List of Full House and Fuller House characters


The American television sitcom Full House ran for eight seasons on ABC from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995. Its sequel series Fuller House followed 21 years later, airing on Netflix, beginning February 26, 2016; the two parts of its fifth and final season were released in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Main characters

;Notes

Introduced in ''Full House''

Jesse Katsopolis

Jesse Katsopolis is Danny's brother-in-law, Pam's younger brother, making him the maternal uncle to DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle. Later in the series, he marries Rebecca Donaldson, Danny's co-host on Wake Up, San Francisco, with whom he has twin sons Nicholas and Alexander, better known as Nicky and Alex. The character underwent several name changes throughout the series' development and filming. He was originally named Adam Cochran during production, though this was ultimately changed to Jesse, at Stamos' request. Later, producers changed his last name from Cochran to one of Greek origin, to Katsopolis, also at the request of Stamos, who is Greek American. Finally, in the fifth season, it is revealed that Jesse was originally named Hermes after his great-grandfather, but his mother changed it to Jesse at his request after he entered primary school, when his peers bullied him for his name.
In contrast with Danny, Jesse is portrayed as irresponsible most of the time, but occasionally serves as a responsible adult when one is needed. Jesse is revealed to be high school dropout in season six's "Educating Jesse", though in an earlier plot about a high school reunion, he mentions not wearing his cap to graduation because he did not want to mess up his hair.
Jesse's obsession with his hair becomes a major trait throughout the series. He is a die hard Elvis Presley fan and Elvis was his inspiration to be a musician. His obsession with Elvis is fully established in the season two premiere "Cutting it Close", which focuses on Jesse's tough time coping when Stephanie accidentally cuts off a hunk of his mullet, which leads to him getting into a motorcycle accident that lands him in a full arm cast; later episodes reveal that he has a special comb called Mr. Goodpart and that he gives pep talks to his hair.
Jesse moves into the house with virtually no experience in taking care of young children or babies, but learns the ropes along the way. He was only going to be here temporarily but ended up staying full time. He becomes closer to all of his nieces over the course of the series, especially Michelle, whom he affectionately nicknames "munchkin" and "shorty", among others. In the first season, Jesse works for his father Nick's exterminating business before leaving to pursue work in advertising, frequently working with Joey. He later works with Joey as co-host of an afternoon drive time show on local radio station KFLH called The Rush Hour Renegades.
Further along in the series, in season seven's "Smash Club: The Next Generation", Jesse becomes the new owner of The Smash Club. Although he was depicted as a sports fan as well as a good athlete in the earlier seasons, it is revealed in later seasons that Jesse hated all sports and was not very athletic. Jesse's main passion is music, and struggles to "hit it big" with his band, Jesse and the Rippers. However, his increasing responsibilities to his family, radio job, and as owner of a club, lead his band members to kick him out of the band in the season eight premiere "Comet's Excellent Adventure".
In "Making Out is Hard to Do", he decides to quit being a musician until he has a nightmare in which he appears on Downbeat where he dreams that his family hates him, Rebecca has divorced him and Jesse himself was a mechanic, as well as overweight and balding, with Kimmy Gibbler as a wife. Two episodes later in "To Joey, With Love", he starts a new band called Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets.
In Fuller House, Jesse, Becky, and Danny all move to Los Angeles. Jesse becomes the music composer for General Hospital while Becky and Danny start a new nationally syndicated talk show called, Wake Up USA. Stephanie is similar to her Uncle Jesse and decided to help DJ take care of her nephews like her Uncle Jesse did for them. In the season two finale, Jesse and Becky adopt a baby girl whom they name Pamela after his sister. Somewhere along the line, Jesse became a stay at home dad. When Becky and Danny get fired from Wake Up USA, they try to get their old jobs back but the station only wanted her back to co-host an all women's talk show. Jesse, Becky, and Pamela are all moving back to San Francisco, and he also bought back the Smash Club along with Joey.

