John Stamos was set to play the Grinch in 2000 holiday classic

John Stamos was set to play the titular green character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas until he discovered he was allergic to the prosthetics.

The Full House actor revealed on ‘Tis The Grinch Holiday Podcast, hosted by comedian James Austin Johnson as the Dr. Seuss character, that he was set to play the mean, Christmas-hating Grinch in Ron Howard’s 2000 festive favourite.

“Hey, you know, I have something. Here’s an interesting fact you don’t know about me,” he told the co-host, reports People. “I was originally going to play you in the movie that Jim Carrey got. Did you know that? I went to the make-up test. And I was allergic to the, you know, all the prosthetics.”

Jim Carrey ultimately starred in the film alongside Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor and Christine Baranski.

He underwent hours of make-up and prosthetic work every day to turn himself green and change the shape of his face to make it seem more cat-like. The team were later honoured for their work with the Best Makeup Oscar in 2001.

The Bruce Almighty actor recently admitted to ComicBook.com that he’d be open to reprising the role if he didn’t have to endure the “extremely excruciating process”.

“The thing about it is, on the day, I do that with a ton of make-up and can hardly breathe,” he said during the press tour for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. “The children were in my mind all the time. ‘It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids.’ And now, with motion capture and things like that, I could be free to do other things. Anything is possible in this world.”