Dave Coulier Brings Uncle Joey's Humor to JMU

Friday, November 3, University Program Board brought Full House’s Uncle Joey from the screen to the stage in the Wilson auditorium. Dave Coulier laughed along as he talked about life and family, including subjects that would embarrass anyone if your weird uncle said it. Donned in long sleeves and a jersey, Coulier gave the crowd his signature dad humor, complete with voices and current references.

“I always liked the voices he did in Full House,” reminisced Bekka Erhardt, a sophomore nursing major.

Coulier spoke in many different voices throughout his performance, but started with his impressions of Scooby Doo, Shaggy, a flight attendant, and a pilot. He made fun of the TSA, airports, and everyone involved. He marveled at how much power pilots have over messing with their passengers, saying that if he was a pilot, he would freak them out by talking about plane crashing using the voices of SpongeBob and Patrick.

Sports was Coulier’s next subject, suggesting that the NFL should have made commercials with Tom Brady poking fun at his cheating and calling many American sports boring.

“Wouldn’t it be great if once in a while golf could be full contact,” Coulier asked the audience.

While on the subject of sports, Coulier made a suggestive joke and immediately noticed a young child in the audience. He asked the boy his age and the crowd roared with laughter when he answered “12.” Coulier laughed, as he did after many of his jokes, and told his parents that they were going to have a really fun ride home.

To keep up with how often Coulier said, “I’m so immature,” he moved onto his extensive stories about farts. He mentioned a “miracle” that happened to him in a men’s room of an old hotel, but caught the audience off guard when he explained what it was. The story was, in fact, about the time he witnessed a man activate a towel dispenser from feet away with an enormous fart. This story was a hit with the crowd, which came to no surprise when Coulier explained that his fart expertise comes from his 9 uncles farting on him as he grew up, as he said, stunting his growth.

As he jumped from “immature” subject to subject, he brought up another time when he uses his voice-acting abilities for evil. When telemarketers call, Coulier uses his best voices to make sure they never call back again. One example of this was when he picked up the phone and pretended to be the devil. He made deep-voiced monster noises and referred to Hell as the “upside down,” referencing Stranger Things.

At this, he was laughing again and enjoying his banter with the audience members. “That was really funny,” Coulier said, as he did multiple times throughout his performance.

Those watching him expressed how his style was very relaxed and felt like a conversation, welcoming everyone to laugh along and be immature. He was well equipped to perform in front of college students and other community members, who can be tough to entertain.

“I’m a fan of him now,” said Corbyn Harris, a sophomore SMAD major who didn’t grow up watching Full House.

Just before the grand finale of Coulier’s set, he took a moment to talk directly to the JMU students. He apologized for his generation messing up things that he did not specify and said he believes that people our age will accomplish great things.

“I’m so impressed with your generation,” Coulier said.

After this touching moment, he brought something out of his pocket without warning and performed a harmonica solo for a few minutes. Through all his quirkiness and dad humor, the auditorium was filled with laughter and JMU would love for him to come back.