Danny Tanner

Daniel "Danny" Tanner is left with three young daughters to raise after his wife, Pam, dies in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. At the beginning of the series, he works as a sportscaster for Channel 8 News. In the season two episode "Tanner vs. Gibbler", he is chosen by his station's general manager Mr. Strowbridge to be the co-host for the station's new morning talk show, Wake Up, San Francisco, alongside Rebecca Donaldson. In season one's "The Big Three-O", Danny's beloved car, "Bullet", is severely damaged after another driver rear-ends the vehicle, leading it roll out of park and become submerged in the San Francisco Bay while Jesse and Joey shop for new seat covers for the car to surprise Danny with as a present for his 30th birthday. Jesse and Joey end up bidding for a new car that is identical in appearance, unknowingly competing with Danny, who purchases the car after he calls the car dealership that Jesse and Joey are at, and places a bid over the phone.
Danny goes on his first date since Pam's death in the season one episode "Sea Cruise", as part of a fishing trip that was intended to only include himself, Jesse and Joey. He is seen going out on dates on occasion throughout the series. While Rebecca goes on maternity leave in season five just before giving birth to his nephews Nicky and Alex, Danny ends up falling in love with her co-host replacement, Vicky Larson. The two of them begin dating in season five's "Easy Rider", becoming Danny's most serious relationship since he became a widower, and the two later become engaged in the season six finale "The House Meets the Mouse".
However, their relationship changes to long-distance when Vicky is assigned reporting jobs away from San Francisco. In season seven's "The Perfect Couple", Vicky ends up getting her dream job of anchoring the network news in New York City, but a long-distance relationship does not work for either of them. Danny decides to break up with her, leading him to a mass feng shui habit in the next episode, "Is It True About Stephanie?", which his family acknowledges is his way of trying to cope with his breakup. Danny eventually meets fellow single parent Claire Mahan in season eight episode "Making Out Is Hard to Do", and they go on a date in the episode "Claire and Present Danger".
Although he is not established with this trait early on, much of the humor surrounding Danny's character comes from his obsession with cleaning and cleanliness. Danny can often be found cleaning for cleaning's sake, sometimes even cleaning his cleaning products. In a version of the season three opening titles, seen during episodes in which Lori Loughlin does not appear as Rebecca Donaldson, Danny is shown to be cleaning his vacuum cleaner with a handheld vacuum. He says the family motto is "clean is good, dirt is bad". Danny views spring cleaning as his equivalent to Christmas and home movies as his New Year's Eve. His quirkiness and generally "unhip dad" personality are targets for humor. He is a skilled pool player, darts player, and guitarist.
Like most other characters, he generally cannot stand Kimmy Gibbler, considering her as "an annoying, obnoxious nuisance"; at times, urging D.J. to make new friends whenever Kimmy does something that irritates him. Danny also has one brother and one sister, and his parents are divorced. Unlike his brother-in-law Jesse, Danny has a taste for 1970s disco music; one of his favorite songs is "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry.
In the first episode of Fuller House, Danny and Becky relocate to Los Angeles for their new talk show, Wake Up USA, and it is revealed that Danny got remarried to a woman named Teri. During the second season, Danny goes through a minor midlife crisis, having just turned 60. In season three, Danny reveals that he and Teri got divorced. Danny and Becky ask for raises, but since they demand too much, they are fired and replaced by Mario Lopez. After feeling sorry for themselves, they go back to Wake Up San Francisco to ask for their old jobs back, but the station only wants Becky back.
To cheer him up, the girls somehow track down Vicky and surprise him with a visit from her. He invites her to the 30th "Dadi-versary" party the girls threw for him, Jesse, and Joey. Since Becky, Jesse, and Joey are all moving back to San Francisco, Danny announces he's moving back too, and back into the house.
In season four, Becky's talk show The Gab is a success, but it reverts back to Wake Up San Francisco. Danny refuses to audition to be her co-host, briefly living life as a retiree. He eventually realizes that he misses being on air and gets his old job back after Becky's co-host is injured.

