he was filthy and vulgar. I listened to a very short portion of this book, and he proved he is just that. I don't care for dirty humor simply because I don't find it funny at all. It takes a low, lazy mind to make people laugh with penis jokes. I had no desire to hear more after five minutes.
Profile Image for Hilary.
2 reviews3 followers
June 13, 2016
The only time I laughed out loud was when he quoted Norm Macdonald.
Profile Image for Khris Sellin.
789 reviews7 followers
December 18, 2019
Silly and irreverent. Just what I needed right now. Love this guy!
Profile Image for Christi Flaker.
571 reviews37 followers
Read
January 23, 2022
A book written for fans of the real Bob Saget, not Danny Tanner fans. He does touch on his family friendly roles on FH and AGT but this is not the focus of the book. If you are easily offended most certainly do not read this book.

Reading this after his death I feel adds a whole extra level to it. Being that he begins the book talking about the loss he has experienced in life and his outlook because of it added extra chills to that portion. But then he made an inappropriate joke and we return to the other side of his personality.

Overall I found it an interesting listen (narrated by Bob himself). There is a ton of name dropping (which he mocks himself). We get chapters on loss, him trying to make it, his career and cameos, relationships so basically a nice well rounded overview. We also learn how much he loves John Stamos 😅
Profile Image for Sarah Rayman.
272 reviews7 followers
December 18, 2022
Make no mistake: I fucking love this man. But a lot of these jokes do not translate well over book pages and it truly was a lot of rambling about love and life and death and nothing. More than necessary.
Profile Image for Grace Cooper.
143 reviews
October 8, 2023
This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook by someone that has passed away. It really put some things in perspective for me. It’s odd hearing someone speak to you directly knowing that they aren’t with us anymore. Overall the book was interesting and what I expected.
Profile Image for Stacy.
56 reviews
September 12, 2024
Bob, you are the 💩!
Wonderful man, filthy comedian, brilliant director, Broadway actor, tv host, and a favorite "dad" to an entire generation. We miss you! ❤️
Profile Image for Amber Ronson.
57 reviews
Read
February 27, 2024
Lotssss of filler and scattered thoughts. I tried to get through this one for the nostalgia but just couldn't do it. Some of the joking was funny though most of it was pointless and took away from the actual narrative.
Profile Image for Brooke.
451 reviews40 followers
January 28, 2022
If you only know Bob Saget as Danny Tanner in "Full House," you only know a small percentage of him, and you probably won't get what you want out of this memoir. His raunchy humor comes out pretty much immediately, and if that's not what you're into, you might not enjoy this.

Reading this after Bob's passing was very bittersweet and made some of the things he said much sadder than they would be on any other day. Bob Saget has been through a lot of loss, and hearing him talk about all the death he experienced in his life hit different after his own death. I'd say the first 20-ish percent of the book is about death, loss and grief. At one point, he mentioned that after all the loss he's experienced, he used to wonder if he would be next, since his family kept going through loss after loss. This is especially sad in retrospect.

He talked a lot about how comedy has gotten him through pain. Chapter 2 is literally titled "Death and Comedy are Closely Related." He said he has dealt with life through "sick and weird humor," which is a trauma response. His work with Scledorma was so important to him, and he talked about that a lot.

Bob Saget also brought up his Jewish upbringing a lot. He told stories about his Bubbe, about being an outsider growing up and antisemitism he experienced.

There was one chapter about "Full House," which was great and one of the longer chapters, but the book is not about the show. There's of course multiple stories about all of the cast members of "Full House," though, since he has stayed friends with all of them.

This book was a little heavier than I expected, especially in light of his recent passing, but it's definitely funny too. His raunchy comedy comes out immediately, and I found myself laughing out loud. If you're looking for a book about "Full House," skip this one. If you want to read about Bob Saget as a person and are into his type of comedy, I'd recommend the audiobook to listen to. It was a fun listen.
Profile Image for Anneka.
597 reviews16 followers
January 28, 2022
Rounded up, and probably heavily influenced by his recent passing as well as FH nostalgia.
However, I love his honesty and taking responsibility for even jokes he doesn’t “stand behind”.

I was actually amused by some of the more jarring jokes, but I seemed to “enjoy” them more as I “got to know” him.
That said, it would have been A LOT to handle regularly, but I can understand why he enjoyed performing and being VERY off-the-cuff.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 436 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.