Everyone in the universe knows who Jodie Sweetin is. She was Stephanie Tanner on Full House, one of those cultural touchstones that somehow hit everyone of a certain age in the universe. In her twenties she moved on to host Much Music’s Dance Off, Pants Off. Now she does a slew of creative things, including creating a podcast about parenting called Never Thought I’d Say This with her best friend Celia Behar. As a new parent myself, I take great joy in listening to this podcast.
We had the opportunity to talk with Sweetin and Behar ahead of their appearance at Cobb’s this Thursday as part of SF Sketchfest. (Tix are available here) We talked about parenting, the podcast, and even learned a bit about how Macy Gray handles delays in the studio. Yeah, it got a little weird…
Spinning Platters: Thank you for taking a little bit of time out on your Saturday morning to talk to me. You folks are in San Francisco right now. Is that correct?
Jodie Sweetin: No. I actually just got back from there yesterday. I took my kids on a little trip up the coast. We did Monterey, then we stayed with a best friend of mine in San Francisco for like three nights. So I just drove back from there yesterday. But we will be back up there again next week.
SP: Excellent. So-
Jodie: Yes, next week. This week? I… I don’t even know.
SP: Yes. It’s this Thursday.
Jodie: Well, I came back from a vacation with children. I have no idea what day it is, what my name is. All I know is “stop arguing” and “don’t touch each other.”
Celia Behar: Yes. I’m right there with her. I just came back from Hawaii. And I don’t know. My kids are lucky they got home with me. [laughs]
SP: How old are both of your sets of kids?
Jodie: My daughter Zoie is 11-and-a-half and Beatrix is 9.
Celia: And my daughters are Parker, and she’s 13, and Lulu, and she’s 8.
SP: When did you-well, at what age did you first decide it was okay to take them on a trip?
Celia: I’m still not sure it’s okay to take them on a trip.
Jodie: Yes, I don’t know. I still have my doubts. Two years ago, my girls and I went to Hawaii for the first time. And that was kind of our biggest trip. So they were 9 and 7. And I mean, we’ve done Disneyland weekend and stuff like that before. But that was like the first time they were at an age where they’ll remember the trip. They know what activities they want to do. It’s a little bit easier to kind of get them from point A to point B.
Celia: I started way early with mine. Since they were babies, they’ve been traveling with me. But the biggest trip was when I just got here from New York. And they were 3 and 6 or so. Something like that. That was a pretty big trip. But yes. My kids, since they’re like infants, I’ve been traveling with them. Which I don’t necessarily recommend, but I will say they’re really good travelers because they’ve been doing it so much.
SP: How would you have dealt with nap time on a flight?
Celia: Oh, I mean, there isn’t one.
Jodie: Yes. There’s no-
Celia: Kids either pass out on a plane or scream the whole time. And it’s usually, if it’s a red-eye flight, chances are they’re going to probably cry.
Jodie: Yes.
Celia: Devices at that point is all mobile screen time on plane. I’m not usually otherwise, but you know what? That’s fine. Just give them screen and call it a day.
Jodie: Yes.
SP: I guess mobile technology, I think [they] exist primarily for that reason.
Celia: Oh, for sure. Yes. Exactly. It is a lifesaver.
SP: Yes. So full disclosure, I’m very grateful that the naps timed out that I was able to actually make this interview, with my baby being asleep right now.
Celia: I remember that. Oh, yes. Life is just in between nap time. Yes.
SP: So Jodie, there has been like a fairly significant gap where I have no idea what you’re up to. Specifically between Dance Off, Pants Off and now.
Jodie: I had normal people jobs and I was busy raising my kids. And then, you know? I finally got to get back doing Hallmark movies and Fuller House and Dancing with the Stars, and now I’m directing and doing a bunch of other stuff. So yes. I mean, I just had normal people life.
SP: The first time you worked with the SF Sketchfest folks was a part of the Improv Superjam at Outside Lands in 2018. What inspired you to come up and try your hand at improv at a music festival?
Jodie: I actually had done Pretty, Pretty Pony with Cole Stratton before at a theater in Santa Monica. Similar stuff, improv kind of stuff. And so, when they had invited me up to Outside Lands, I was like, absolutely! I have several friends who live in San Francisco that love that festival and so it’s a real fun opportunity that just get to be silly and do some improv and come and visit the city. And yes, so we’re really excited that Cole [asked] and [picked] us up again in Sketchfest, or I never thought I’d do this.
SP: So this is the first time you’re doing this in front of an audience as far as I can tell.
Celia: It will be our first live show. We have recorded the 24 episodes of the first season at my house. And the response has been really great! But yes, This will be our first time live in front of an audience. It’s going to be really fun. We’ll get a lot of “never thought I’d say this” moments from the audience. And it’s always more fun to have an audience there to play off of and joke around with.
SP: So is there anything different from the format of the podcast you’re going to bring in to the live show?
Celia: We have zero plans at all.
Jodie: I mean, well audience participation, they’ll be a part of [the show].
Celia: Yes. Definitely. We’ve been asking people to come up with their most outrageous, ridiculous parenting story. So, instead of us just reading it from an email or whatever, we will definitely get to have a lot more audience fun. And get to hear about other people’s ridiculous moments with their children. And how they too have survived not killing their children.
Jodie: We will often act out stories for each other on the podcast, but podcast listeners don’t get to see that. So at least an audience will get to see us act out the idiocy…
SP: Which is going to be beautiful.
Celia: Yes.
Jodie: Yes.
SP: Have you ever gotten an audience submission that was too disgusting or disturbing to say on the air?
