Dave Coulier Says the “Full House” Cast Nicknamed Guest Star Mickey Rooney ‘Topper’ Because of His Annoying Habit

Sometimes meeting a Hollywood legend can go a little differently than expected.

On the Jan. 10 episode of his rewatch podcast Full House Rewind, Dave Coulier answered a listener question about working with guest star Mickey Rooney on the '90s series. Rooney, who died in 2014 at the age of 93, appeared in the Full House season 8 episode, “Arrest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” as Mr. Dreghorn, a Scrooge-like man whom the family helps connect with his daughter.

“I'm not sure how much of our audience will remember Mickey Rooney,” Coulier, 65, said. “But at one point, during his career, he was the biggest star on the planet.” From age 15 to 25, Rooney made 43 movies, and he continued to act up to his death.

“He was a really interesting guy,” Coulier said, noting he’d been married eight times. “He was really affable, and he knew the show. He knew Full House. And I thought, ‘Wow, that's amazing that Mickey Rooney knows our show.’ I don't know whether he really did or not.”

But soon, Coulier and his costars John Stamos and Bob Saget noticed something odd. “Every conversation we would start, Mickey Rooney would become an expert at it,” he said. “We would talk about something and John would go, ‘I'm drumming with the Beach Boys’ and Mickey was like, ‘Oh man, the Beach Boys, I hung out with them.’ ”

Related: Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber Revisit What They Call the 'Worst Episode' of Full House

“Every time we mentioned a subject, Mickey Rooney had a topper story,” he said. “So we started calling him ‘Topper.’ "

Once the trio caught on, they would bait Rooney into conversation. Coulier purposely mentioned playing hockey. “[He said], Oh man. I was the fastest skater growing up,’ and this and that. He said, ‘I played semi-pro.’ ” Coulier said that as a hockey player, he knows when someone says they played “semi-pro,” they didn’t, because someone who actually did would specify the league.

“I remember, I called him out. I go, ‘Do you shoot right or left?’ And he goes, ‘It doesn't matter.' And I go, ‘Yes, it does,’ ” Coulier said.

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Related: Full House Star Dave Coulier Admits His Character’s Last Name Was a Stoner Pun

In the Full House episode, which aired in 1994, Rooney’s character ended up playing Santa Claus for the younger kids. It was a role the actor was familiar with, having played Santa in the TV specials Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. He also reprised the role in 2008’s A Miser Brothers' Christmas.

Back at 90s Con in September 2024, Coulier reflected on what made Full House work. Initially, he said, the cast "didn’t know which direction the show was going to go," or "if we were going to be a hit.”

"To have that much excitement and to be working with incredible funny actors ... I’m always about how do we make people laugh, and when I saw Jodie [Sweetin] and Candace [Cameron Bure] and how funny they were, I thought, we’re good, these kids are really funny," he said.

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