PEOPLE's 'Fuller House' Set Diary: Inside the Taping of the Premiere Episode

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Full House stars! PEOPLE takes you to the set of Fuller House – and catches up with its beloved cast. Subscribe now for the exclusive interview (and find out why the Olsens skipped the spin-off), only in PEOPLE!

Jodie Sweetin‘s daughter Beatrix is completely charming John Stamos.

The 4-year-old is singing a Katy Perry song between takes at the Fuller House premiere episode live taping, earning a standing ovation from the star – and everyone else on stage 26.

“I’m the one that sang ‘Roar!’ ” Beatrix later announces to Stamos.

“I heard!” he replies warmly. “You were great. For a midget, you were fantastic.”

Call it one of many pinch-me moments I experienced as the only press to attend the Fuller House premiere live taping back in July. Having grown up with the show, this was basically a childhood dream and a professional pursuit colliding.

Walking on to the recreated set was like taking a trip back to more innocent times – like coming home. It looks just as you remember it from the late ’80s and early ’90s, with a few updates – as though the Tanners were as inspired by HGTV as the rest of us.

I interview Bob Saget on the blue-and-white checked love seat from the original show. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” he says with a smile, and it’s pretty clear he’s talking about more than just the 30-year-old furniture as his cast mates laugh together on the kitchen set.

On a break from shooting, Stamos comes over to say hello. “So, did you ever watch the old show?” he asks with a wink.

“Once or twice,” I joke back. We chat about what a great job the production designer did in recreating the set, and how Stamos snagged some key pieces back in the day.

“The Wake Up, San Francisco sign is in my kitchen,” he jokes. “I’ll take something for you, what do you want?”

The duck jar from the kitchen, I tell him.

“Okay, I’ll get it for you,” he replies. “At least the head.”

Talk about hospitable.

Stamos takes me on a mini tour of the set, and we sit on the wrought iron bench in the backyard set for the interview. The rest of the cast is just as kind and welcoming. And fun to watch: Scott Weinger, who plays DJ’s high school boyfriend, is hitting the craft services table (just like Steve would!). Some of the original Rippers mill about the set. Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit (Nicky and Alex Katsopolis) chat with their TV dad. All over the set, the actors are laughing.

Live Taping Night

The following evening, an audible burst of applause emerges from the hair and makeup room. It’s the cast doing their usual “little huddle,” as Jodie Sweetin describes it, just before show time.

On the sound stage, the emcee is pumping up the 300-person studio audience. As if they needed it.

“The rest of the world would love to be here to see what’s going on,” he says. “You are the ones who get this opportunity.”

And when the curtain slowly rises to reveal the set for the first time, the applause is thunderous.

“Even the sets get a hand,” says someone on the floor. But Fuller House is just getting warmed up.

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Stamos and his TV wifeLori Loughlin are greeted by raucous cheers when they make their entrances. They raise their eyebrows at one another and smile. When their characters kiss, it’s deafening.

Saget misses a line and asks no one in particular, “You have a TelePrompTer?,” to the delight of the crowd. Also a hit: In one scene, when he and Dave Coulier embrace, Saget ad libs, “You smell like bacon.” Quips Coulier, “Thank you.”

Loughlin’s teenage daughters, Olivia, 16, and Isabella, 17, dash up and down the stairs in the audience with friends between takes, and the actress’s husband, Mossimo Giannulli, checks out a scene from the living room set. Stamos spots him and they share a friendly hug.

Meanwhile, little Beatrix is just transfixed as the episode unfolds, though she’s eager to make her allegiance known. After one of Sweetin’s bigger scenes, the little girl can’t help herself.

“Yay, mama!”

Fuller House begins streaming Friday on Netflix.