Uncle Jesse's Best Episodes Of Full House Ranked

Uncle Jesse is shocked to inherit the Smash Club when its previous owner wills him the property. Jesse and Joey arrive to check the place out. While Jesse expects to find a hip and happening club that hosted many of his band's big nights, reality hits him like a rat in the face: The Smash Club is derelict, and barely fit to set foot in.

Still, Jesse and Joey quickly try to clean the joint up, but there's only so much spitshine can do when it comes to rotten wood and scurrying rats. The bank loan officer denies Jesse's loan request, but agrees to a second-chance meeting at the house. There, Jesse tries to give a perfect textbook answer to every one of the bank rep's questions — answers he has conveniently had the girls hide in sandwiches they keep interrupting the meeting to serve him.

The rep is about to deny him again — until Jesse admits he isn't prepared; he's just passionate about keeping the club alive because it means so much to him and so many musicians. Finally impressed with his honest answer, she grants Jesse the loan. This episode is a perfect example of Jesse's passion working for him instead of against him — and a reminder that the real reason we follow our dreams can't be contained on a single, salami-stained index card.

It's hard to imagine Uncle Jesse with anyone other than Aunt Becky, but this episode shows off his romantic potential with a worthy "one who got away." Robin Winslow (Kristian Alfonso) is a journalist friend of Danny's, in town to audition for a job at Danny's station. Jesse is unaware of this connection, and meets her at the station — where he promptly uses baby Michelle as pick-up bait. While Robin is smart enough to know this move is ridiculous, Jesse is smooth enough (and Michelle is cute enough) that the pick-up works like a charm. The two set a date — but are shocked to see each other back at the house, hours later.

Robin is staying with the Tanners while she is in town. Jesse is delighted, until one of his fling dates shows up for dinner and the women discover Jesse picked them both up using Michelle. Robin cuts off any possible romance. She's been burned by guys like Jesse before. He takes offense to this, but still helps Robin with her audition by encouraging her to loosen up with his own hilarious news anchor act. Though Robin and Jesse have obvious chemistry, they agree to just be friends — even though sparks continue to fly through episode's end.

This "Moonlighting"-esque story occurs before Jesse meets Becky. It's tempting to think the pairing of witty, rough-around-the-edges Jesse with cool, intellectual and self-possessed Robin might have served as an inspiration for Jesse and Becky's ultimate dynamic.

The plot to this episode is as paper-thin as Jesse's Little Richard tickets, but it's still one of Jesse's best. Jesse is feeling pretty fresh and fancy for scoring Little Richard tickets for the whole family. He can't wait to take the girls to witness the founding father of rock and roll — but he needs to fix Michelle's sock drawer first.

Soon, Jesse discovers his twins, Nicky and Alex, have stolen his Little Richard tickets and cut them to pieces in the name of little-kid art. Jesse collapses at the table, heartbroken. Joey is just as bummed — he doesn't have an act for a PTA fundraiser he's throwing at the Smash Club. Michelle's buddy Denise (Jurnee Smollett) suggests her uncle play the show — he always plays at family parties and is coming over soon. Jesse cracks that her uncle is probably someone who drinks all the punch in the punchbowl at parties before wearing the bowl as a hat. But when Denise's uncle arrives, Jesse is shocked to see the man is none other than the icon himself, Little Richard!

Jesse and Little Richard noodle around Jesse's studio, and manage to stay friendly even after Denise repeats Jesse's punchbowl joke. Then the newfound chums hit the PTA fundraiser. They play a raucous version of "Keep A-Knockin" together, with Jesse on drums (and basically shirtless, should such details matter to you), Little Richard on piano, and everyone in the club on cloud nine.

Jesse and the Rippers finally get the chance to be signed to a record label, as long as they make a video with Fat Fish Records. Jesse is thrilled to bring "Forever," his Beach Boys-penned ballad, to life — but not with meeting Fat Fish's demands to make a rap video for a dance called "The Jess-Man." Even though Jesse hates the direction the label is taking things and can't dance, he agrees to go along with it. 

It doesn't matter to Fat Fish that Jesse's blue suede shoes are on two left feet — the label is too busy dressing him up like a genie to notice. Finally, fed up with the gimmicks, Jesse acts like another label is willing to sign him. Scared to lose Jesse, Fat Fish lets him do the song — and the video — his way. And oh, what a video it is.

Lit by tons of candles and shot in what appears to be the ruins of a cologne ad, the "Forever" video features Jesse singing soulfully into the camera — when he isn't adoring his newborn sons. The video airs on MTV. The single sells out. Uncle Jesse is thrilled — and gives the entire family a copy of his sold-out single. There's even one for Comet, the dog.

