When Full House was in it’s prime, namely, the first several seasons, I was young and impressionable and I loved it. It was the cornerstone of my television viewing experience along with the other shows that played on Friday evenings on ABC. However, as I grew older and the show got worse, I began to wonder why people watched it in the first place. I realized that the show was hyper-saturated with a trusty sitcom convention: the catchphrase. If TV shows were soda, and catchphrases were caffeine, Full House is most certainly the Mountain Dew or, perhaps, even Jolt of TV shows.
Here are some of those catchphrases, by character:
Jesse Katsopolis (Uncle Jesse): Loves Elvis, motorcycles, rock ‘n’ roll, and his hair.
“Have Mercy!” We all remember that one. I recall it being used in every episode.
“Capiche” That’s Italian for something…wait, I thought he was Greek.
“Watch the hair, huh!” He was very protective of that glorious mullet.
“Talk to me.” I barely remember this one, but I am sure it qualifies.
Joey Gladstone (Uncle Joey): Aspiring comedian and Danny Tanner’s best friend. Finds a way to work mediocre impressions into every conversation.
“Cut-it-out!” Complete with pantomime hand-gestures, this line rivals Urkel’s “Did I do that?” for most annoying catchphrase.
The rest of what I would consider catchphrases are simply stolen from other characters. Being an impressionist, he incorporates a cartoon catchphrase into nearly every episode.
Danny Tanner: Clean freak, dad. Host of local morning show, Wake Up San Francisco.
None…surprisingly.
D.J. Tanner: Oldest sister. Smiled and seemed excited a lot. Friends with Kimmy Gibbler.
“Yes!” Accompanied by lifting her leg and simultaneously making a fist. Hard to explain in words, but kids were doing this all over the place back in the day.
“Whoa, baby!” The writer’s got really lazy on this one and just gave D.J. one of Michelle’s catchphrases.
“Oh, Mylanta!” Catchphrase or thinly disguised advertisement. Appropriate, though. Overexposure to catchphrases has been known to make people ill.
Stephanie Tanner: Middle, and feistiest sister. Apparently the show was created around her character and young actress, Jodi Sweetin. Mind boggling!
“How rude!” She said this quite a bit, since people were often rude to her. But who can blame them she’s just a stupid middle child.
“Well, pin a rose on your nose.” This phrase got phased out as Stephanie got older, awkward and, thus, less cute.
Kimmy Gibbler: Neighbor girl and D.J.’s best friend. Heir of Eddie Haskell. Massively annoying.
“Hola, Tanneritos” This perhaps was an attempt to appeal to Latino audiences. It didn’t work.
Michelle Tanner: Youngest and sometimes, mischievous, daugher. Nicknames included Shortie, Munchkin, and Squirt Jr. By far, the most catchphrases of any character in the history of television.
“You got it, dude.” (accompanied by a thumbs up) Her most popular catchphrase and, thus, most overused.
“You’re in big trouble, mister”(often accompanied by a pointing finger)
“Whoa, baby!”
“Aw, nuts!”
“Duh!”
“Oh, puh-lease.”
“You got a bad attitude.” Judging by several of her other catchphrases, she’s the one with a bad attitude.
As you can see, there were a tremendous amount of catchphrases being used on this show, and I get the feeling I’m missing a few of the lesser notable ones. Simply astounding!
