Jesse Katsopolis

Jesse Katsopolis (portrayed by John Stamos) (last name in season one was Cochran, but was changed reportedly due to John Stamos wanting his character to better reflect his Greek heritage) is Danny's brother-in-law, Pam's younger brother and husband to Rebecca Donaldson and father to twins Nicky and Alex. He did not like his birth name, 'Hermes', so when he was young, he changed his name to Jesse, thinking that one had to have a 'cool name' to be in the in-crowd. In contrast with Danny, Jesse is portrayed as being irresponsible most of the time, but is occasionally a responsible adult when a responsible adult is needed (such as when he discovers Stephanie's classmate is a child abuse victim in the episode "Silence is Not Golden" from season 6). Jesse is revealed as a high school dropout, though in an earlier plot about a high school reunion, he mentions not wearing his cap to his graduation because he did not want to mess up his hair.

Jesse first moves into the house with virtually no experience in taking care of young children or babies, but starts to learn along the way. 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-hosts of an afternoon show called The Rush Hour Renegades. Further along in the series, Jesse becomes the new owner of The Smash Club. Although he was shown to be a sports fan as well as a good player in the earlier seasons, it is revealed in later seasons that Jesse hated all sports (especially basketball) and was a poor player. 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 a club owner, lead his band members to kick him out of the band (in season eight's première "Comet's Excellent Adventure"), which subsequently leads him to start a new band.