Photos of Bob Saget and John Stamos' Friendship Through the Years

Bob Saget, John Stamos and Dave Coulier met on the set of their hit sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995. Saget and Stamos played brothers-in-law, bonded in grief by the death of Pam, a.k.a. Saget's on-screen wife and Stamos' on-screen sister. 

Once the series wrapped, the entire cast remained incredibly close, however it was Stamos and Saget's friendship that truly endured. 

"To say we are like brothers is an understatement," Saget wrote on Stamos' birthday in 2021. "What I have to say here, is how damned lucky I am to have John in my life." 

In the wake of Saget's shocking death on Jan. 9 at the age of 65, look back on his decades-long friendship with Stamos. 

Saget and Stamos actually didn't hit it off at first, the former told PEOPLE in 2017.

"The first four years, John and I didn't get along that well," Saget shared during a visit to PEOPLE Now with the Fuller House cast. "I was a comic, I was married, and John was a teen idol that had gone on to be a really good actor. We both learned a lot from his acting chops. He had different ladies trampsing through the —"

"Trampsing?!" interrupted Candace Cameron Bure as the rest of the cast laughed. "What is happening with this interview?

"Sorry, traipsing," Saget said. "But they were tramps."

"So the first four years of the old show we weren't as close," he added. "But then we became like brothers."

Saget hosted the annual Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine fundraiser for the Scleroderma Research Foundation (his sister died of the disease) each year, and Stamos was always among the Full House stars at his friend's side to help with the event, like here in 2006. 

Stamos was the emcee at the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget in 2008, leading an all-star lineup in a series of very NSFW jokes about his life and career. 

In 2009, Saget was among the Full House stars who came out to toast Stamos' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

"You are so talented and so loving, and I will always be there for you and for your family cause you are my brother," Saget said in his tribute. "I love you."

In 2013, the pair reunited onstage at the comedy portion of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee. 

The fab three kept the laughs coming on a 2014 episode of Bravo's Watch What Happens Live. 

The stars popped up in each other's projects often, like when Saget guest-starred on Stamos' Grandfathered  in 2016.

"We have been through so much together for 35 years. Highs, lows- the usual you go through with your closest of people in your life," Saget, here at the 2016 premiere of Mother's Day with Stamos, wrote in a 2021 birthday tribute to his friend. "He has always been there for me. Even when I could be unberable. I've learned so much from John. There is only one John Stamos on this planet, and I am a better person because he's in my life."

Coulier, Stamos and Saget (with Josh Peck) thrilled fans when they all signed on to appear in the 2016 Full House reboot, Fuller House. 

Prior to the premiere of Fuller House, Saget, Coulier and Stamos all lost their moms. 

"There was just an instant support system," Coulier told PEOPLE. "I consider those guys my family. We're just always there for each other. We really made some extraordinary friendships that will last forever."

"It's been beautiful because we've all had ups and downs," Stamos added. "We've had divorces and deaths, and we've all been there for each other like a real family."

The pals both got engaged to their girlfriends in 2017 and married in 2018, a fact Saget told PEOPLE they unintentionally coordinated. 

On their respective wedding days — Stamos' in February to Caitlin McHugh and Saget's in October to Kelly Rizzo — they were at each other's sides, along with several of their Full House costars. 

Most recently, Saget and Stamos appeared at the October 2021 MegaCon in Orlando. 

In his Jan. 9 tribute to Saget, Stamos wrote on Twitter, "I am broken. I am gutted. I am in complete and utter shock. I will never ever have another friend like him. I love you so much Bobby."