Uncle Jesse's a cool cat — most of the time. He's invulnerable when it comes to his good looks, gorgeous hair, easy charm, and Elvis impressions. But the stuff he has less experience with — like fine art, high culture, and reading anything other than sheet music — ouch, little mama. Insecurity, have mercy! So when Becky invites Jesse to a sophisticated party in Season 3, Episode 13, insecure Jesse hits the books. Literally. He checks out a massive stack of classics, mainlines opera, buys some Monet posters, but at the last minute chickens out of the party — until he learns Becky's handsome former professor, Eric Trent, will be attending.

Jesse fears he'll be in "a room full of champions from 'Jeopardy' and I'm from 'The Price is Right.'" Joey tells Jesse to just say "interesting, but terribly overrated" when he doesn't know what to say. Jesse arrives at the party looking the part of an elegant intellectual, but he mixes up famous book titles before arm-wrestling the pompous Professor Trent over a grand piano. While Jesse wins, Becky flees in embarrassment.

Jesse realizes the fool he has made of them both, and heads to Becky's to apologize and serenade her in a scene that looks more like something out of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" than a family sitcom. It's a beautiful scene that reminds us Jesse is the "sensitive lunatic" Aunt Becky fell in love with — even if he's not some elegant egghead.

Jesse's at his best when he's in "dad" mode or "rad" mode, and this episode features plenty of both. D.J. gets Jesse to play in the band for her school dance. Jesse is reluctant to play for tweenagers — until he's rocking "Wild Thing" with the marching band. But while Jesse is hitting his stride as band director, D.J.'s socially awkward date Kevin is hitting the sauce.

Kevin, nervous about D.J., relaxes with a beer. D.J. sees, and when Kevin and his brewski-drinking pal can't peer pressure her into joining them, she lectures them both about the dangers of drinking. Jesse steps out into the hallway at the exact moment D.J. waves around a can of beer for emphasis. D.J. insists she's innocent, but Jesse doesn't believe her. He comes down hard — and breaks her heart for not trusting her.

When Kevin finally tells Jesse the truth, Jesse apologizes to D.J. for being harsh. He knows a lot of experimentation is just around the corner, and he doesn't want her to lose her way like so many of his friends have. In a show powered by a good deal of fantasy (like those guys being able to afford that house on the combined salary of a newscaster, puppet comedian, and musician), Jesse's fears about D.J. losing her way ring more true than trite. D.J. accepts his apology, but Jesse's soulful eyes (and the somber soundtrack) remind viewers that sometimes very special episodes end on a downbeat.

This episode kicks off with Jesse, Danny, and Joey staring at a table piled high with food — and sadness. It's their first Thanksgiving after Pam's death, and the guys do not feel like they can pull off the holiday without her. Jesse is ready to grab a last-minute restaurant reservation, until the girls come downstairs and get excited to honor their mom's memory by cooking.

Jesse and the guys have a super-cute time for the girls' sake — until they realize the turkey D.J. has pinned her grieftastic Mom-memory hopes on is still stone frozen. Jesse tries to talk some women who show up at the house out of their turkey, but no dice. D.J. is heartbroken when she discovers the turkey truth. So is Stephanie, after she drops her mom's pie on the ground. Jesse comforts Stephanie by showing her a mistake of his own: a photo of a terrible haircut he let her mom give him back when they were kids.

Danny finds Jesse getting overcome by the old album, which Jesse hides away. Danny senses emotional danger, and opens the door to conversation. Jesse refuses, then struggles to find the words to describe what he's going through. His "When's it gonna stop hurtin', man?" is a simple, heart-wrenching expression of enormous grief. Together, he and Danny flip through the photo album and tell stories about Pam — and bad hair days — to keep her memory alive a little longer.

After Jesse and Becky return from their honeymoon in Bora Bora, Jesse must break the news to that he'll be moving out of the family home and in with Aunt Becky. While D.J. and Stephanie will miss him, they use the opportunity to change up their living situation. Michelle, however, takes the news hard — and worse when she realizes the entire family isn't moving, just Uncle Jesse.

Jesse tries to ease both his and Michelle's pain by giving Michelle his "pink bunny" picture — a framed piece of the wallpaper that hung in his room, and in Stephanie's back when it was hers. Michelle gives Uncle Jesse a stuffed pink pig. She asks for one more rendition of the "teddy bear" song, and the knife in Jesse's soul twists even harder as he recalls when he sang the song to her back when he and his mullet first moved in. Uncle and niece part with tears in their eyes, and uncertainty in their hearts.

While Jesse's stuff has been moved to Becky's, she arranges for them to spend one more night at the Tanner house — and then reveals to Jesse that she convinced Danny to let them convert the attic into an apartment for them. Jesse is elated to not have to move away from the family he's grown so close to, and that he can start another one in the same home. The tears and inspirational music flows, and everyone sings the "teddy bear" song to Michelle.