I got into a debate with some girls at a bar about this last night, and I need confirmation that I was right:
In “Full House,” Joey Gladstone lived with the Tanners. He wasn’t their uncle; just a family friend. Everyone agreed to this. The girls, however, insisted that he was still referred to by the girls as “Uncle” Joey; I recall him just being “Joey.”
Whattaya say?
I remember the show. He was definitely just a family friend. I think he was Danny’s college roommate, frat-buddy, etc. Definitely NOT Uncle Joey.
Diablo Cody, the writer of Juno, actually just covered this in an Entertainment Weekly column on heroines who cared about their look as much as anything else they did*:
The only one of the three men who was referred to as “Uncle” was Uncle Jesse, because he actually was the childrens’ uncle.
(Interestingly enough, Uncle Jesse’s Wikipedia entry has a sidebar with this helpful bit of information: “Species: Human.” Gee, thanks Wikipedia! If I didn’t know Jesse was a human, the show would take on an entirely different meaning!)
*Ms. Cody writes that Joey’s on the list because he’s “[n]ot technically a woman, but his addiction to mousse and gender-ambiguous name make him eligible by, uh, a hair.”
Maybe someone cut. it. out.
Well, if you need the Hurry Up Machine to find out, I know where to find it…
That doesn’t mean he couldn’t be called “Uncle”, as is common for family friends, sometimes.
But I’m also pretty certain he wasn’t referred to as “Uncle Joey”, because it would just sound too similar to “Uncle Jesse” and cause confusion.
In my family, anyone who’s one generation older than you is “Auntie” or “Uncle”, and that includes random electricians who are coming to your house for the first time to fix a short-circuit.
I was so intrigued by this that I hunted down the edit that included that for the first time.
The guy who made that edit only made 2 other edits, one vandalism and one… not quite vandalism but an inappropriate comment.
I guess during later revisions of the page, no one found that inappropriate and edited it out.
It not only amazes me that wikipedia has a page on “Uncle Jesse”, but that it’s fairly detailed and refined over many many versions so that only the highest quality uncle Jesse information is included, up to and including mention of his great great grandfather. His kids even have their own wikipedia page.
Someone had to sit down and think “you know those minor kids on full house? they need their own wikipedia page. Let me write that up, right after confirming Uncle Jesse’s great great grandfather’s name.”
Wikipedia may have too much information.
Oh, man, that’s the best part of Wikipedia, IMO: fictional characters from sitcoms having their personal histories detailed as though they were American legends. Hey, I learned that Christine Lakin (“Al,” from Step By Step–another TGIF show) was the girl in the Bud Lite “Chainsaw” commercial. Who knew?
Heh. I think a number of American legends could only dream of having that kind of detail on their Wiki page.
I guess Hari Seldon’s vision of an Encyclopedia Galactica is getting closer and closer, and he didn’t even have to set up a Foundation for it! 
According to this message board, there is only one episode in which Joey is referred to as Uncle Joey:
A little later in the thread (Page 2) there is an outdated link to an article in Vox magazine which states:
So, you’re right. No Uncle Joey. However, “uncle” can be used as a respectful title for any parental friend. I’m an “uncle” to my friends’ kids. Perhaps this usage varies by region.
Obviously, male friend.
Well, that’s probably more ‘standardization run amok’ than anything. They probably have a list of important info that should (or at least could) be shown on a sidebar for a TV character. ‘Species’ would have been included for shows like Buffy, Star Trek, or Babylon Five, where the provenance of popular characters vary much more widely, and is an important detail to keep track of for people trying to use wikipedia to catch up on the show.
Looking at all of the Full House characters’ Wikipedia entries, Uncle Jesse’s is the only one that has this sidebar. Which means that either it was a case of vandalism, or all the other characters on Full House are aliens. Have mercy!
I hate to admit that we still watch this show at our house. Third-Grade-Caricci didn’t get the memo that it’s kind of for girls - not that there’s anything wrong with that. So, anyway, NOT Uncle Joey, just Joey. Meanwhile, he totally resembles DJ, Stephanie and Michelle WAY more than Uncle Jesse.
That would explain a lot.
That might explain even more because those kids don’t look anything like their “dad” either.
Wait a minute. What are you implying about my old Uncle Mary? :dubious:
I always figured that’s because he was Bob Saget’s dead wife’s brother. I’m ashamed to admit I gave Full House that much thought.