How John Stamos Was Cast As Full House's Uncle Jesse Without Auditioning
John Stamos, who portrays Uncle Jesse on "Full House," is such an integral part of the show that it's hard to imagine it without him. Although Uncle Jesse may be annoying, and 16% of fans said he was their least favorite "Full House" character, he is still fun, humorous, and necessary to support the show's plot and the rest of its characters. Stamos seems to fit the role well, able to continuously play the fun yet irresponsible uncle as if he, like Jesse, really thinks it never gets old. In addition to playing Jesse on "Full House," John Stamos continues on as part of the Tanner family tree in "Fuller House," the Netflix spinoff. It's surprising, then, that Stamos almost didn't play Uncle Jesse at all since he never even auditioned for "Full House."
Fortunately, Stamos ended up landing the role of Uncle Jesse despite never auditioning for the show. Occasionally, it does happen that actors fall into great roles without even having to seek them out.
Full House creator Jeff Franklin knew John Stamos would be perfect as Uncle Jesse
In an interview with Variety, "Full House" creator Jeff Franklin shared his memories about different actors' auditions for the show. Regarding Stamos, however, Franklin said, "John didn't audition." Instead, Franklin sought Stamos out. "I set up a lunch with John. He was the only name on my list ... We talked about music — we both loved Elvis, we both loved the Beach Boys. We talked about girls — we made sure we weren't dating the same girl. We just had fun the whole lunch. At the end when the check came, I said, 'We didn't really talk about the show, do you want to do it?' And he's like, 'Oh yeah, I'm in.' That was it. It was that simple. It was the easiest casting process that I've ever been through."
Ironically, Stamos's lack of a proper audition is perfectly fitting for Uncle Jesse's character. It is easy to imagine that Uncle Jesse, if invited to an audition or other type of job interview, might spend the whole time discussing tangential topics like his romantic life and his musical preferences, yet would still manage to somehow charm the interviewer and walk away with the job. Perhaps this was one of those casting scenarios where the actor's actual personality is so well-matched to the character that the role simply comes naturally to them.