When Full House star Andrea Barber hung up Kimmy Gibler’s colorful socks in 1995, she thought she was leaving Hollywood behind for good. After the family comedy’s sudden cancelation, Barber went to college, then grad school, got married, had kids and was content living a life far away from show business, working in academia.
Then she got a call from original series creator Jeff Franklin about reprising her role as D.J. Tanner’s outrageous, slightly obnoxious but lovable best friend for a sequel series, and those plans went out the window. “This is getting to relive my childhood all over again,” Barber tells The Hollywood Reporter.
She now returns as one of the series’ three leads – a major promotion from what was only supposed to be a one-episode part when she originally landed the role of Kimmy in 1987. Instead of simply trading barbs with Mr. T or admiring Uncle Jesse from afar, Kimmy is now a single mom and businesswoman trying to help out her newly widowed BFF while also figuring out her own complicated marital status.
Ahead of Fuller House‘s Friday premiere, Barber spoke with THR about when she knew Kimmy “had arrived,” leaving Hollywood and her “moment of panic” about coming back.
Do you remember a moment on the original Full House when you knew Kimmy was really catching on with fans?
Oh gosh, I was so young. I’m not sure I had any awareness of just how big this show had gotten and iconic these characters had become. Really, it’s taken 30 years to develop that kind of perspective, seeing now how the fans are still here and there’s still a huge demand for this show. It’s kind of hitting me now, really, 30 years later. (Laughs) I wasn’t a full-time cast member the first few seasons. I was a recurring character, and it was somewhere during the middle of the run of the show, around season five, when I became a full-time cast member, so by then, Kimmy was involved in more of the storylines. Then, by the time we got to Kimmy’s 16th birthday that D.J. forgets and they kind of throw together a haphazard happy birthday with a hash-brown cake and toiler paper streamers, by then, I finally got an A storyline and I knew, “This is fantastic. Kimmy has arrived into the hearts of the viewers.”
Do you remember what the original description of the character was?
I originally auditioned for the role of D.J. and got turned down. Fortuitously, they called me back and said, “Well, we want you to read for the role of the wacky neighbor Kimmy Gibbler,” and it was supposed to be just like a one-time appearance and it turned into this major role in my life. I think Kimmy was just supposed to be a quirky neighbor at first, but it kind of developed into this really eccentric personality. I think that took a few years, to develop all of her eccentric quirks and her one-liners and her unapologetic insulting of everyone around her. (Laughs) That took some time to develop that character. At first she was just D.J.’s best friend, and then the character took on a life of her own.
Were there certain things that the writers started writing toward for you as they saw you on-screen?
It was a collaborative process once the writers could see the chemistry between the cast. The chemistry was there in the beginning but it just became stronger and stronger as the years went by. Once they saw that I could spar with Bob Saget and we could throw some one-liners back at each other, and Kimmy and Stephanie have always had a good frenemy-ship, as I call it. (Laughs) So I think it was really the chemistry with other cast members that bled into the development of Kimmy’s character and her great zingers. One of my favorite parts of playing the character is the one-liners they give me.
Is there one line you hear a lot in particular from fans?
Well, people love the catchphrases. It’s so cliché, but people love “Hola, Tanneritos.” They want me to say that everywhere I go. (Laughs) We get made fun of for the catchphrases, but people want to hear them. The audience, they lose their shit every time.
