Life wasn't all the time straightforward for Tim "The Toolman" Taylor — and that goes for the man who performed him, too.

Home Improvement star Tim Allen, who portrayed the character for the entire sitcom's eight seasons, from 1991 to 1999, says he felt considerably clueless guiding his TV sons Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy), Zachery Ty Bryan (Brad), and Taran Noah Smith (Mark).

"When it was straightforward to be a TV father or mother, it's straightforward. When it’s troublesome to be a TV father or mother, you actually are of no worth," the previous slapstick comedian advised Us Weekly in an interview revealed Wednesday. "[With the] Dwelling Enchancment youngsters, it was so way back, and I used to be model new, and it was very troublesome for me to be wherever close to a mentor. It wasn’t till later that I turned extra of a mentor. However all of them had nice dad and mom."

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Requested about how his position on units has developed, whereas making not solely Dwelling Enchancment and Final Man Standing but additionally his new present, Shifting Gears, which is in its second season, Allen acknowledged that it didn't come naturally.

"It was new to me, and it took some time for me to be that [father figure]," he stated. "I felt like extra of a humorous, mischievous older brother for fairly some time — particularly to the boys on Dwelling Enchancment."

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Dwelling Enchancment is one in all his best-known initiatives. The story of a TV host — of a present known as Software Time — additionally starred Patricia Richardson (as his spouse Jill), Richard Karn (as TV sidekick Al), and Earl Hindman (as neighbor Wilson).

He additionally famously performed a dad in lots of extra initiatives, together with his 1994 film The Santa Clause — a couple of man who discovers that he's mysteriously turning into the precise St. Nick — and its sequels.

In actual life, Allen is the daddy of two daughters: Katherine Allen, 36. Her mom is Allen's ex-wife Laura Deibel, whom he divorced in 2003. His different baby, Elizabeth Allen-Dick, whose mother is his present spouse Jane Hajduk, is 16.

"I don’t know what it's prefer to have sons," Allen stated. "I like being a father to women."

In his present present, Allen performs Matt Parker, a cussed man whose estranged daughter (Riley Parker) all of a sudden strikes in.

Shifting Gears airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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