Whatever happened to Stavros, Jesse's (John Stamos) cousin and Full House's oddest guest character? Over the course of its eight-season run, the sitcom introduced some of the Tanners' distant relatives. Early on, Danny's (Bob Saget) mother was featured as she helped her son get settled on the heels of Pam's death, and then shortly after, Jesse and Joey's (David Coulier) mothers also came by to help the boys keep the house in order. From there, various family members have visited the iconic San Francisco home for different reasons. However, arguably, none of them were as weird as Stavros.
Jesse's Greek heritage was the focus of a handful of episodes on Full House, partly because Stamos was keen on making sure that his own culture was reflected in his character. This is the reason why Jesse's surname was changed from Cochran to Katsopolis in the early seasons of the sitcom. Full House brought some of his and Pam's side of the family into the show, with notable appearances from Papouli (Jack Kruschen). Unfortunately, during Papouli's last visit to the Tanners he suddenly passed away in season 7, episode 17, "The Last Dance."
Papouli was brought back home to Greece to be buried. Instead of the whole family traveling to Europe on such short notice, they decided that Jesse should be the only to go. After a few days, he excitedly returned home to his family in Fuller House season 7, episode 18, "Kissing Cousin." However, not only did he bring some souvenirs from Greece, he also brought his cousin, Stavros, with him as a surprise to everyone. Stavros was supposed to look a lot like Jesse, so instead of getting another actor to play him, Full House simply put a fake mustache on Stamos to have him play the character as well. Meanwhile, David Dean functioned as a body-double for the character. The scheme is similar to what Friends did with Ross and Russ — having David Schwimmer play both characters with a slight difference in physical appearance.
While they shared some physical features, Jesse and Stavros couldn't be any more different, however. Stavros is rude and crass — he makes Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) illegally gamble, scams Joey out of his watch and an additional $20, and even inappropriately hits on Becky (Lori Loughlin). Jesse was unaware that this was all happening, and the whole family decided to deal with Stavros for a few more days since he was set to go back home anyway. Things changed, however, when Jesse announced that Stavros could be permanently moving in with them because of how well everyone was getting along.
Simultaneously, Stavros revealed that he wanted to go back to Polopolis after the town was supposedly ruined by a severe mudslide. This got everyone feeling bad for him, not knowing that it was another one of his scams. He planned to solicit money for his made-up story and use it to fly to Orlando, Florida with Becky. Thanks to the Tanner girls, Stavros' con was exposed at the Smash Club. Jesse was disappointed but decided not to disown his cousin. Nevertheless, Stavros was kicked out and the show never mentioned him again.
Aside from the comedic value of introducing Stavros in Full House, given his resemblance to Jesse, the sitcom actually found a way to tackle a serious narrative using the character — something that was sorely lacking in its spin-off, Fuller House. Jesse didn't want to believe his family when they told him about Stavros' true colors because he didn't want to think of his own flesh and blood as a con-man. Given what he tried to pull during his stay in San Francisco, it made sense that the show never brought up Stavros again, although it would be nice to know whether his falling out with Jesse forced him to change, or if he simply carried on with his cons elsewhere.
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