Bob Saget to participate in `Drowsy Chaperone'

Bob Saget will star in "The Drowsy Chaperone".

Photo: Bob Saget to participate in `Drowsy Chaperone'

Saget, standup comedian, game-show host and star of such TV shows as "1 vs. 100," "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos," will join the hit musical Oct. 19, producer Kevin McCollum announced Monday.

"It's going to be a huge amount of fun," Saget said in an interview from California. "It takes you away for two hours, transports you and has you feeling better for the journey. I was belly laughing and incredibly moved by it. I hope I can do it justice."

Man in Chair is the nameless, yet enthusiastic narrator of "The Drowsy Chaperone," a celebration of one fan's love for a 1928 musical comedy. The show comes to life on stage as Man in Chair plays its ancient cast recording.

"We are all this guy - I know I am," Saget continued, confessing to a love of musicals that stretches back to such classics as "The Music Man."

"The great thing about the show - we suffer from a tough title - but as soon as you walk into the show, you immediately are embraced," McCollum said. "Bob is such a wonderful chameleon. He can play so many different aspects. Every audience age knows who Bob Saget is and he's earned it - from `Full House' to `America's Funniest Home Videos' to his HBO special. He's not stuck in one category."

It was one of McCollum's co-producers, Bob Boyett, who started conversations with Saget that led to the actor agreeing to star in the show.

"Bob's humor is so much the humor of `The Drowsy Chaperone,"' McCollum said. "One of the things that the show does so well is that it surprises you. You think it's going to be one thing and then it delivers on so many other levels. And Bob's knowingness and subtleties, as well as sort of getting into your brain on who he is, are very similar."

"The Drowsy Chaperone," which has a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, and a score by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, will be Saget's Broadway debut. He appeared off-Broadway two years ago in "Privilege," Paul Weitz's comedy about two boys whose father is accused of insider trading.

"It's probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me artistically," Saget said of his off-Broadway experience. "I knew I wanted to come back and do something else.

"My standup is very free associative. I let it come to me when it comes to me. This is a different muscle. What I love about `The Drowsy Chaperone' is that it is so well written. I don't want to change a word. Not even the commas."