Bob Saget is an American icon: good-guy single dad from Full House and host of America's Funniest Home Videos by day, star of lewd stand-up and rap music videos by night (see Jamie Kennedy's breakout hit).
Saget embodies our heritage of puritanical values, VH1 reality shows and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, now, more than ever, because Saget is back on national television.
Since October, he's been hosting a family-friendly quiz show, 1 vs. 100. He's also promoting an R-rated DVD called Farce of the Penguins, a parody of March of the Penguins which includes "a lot of Penguin sex," according to Saget, as well as the vocal talents of comedians Tracy Morgan and Lewis Black.
Last week, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) invited tableau to participate in a 1 vs 100 conference call with Bob Saget. Why, you ask?
According to the Nielsen Ratings for the week of Feb. 5, NBC is being dominated by Fox, ABC and even dark-horse CBS. After Heroes, the eighth most popular show in the 18-49 demographic, NBC drops to slot 16 with Deal or No Deal, a quiz show hosted by Howie Mandel -- the only quiz show in the top 20.
Perhaps NBC feels quiz shows fit its niche these days, and it's going to hit the PR trail hard for every one of 'em. Either way, this reporter found herself on the phone with other student journalists from colleges including Harvard, Yale, Purdue and the University of Illinois. Oh, and they invited a reporter from Norfolk's Virginian Pilot Newspaper because apparently Norfolk claims Saget as one of its own:
VP: Hey Bob, Larry Bonko from Norfolk, your old hometown, how you doin'?"
Saget: I'm good, how are you doing, how's Norfolk?
VP: Growing, maybe at too quick a rate... How do you like this game show thing?
Saget: It's kind of like Who Wants to be a Millionaire combined with that old show I used to love, You Bet Your Life. I get to talk to a lot of people, which is a great deal of fun for me.
Larry went on to say he had heard about Bob doing some "off-color stuff for that character he played on a cable show... Is that really Bob? What's happening?"
Saget: I guess it's a mixture. I did a guest thing on Entourage [the HBO series] a couple years ago and people were like, "Oh is that what you're like at home, you have women sitting around and you go around smoking a bong?" I was like, "No, no, no." Even when I was college age I wasn't a partaker, really of any consequence. I mean, I have children and a girlfriend and an ex-wife and a mother...plenty of hall monitors.
The conference call lasted an hour, and as it progressed, it became increasingly apparent that Bob Saget has permeated all aspects of our culture. The reporter from the Harvard Crimson asked Saget to comment on how America's Funniest Home Videos paved the way for sites like YouTube.
A reporter from Illinois mentioned a "Bob Saget" drink: Zima XXX orange with Michelob Ultra.
Saget: Sounds like the ingredients for yak ...sounds like you're going to Brownsville if you eat that.
Saget claimed he had never heard of the mixed drink, though he knew of people shouting his name while taking shots. He also spoke of "some basketball team that's been yelling my name when they score. Which I guess is fame. A.J. Mendes, or whatever his name is, he used to be on the E Channel, goes 'fame, ain't it a bitch?' in a kinda sarcastic way," Saget said. "But really it's out of control, our world ... I think it just needs a diversion so it looks for all the messed up hos it possibly can and famous people that screw up."
Speaking of fame:
tab: I have one final question and I'm kind of surprised no one has asked it yet -- so what's your take on the Olson twins' situation?
Saget: Oh they're friends of mine, so I don't look at it as like it's Cuba.
tab: I guess that was worded badly but-
Saget: No, not at all, not at all.I hear it all the time...I don't really mention celebrities in my standup...It feels like a topical thing -- the celebrity stuff. How many Michael Jackson jokes do we need to hear you know?
tab: True.
Though if the Olson twins are Cuba, then who is our North Korea? Who is our Iraq? Saget may be part of the zeitgeist, with his namesake drinks, basketball teams and the fact that there's a guy with a Tourette's-like condition who yells his name instead of expletives (Saget: "It's just some guy who's trying to be like Lenny from mice and men, but he's just not a good actor. I mean it's obviously a fake syndrome."), but he needs to get his metaphors straight if he's going to continue as a microcosm of our cultural identity.
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