List of Full House and Fuller House characters

The American television sitcom Full House ran for eight seasons on ABC from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995. Its sequel series Fuller House followed 21 years later, airing on Netflix, beginning February 26, 2016; the two parts of its fifth and final season were released in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Jesse Katsopolis (portrayed by John Stamos) is Danny's brother-in-law, Pam's younger brother, making him the maternal uncle to DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle. Later in the series, he marries Rebecca Donaldson, Danny's co-host on Wake Up, San Francisco, with whom he has twin sons Nicholas and Alexander, better known as Nicky and Alex. The character underwent several name changes throughout the series' development and filming. He was originally named Adam Cochran during production, though this was ultimately changed to Jesse, at Stamos' request. Later, producers changed his last name from Cochran to one of Greek origin, to Katsopolis, also at the request of Stamos, who is Greek American. Finally, in the fifth season, it is revealed that Jesse was originally named Hermes after his great-grandfather, but his mother changed it to Jesse at his request after he entered primary school, when his peers bullied him for his name.

In contrast with Danny, Jesse is portrayed as irresponsible most of the time, but occasionally serves as a responsible adult when one is needed (such as when he learns that Stephanie's classmate is a child abuse victim in the season six episode "Silence is Not Golden"). Jesse is revealed to be high school dropout in season six's "Educating Jesse", though in an earlier plot (in season four's "One Last Kiss") about a high school reunion, he mentions not wearing his cap to graduation because he did not want to mess up his hair.

Jesse's obsession with his hair becomes a major trait throughout the series. He is a die hard Elvis Presley fan and Elvis was his inspiration to be a musician. His obsession with Elvis is fully established in the season two premiere "Cutting it Close", which focuses on Jesse's tough time coping when Stephanie accidentally cuts off a hunk of his mullet, which leads to him getting into a motorcycle accident that lands him in a full arm cast; later episodes reveal that he has a special comb called Mr. Goodpart (which gets damaged in a melee to purchase a Mighty Mutant Super Kids Super Fortress for Michelle in season eight's "I've Got a Secret") and that he gives pep talks to his hair (as revealed in season seven's "Wrong-Way Tanner").

Jesse moves into the house with virtually no experience in taking care of young children or babies, but learns the ropes along the way. He was only going to be here temporarily but ended up staying full time. He becomes closer to all of his nieces over the course of the series, especially Michelle, whom he affectionately nicknames "munchkin" and "shorty", among others. In the first season, Jesse works for his father Nick's exterminating business before leaving to pursue work in advertising, frequently working with Joey. He later works with Joey as co-host of an afternoon drive time show on local radio station KFLH called The Rush Hour Renegades.

Further along in the series, in season seven's "Smash Club: The Next Generation", Jesse becomes the new owner of The Smash Club. Although he was depicted as a sports fan as well as a good athlete in the earlier seasons, it is revealed in later seasons that Jesse hated all sports (especially basketball, in "Air Jesse" from season eight) and was not very athletic. Jesse's main passion is music, and struggles to "hit it big" with his band, Jesse and the Rippers (in the earlier part of the series). However, his increasing responsibilities to his family, radio job, and as owner of a club, lead his band members to kick him out of the band in the season eight premiere "Comet's Excellent Adventure".

In "Making Out is Hard to Do", he decides to quit being a musician until he has a nightmare in which he appears on Downbeat (a Behind the Music-style show-within-a-dream-sequence) where he dreams that his family hates him, Rebecca has divorced him (and moved on with Joey) and Jesse himself was a mechanic, as well as overweight and balding (because of a scalp infection), with Kimmy Gibbler (dressed in the attire of the Married... with Children character Peggy Bundy) as a wife. Two episodes later in "To Joey, With Love", he starts a new band called Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets.

In Fuller House, Jesse, Becky, and Danny all move to Los Angeles. Jesse becomes the music composer for General Hospital while Becky and Danny start a new nationally syndicated talk show called, Wake Up USA. Stephanie is similar to her Uncle Jesse and decided to help DJ take care of her nephews like her Uncle Jesse did for them. In the season two finale, Jesse and Becky adopt a baby girl whom they name Pamela after his sister. Somewhere along the line, Jesse became a stay at home dad. When Becky and Danny get fired from Wake Up USA, they try to get their old jobs back but the station only wanted her back to co-host an all women's talk show. Jesse, Becky, and Pamela are all moving back to San Francisco, and he also bought back the Smash Club (which is now a laundromat) along with Joey.