Bob Saget Said Comedy 'Truly Helped Me Survive' in an Interview Filmed a Month Before His Death

For Bob Saget, comedy was a source of happiness.

Last month, before his Jan. 9 death, the Full House star spoke to CBS News Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook about how important comedy and humor had been in his life, especially in the tougher moments in life. In 1985, his sister Andrea died of a brain aneurysm, and in 1994, he lost his sister Gay to the autoimmune disease scleroderma.

In a conversation with CBS Mornings, Saget said comedy helped him "survive" after his sister Gay died from scleroderma at the age of 47.

Saget, who used comedy as a way to uplift the people around him, explained how he got his start entertaining, even before he knew how to write jokes. "I would dance in the living room and just start dancing, dancing stupid, to make anybody laugh, like silent film stars," he said. "I knew some jokes, but it wasn't really jokes. It was just like 'I've got to perform. I've got to make people laugh.' "

The former America's Funniest Home Videos host also stated how important his connection to humor was in keeping himself mentally stable following the difficult family loss. "It was a defense mechanism and it truly helped me survive," Saget added. "And it helped keep me mentally alive rather than letting it destroy me."

Saget spent his life advocating for, and funding, scleroderma research. "No one should have to suffer as Gay did, which is why I'm committed to finding a cure and a proud board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation," he said in a message shared by the foundation's Instagram page on Jan. 9, which was the day he died. (Jan. 9 would have been his sister Gay's 75th birthday.)

The comedian was found dead in his hotel room in Orlando, Florida. No immediate cause of death was revealed, though no signs of drug use or foul play were reported.

The night before, Saget performed a two-hour set at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, outside of Jacksonville. An audience member recently told PEOPLE how Saget spoke highly of his own family, including his daughters.

"There was a gentleman on the front row who was there with his daughters, who kind of ranged in age from like middle schooler to adult," Jessica Olberding said. "He talked with him in front of us for about five minutes and teared up, telling us about how this guy reminded him of him and his own daughters."

Olberding also said Saget spoke about the deaths of his late friends and fellow comedians. "One of the things he did mention several times was how many of his friends, how many comedians died, like Norm [Macdonald] and Robin Williams, that he felt really should be here still and had left far too long ahead of their time," she recalled.

Saget's full interview will air tomorrow on CBS Mornings.