Joey Gladstone

Joseph "Joey" Gladstone is the childhood best friend of Danny Tanner, and adulthood best friend of Jesse Katsopolis. Joey moved in with Danny shortly after the death of Danny's wife, Pam, to help raise D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle. Joey works as a stand-up comedian, whose act usually includes vocal imitations of cartoon characters such as Popeye, Bullwinkle J. Moose, Pepé Le Pew, and others. Joey initially slept in the alcove of Danny's living room.
However, after complaining of not being able to find privacy, Danny reconstructs his basement garage into a bedroom for him in the season one episode "Joey's Place". Joey nearly quits comedy in the season one episode "But Seriously, Folks", after Phyllis Diller hogs his slot at a comedy club, deciding to change his name to Joe and become a serious businessman.
He reverses his decision after D.J. decides to quit practicing the guitar, realizing that he is not setting a good example. Although there was some tension between Joey and Jesse when they first move in with the Tanners, they quickly become good friends to the point where Jesse asks Joey to be his best man at his wedding. Even so, Joey's perceived immaturity does irritate Jesse at times. Joey usually handles the day-to-day raising of the kids by doing chores like making meals, driving the kids to school appointments, and after school activities, taking care of Michelle as a baby, and helping the kids with their homework.
Joey buys D.J. her first car for her 16th birthday in the season six episode "Grand Gift Auto", which ends up getting repossessed after the police discover that the car had been stolen. Joey nearly moves out again after the family's attempts to try to prove that Joey is not capable of committing a crime make him believe that the rest of the family thinks of him as a big joke. It is in this episode that Joey reveals that he had wished he had siblings. He grew up as an only child, and being part of the Tanner family gave him the extended family he always wanted.
In season four's "Viva Las Joey", Joey is reunited with his estranged father, a former serviceman in the United States Army, with whom Joey did not get along with growing up due to his strict parenting style and his disapproval of Joey's dream of being a comedian. His father realizes that Joey made the right career decision when he sees him perform as an opening act for Wayne Newton in Las Vegas.
Joey has held various jobs in addition to his work as a stand-up comic. For a while during seasons two and three, Joey and Jesse run an advertising business, J&J Creative Services, in which they compose jingles for television and radio commercials. In season four's "Joey Goes Hollywood", Joey wins a role he secretly auditions for in a sitcom co-starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello called Surf's Up. Joey's most successful job was portraying "Ranger Joe", on an afternoon children's variety television show.
He was asked to replace retiring original host "Ranger Roy" in season five's "The Legend of Ranger Joe", only to be fired after triggering Roy's acute physical paranoia when hugging him as a thank you. After Danny informs Joey of this while telling him of his firing, Joey ends up saving Roy from a "hug-o-gram" that he had sent in gratitude for the job; he then gets rehired after Roy becomes impressed with Joey's hosting skills when he takes over for Roy on his last show. Ranger Joe's sidekick is his wise-cracking woodchuck marionette puppet "Mr. Woodchuck".
Joey quits his job in season six's "Radio Days", after he becomes disgruntled with his boss Mr. Strowbridge's wife as his co-host. Jesse and Joey subsequently become co-hosts of a successful afternoon show on radio station KFLH called, Rush Hour Renegades. Besides his impressions, much of Joey's humor comes from his depiction as a man child, particularly the fact that he still watches cartoons as an adult and has an extensive knowledge of animation.
Joey has moved to Las Vegas in Fuller House and is now married with four kids that he refers to as the Gladstone Four. His wife Ginger is a magician and their kids Phyllis, Lewis, Joan, and Jerry are very loud and obnoxious where they cause problems for Jackson, Max, Ramona, and even D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy. After botching the advice about his kids at the time when Joey was attending Thanksgiving, Kimmy was able to get it right during the Gladstone Four's next visit where Joey finally got them to behave or else they won't be going to Disneyland. Joey and the Gladstone Four move back to San Francisco since his wife will be working as a magician on a cruise ship for six months. He also bought back the Smash Club with Jesse.