Celia: Yes. Yes, yes. We talk about it amongst ourselves for sure. Yes.
SP: You don’t have to go into so much detail — like just a little hint at like what was too dark for a podcast?
Celia: There are things about where bodily fluids have ended up that nobody needs to know ever in their life.
Jodie: Right.
Celia: That very kind of, I mean, not that those things aren’t kind of funny but there are — there’s a line there.
Jodie: Yes.
Celia: Between funny and really kind of vomiting.
Jodie: Yes, right. Comedy becomes specifically less funny when you actually do like you’re going to throw up in your mouth. That’s usually where I draw the line.
SP: I kind of wish your podcast existed before I had a kid. Because I might not have. In general, you make parenting sort of seem like a Gwar concert a lot of the time.
Jodie: Yes. That’s — oh my god. That’s the best description ever. Yes.
SP: That’s fair. Okay. So Fuller House. There’s one particular episode that kind of stuck with me. What was it like acting alongside Macy Gray?
Jodie: I mean Macy just kind of does her own thing. And I mean, really, I recorded the song with her too when we did the Time of My Life. That was me and her singing.
SP: That’s awesome.
Jodie: And so, yes. Going to record with her that night was really interesting too. Because I think we didn’t even start singing until like 12:30 in the morning. We were just hanging out for like three hours in the studio watching the Golden Girls. Yes, so like before we started recording. She’s an interesting character. On the first day on set, she like — I see this person drive by in a golf cart by herself. And I was like, “Was that Macy Gray?” Like she was just driving around the lot in a golf cart. But she’s great. She’s really, really funny.
SP: That is beautiful. And I also love that she got you distracted by the Golden Girls instead of working. That’s the best.
Jodie: Well, no. I think we were supposed to start recording at 9:30 and I got there and she was like, “Oh, honey. We’re not even close to being done. We haven’t even laid the track yet.” So I was like, “Okay. So we left to watch the Golden Girls for like three hours in her studio until we were ready to sing.” So yes.
SP: That’s wonderful. That’s kind of the best way to bide away your time, I guess.
Jodie: Absolutely. Absolutely.
SP: Yes. So, you just wrapped the final chunk of Fuller House. Is that right?
Jodie: Yes. Yes, we did. We finished in November.
SP: How do you feel about this ending the second time around?
Jodie: It’s always hard to say goodbye to that family and to any job that you love going to. But I’m also really excited about what happens next and to see where things go. I directed my first episode of the show this last season, so I want to do that more, and I’m looking on creating some stuff and doing the podcast. Things are really busy.
SP: Yes. Is there a specific project that you’re looking to start after this that you’re really excited about?
Jodie: I mean, I’m working on for this thing, you know, a Hallmark movie right now. We’re doing a rewriting stuff on that script and hopefully we’ll get it going in the next couple of months. But there’s [a] project that I’m working on, writing with a friend of mine right now and I can’t speak too much but I have my fingers crossed and hopefully that will be able to take off.
SP: Yes, wow. So you’ve literally came back and you’re sort of taking every side of the creative process it seems.
Jodie: Yes, absolutely.
SP: Yes. Do you see yourself doing any more like stage comedy stuff?
Jodie: Yes. I mean I love doing comedy. I have so much fun doing it. And now I have the opportunity to do stuff that maybe a little more like adult comedy. Which you know, I would love to have the opportunity to do. I love Full House and Fuller House. But it might be time to branch out a little bit and do something that’s not quite as family-friendly. Yes.
SP: Yes, I could see it being tough to always be in that G-rated mindset at work.
Jodie: Yes. That was one of the things that we love doing about podcasts was that we got to really create our own content… Talking about families, but in a very real, raw, inappropriate, remembered way.
SP: Yes. Have you got any like negative feedback about how blunt you are on the podcast?
Celia: Only our language.
Jodie: And not very — and not a lot. It may be like I meant — yes. A handful of, “Oh, I’m not listening to this because of the kind of the language you use, “but that’s literally like three people. Everyone else was like, “Oh my god. This is such a relief.” You know, stuff like that. [laughing]
SP: Yes. I guess effectively Bob Saget probably trail-blazed that for you.
Jodie: Yes. I learned a lot of my comedy and sort of my dark humor from being around Bob and Dave [Coulier] growing up which I greatly appreciate. I love those two guys. I think I actually even out-Bob’d Bob one time. Because he and I were joking around back and forth… and I wish I could remember what it was. But whatever it was, apparently was pretty inappropriate and dark. And Bob looked at me and he was like, “I think you just won. You just outdid me.” And I was like, “Yes, finally.”
SP: Man. I would give anything to hear what over the top is for Bob Saget.
Jodie: Yes. I don’t know. I don’t know what it was and I don’t think I could repeat it.
Celia: Sure you can’t repeat it.
Jodie: Yes, exactly. I’m sure whatever it was, even if I could remember, I shouldn’t say it.
SP: Yes. To out-Bob Bob Saget would probably get you arrested… So, I have one final parenting question.
Jodie: Yes.
SP: All right. What is a tactic that has worked best for you for sleep progressions?
Celia: I did cry it out with my first daughter. For my second, I actually got a sleep coach. She just worked with my daughter specifically and she does that as a living. That really helped with the regressions.
Jodie: Zoie has never liked sleeping. She, to this day, doesn’t and she jokes about it. Like she does not like going to sleep. She will always fight me because there’s always something interesting going on. Bea will tell you she’s not tired and pass right out. And she’s always been the much easier sleeper. But I never really — like they focus pretty well in our own regard. Zoie is like old enough and like if you want to stay up for like three more hours, fine. Go read a book in your room, I’m going to bed.
