Comedy / Film & TV
Dave Coulier
born 1959 · comedian, actor, voice actor
Full House's Joey Gladstone, born in Detroit and raised in St. Clair Shores, who started in stand-up at Royal Oak's Comedy Castle, where he met Bob Saget.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 67- Birth name
- David Alan Coulier
- Detroit years
- 1959–early 1980s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Dave Coulier was born in Detroit in 1959 and raised in a Catholic family in nearby St. Clair Shores. At Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods he played defense on the varsity hockey team, graduating in 1977. He started a freshman year at the University of Michigan but left to do comedy full time, and his first stage was Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle, the metro Detroit club that opened in 1979. There, as a teenager, he met Bob Saget, beginning a lifelong friendship; he later slept on Saget's couch in Los Angeles while trying to break in. Their bond carried into Full House (1987–1995), where Coulier played Joey Gladstone, the cartoon-voiced family friend, a role he revived in Fuller House. He also voiced Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters and Animal and Bunsen in Muppet Babies. A lifelong hockey fan, he takes part in Detroit Red Wings charity events.
Highlights
- Joey Gladstone in Full House (1987–1995) and Fuller House
- Voice of Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters
- Began stand-up at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle, where he met Bob Saget
- Notre Dame High School, Harper Woods, class of 1977
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · until 1977
Notre Dame High School (former)
Closed · 1954–2005
Marist Catholic boys' school where Coulier played varsity hockey; it closed in 2005.
Performed here · late 1970s–early 1980s
Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle
Metro Detroit's long-running comedy club; Coulier started on its first stage and met Bob Saget there. Now in downtown Royal Oak.
Studied here · 1977–1978
University of Michigan
Coulier spent his freshman year here before leaving for comedy.