(CNN) – John Stamos has been open about his time on the hit family sitcom Full House, and his comments may surprise you.
On last week’s episode of the talk show “Hot Ones,” Stamos, who starred as Uncle Jesse on “Full House” from the late 1980s to mid-1990s, admitted he didn’t particularly enjoy the show at first and even tried to quit.
“I hated that show,” he said, recalling originally planning a resemblance to Bosom Buddies, the short ’80s comedy starring Peter Scolari and Tom Hanks, but “with a bunch of kids in the background.”
Stamos added that he felt like the “star” of the series at the time and had a “big shot” attitude in the early stages of production. When his co-star Jodie Sweetin, then just a kid, outshone him on the first reading, his ego took a slight hit.
“Jodie Sweetin, who plays Stephanie (Tanner), reads her lines and people break out, I mean, they scream,” Stamos said, adding, “I couldn’t even hear my lines, they laughed at them so much and I was kind of huddled in my seat.”
(Left to right) Dave Coulier, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, Bob Saget, Mary-Kate/Ashley Olson and John Stamos in “Full House.” (Photo: ABC/Getty Images)
She said she vividly remembered running into the lobby to call her agent and say, “Get me off this damn show!”
In the end, Stamos explained that with the help of his late co-star Bob Saget and a little nudge from his agent, he decided to give it a try.
“I fought it for a long time and finally said, ‘What do I do?’ “It’s a beautiful series full of sweetness and kindness,” he said, adding that he’d come to the conclusion that “the main character was love” and that “we were the best example of a loving family — not a normal family — and that it was the new normal.”
Full House aired on ABC from 1987 to 1995. The sitcom followed Saget’s character Danny Tanner, a widower who raises his three daughters with the help of Stamos’ “Uncle Jesse” Katsopolis and his friend Joey Gladstone, played by Dave Coulier.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen – who Stamos recently admitted he initially tried to get fired from the series – played the three Tanner daughters, alongside Sweetin and Candace Cameron Bure. Lori Loughlin played Stamos’ wife Becky.
Stamos also starred in Fuller House, the Netflix reboot of the popular series that premiered in 2016 and ran for five seasons.