Roseanne Barr :: Some Things She's Learned

We all know who she is. Her reputation definitely precedes her. That acerbic, biting humor and her ability to take on pretty much any topic or convention as she nimbly pokes a stick at it, then stands back and watches the fireworks... Laughing that distinctive laugh as she enjoys the show. As Roseanne said in response to one of The Rage Monthly's questions, "Comics like to make fun of arrogance and power."

Barr grew up in a working-class Jewish household in the middle of Mormon central, Salt Lake City. That, of course, provided a fair amount of fodder for her burgeoning sense of humor. Humor and a wisdom that she credited, at least in part, to her father. "When I used to watch comedians with my dad, he laid it all out for me. He wanted to be a comedian himself and he was so funny. We'd watch stand-up on TV and he'd tell me the subtext of what they were saying. He'd say, 'This guy just says funny things. He doesn't want to rock the boat. But this guy, he's really bringing the revolution.' That's the kind of dad I had and he made me a comic. I still think that way." (Esquire Magazine).

Much of what she experienced, during her early years as a wife and mother of three, honed her early stand-up routines. Roseanne is the original "domestic goddess," and though she poked fun at that role, she always tempered it with a tough, yet tender sensibility. Coming from a person who truly understood what it's like to be standing in those exhausted, well-worn, shoes. An insight she best summed up when she said, "There's a lot more to being a woman than being a mother, but there's a hell of a lot more to being a mother than most people suspect."

That ability to astutely observe human nature gave her an early understanding of how the larger world works. As she suggests in her third book, "Roseannearchy: Dispatches From the Nut Farm," "Growing up in a Jewish matriarchal world inside the patriarchal paradise of Salt Lake City, Utah, gave me increased perspective on gender issues, as it also did my gay brother and my lesbian sister. Our younger sister is the perfect Jewish-American wife and mother and is fiercely proud of that fact."

She single-handedly, set out to change the way America viewed the family on the "Roseanne" show. To shatter the patriarchal model and in particular, shine a light on the women in those families, "TV family sitcoms have always been about fathers who know best and mothers who are so enchanted with everything they do. I wanted to be the first mom to be a mom on TV. I wanted to sent out a message about how us women really feel."

I asked her what the biggest challenge was, keeping the focus there, "Keeping things funny, is always the greatest challenge for comics - funny and edgy."

Roseanne answered my question about whether or not things have changed much for women since doing her show: "In a lot of ways it has. But, not in others. Women seem to want to re-fight the exact same social battles, over and over again, for egocentric reasons. I think it's based on the idea of erasing the women who fought the exact same battles before them. They do this by pretending that the banal is revolutionary. It's a vicious cycle of mind control." Mind control is something she refers to often; opinions on the topic have come up in many a conversation. It is born, she says, out of her experiences in Hollywood. Though many chalk her ideas on the topic up to "Roseanne-nutty-isms," there's some interesting history around the CIA and its involvement in Hollywood. Who knew, there's actually an "Entertainment Industry Liaison Office in L.A.?" A topic for another time, perhaps.

Thankfully, for the LGBT community, Roseanne has landed on our side... and her support has held no secrets. It's a sensibility that was reflected in her handling of LGBT characters on "Roseanne." It was controversial for the show's time and unique, because it was unapologetic and never tragic or tearful. The "Ladies Choice" episode featuring Nancy's [Sandra Bernhard] coming out, has a favorite outing moment. "We'd react the same way we react when you tell us anything personal. We make fun of you until it gets old, and then we move on." Like it was nothing at all... which of course, made it very much, something. When asked about how much of a challenge it was to make those "real" moments happen on the series, Roseanne emphasized, "It actually cost me my nervous system. But, I have a gay brother and a lesbian sister, so I felt I had to do what I could."

About her favorite episodes, Roseanne said, "I have a lot of favorite episodes, it really depends on my mood. One of my all-time faves was 'The Happiest Place on Earth,' which we made when Disney bought ABC. It's amazingly incendiary and anti-corporate. We were truly biting the hand that fed us. It was a comic's dream!"

Incendiary is an apt word when referring to Roseanne's take on many things. Another of my personal favorites covers income taxes, "I know that I pay 48 percent of my income to taxes. You know, I wouldn't mind so much,
if it wasn't going just to export war. If it was actually going to help the people of the United States, I would gladly pay more." A statement that reflects the undercurrent of beliefs about politics and something about why she ran for President under the Green Party ticket. Here's her response when asked about her platform: "Intelligence, equality and a commitment to solutions, for the problems that plague humanity-common sense." Where do I vote?

Barr is proud of her career and the many other accomplishments she has attained in her life. These are some of the highlights for her: "Winning the Peabody Award for Excellence and getting a standing ovation at a football game I attended in Des Moines. Over 30,000 people stood up to welcome me there, during the Roseanne show." It's a moment, that could only be overshadowed by another famously controversial one, her crotch-grabbing rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" back in 1995. Funny, or not funny, you have to give her credit... she certainly knows how to get a reaction from a crowd!

Life is never dull for Roseanne. At 62 she's touring again and splitting time between that and hosting the new series "When Moms Go Bad." Her decision to do the show was a simple one. "They offered it to me and I though it would be fun to do. Also, they agreed to film at my own studio, Fool Moon and High Tide productions." As to her other "hobby," located on a farm in Hawaii - a nut farm, ironically the topic of her year-long reality series "Roseanne's Nuts" - she had this to say: "Mac nuts are the hope of the world... it's the perfect protein, and it does not cause global warming."

Her last comment, about the best part of being 62 and her perspective on her life, kind of summed it all up, "My favorite thing about it, is having five grandsons who see the world very much as I see it. As my boyfriend Johnny says, 'That is my feminist utopian dream!'"

Keep dreamin' Roseanne. I for one, am enjoying the monologue.

Roseanne Barr is performing with Norm Macdonald at the City National Grove of Anaheim on Friday, May 8. For tickets and more information, go to citynationalgroveofanaheim.com.

She will be in San Diego at the Balboa Theatre, on Saturday, May 9. For tickets and more information, call 619.570.1100 or go to sandiegotheatres.org