Dave Coulier of Full House fame has been diagnosed with tongue cancer seven months after becoming cancer free.
Full House fans will recall Coulier’s character in the sitcom, Joey or Uncle Joey. The actor starred in all 192 episodes of the show during the late 80s and early 90s. Coulier, 66, had told his fans seven months ago that he was cancer free after a 2024 diagnosis and battle against stage three non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. Now, he has received another cancer diagnosis.
However, this is not as bad as it seems. Speaking to NBC’s Today Show, the actor said the tongue cancer has “a 90% curability rate.” Coulier is undergoing 35 rounds of radiation that will end on December 31. Meanwhile, he said his latest cancer diagnosis is “totally unrelated to the previous cancer that I had.”
For those who haven’t watched the show, Dave Coulier is known for playing Joey Gladstone in the popular sitcom, Full House aired on ABC in 1987 and 1995. The comedy followed the story of a widowed father, Danny Tanner (played by the late Bob Saget). Danny enlists his best friend, Joey and his brother-in-law, Jesse to aid him in raising his three daughters, DJ, Stephanie and Michelle, after his wife’s passing. Coulier starred in all 192 episodes and, due to the popularity of the original show, he reprised his role in the 2026 reboot, Fuller House, alongside most of the original stars.
A year ago, the actor who played Uncle Joey announced that he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. When it was found that he was in stage three, he quickly started chemotherapy and earlier this year, Coulier announced he was cancer free.
“Full House” star Dave Coulier has been diagnosed with tongue cancer, 7 months after beating stage 3 non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: “It’s totally unrelated to the previous cancer.”
“Prognosis is very good for P16 squamous carcinoma. So it has a 90% curability rate. But the thing that has… pic.twitter.com/BXlrI8LUuP
— Variety (@Variety) December 2, 2025
While he had been cancer free, Coulier told Today Tuesday, “In October of this year, I went in for a PET scan, just a routine check-up and something flared on the PET scan.”
“It turned out that I have P16 squamous carcinoma at the base of my tongue. So I said to the doctors, ‘Well, did this happen because of the lymphoma?’ And they said, ‘Totally unrelated,’” the actor added.
As noted by the New York Post, oropharyngeal tongue cancer is also known as P16 carcinoma. P16 is a protein that increases in cancer cells when the human papillomavirus (HPV) is present. According to Coulier, his doctors said his tongue cancer “could stem from having an HPV virus up to 30 years ago”he said, adding, “A lot of people carry the HPV virus, but they said mine activated and turned into a carcinoma.”
Fans shouldn’t worry too much. According to the actor, “Prognosis is very good for P16 squamous carcinoma, it has a 90 percent curability rate. “But the thing that has really saved my life is that early detection saved my life, not just the first time but the second time as well,” he added. “So I hope you’re getting your check-ups. I hope you get your colonoscopies and breast exams and prostate exams, they will save your life.”
Meanwhile, having received the tongue cancer diagnoses, the Full House actor said, “The doctor said the prognosis is good, but we’re going to start radiation immediately.”
“It’s a whole different animal than chemo. It doesn’t feel as aggressive, but there are still side effects.”
