Roseanne Barr and John Goodman Are Back

The scene opens on a hangarlike photo studio in the heart of Hollywood. John Goodman walks in alone, over an hour early and a little cranky from a fender bender he had on the way to the interview. Soon enough, Roseanne Barr arrives, sporting blond highlights and looking glamorous in sunglasses. It’s a few days before Thanksgiving, and Barr finishes a quick smoke outside while she chats about past family feasts. And now she’s making jokes at our expense. 

“I really appreciate the fact that AARP didn’t ask me to do their nude centerfold this issue,” Barr, 65, deadpans. Her trademark smirk and nasal delivery are still in excellent form. “Some things are better left not even to the imagination.”

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Goodman, the man who played Barr’s husband, Dan, on what was once America’s top-rated sitcom, remains oddly stone-faced. It’s part of a game.  On set  and off, these two legendary friends “try to get each other to wet ourselves,” as Goodman, 65, puts it later. It’s why Barr won’t quit with the getting-older shtick. 

Roseanne Barr and John Goodman at a photo shoot for the February/March 2018 issue of "AARP The Magazine"

“Y’know, it’s kinda funny calling a 68-year-old guy my boyfriend,” she says of Johnny Argent, her partner of 15 years. They live on a 46-acre macadamia farm on the Big Island of Hawaii, near four of Barr’s five children and five of her six grandkids. “Johnny and I don’t fight or argue much anymore — we learned that we need that energy for things like climbing stairs, chewing and getting off the toilet.”

With that, Goodman’s eyes squinch up and his shoulders start to bounce. Roseanne comes back to ABC on March 27 with the original cast. Though it has been 20 years since the show’s last prime-time run, it seems more like a weekend hiatus for these two — that’s how well they gel.

The cast of the "Roseanne" reboot. From top left: Sara Gilbert as Darlene, Emma Kenney as Harris (Darlene's daughter), Jayden Rey as Mary (D.J.'s daughter), Michael Fishman as D.J., Lecy Goranson as Becky. From bottom left: Ames McNamara as Mark (Darlene's son), Laurie Metcalf as Jackie (Roseanne's sister), Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner, John Goodman as Dan and (far right) Sarah Chalke. (Chalke was recast as Becky in the original run, but she'll now play Andrea, a woman who hires Becky as her surrogate.)

Robert Trachtenberg/ABC

“It’s like being home again,” Barr says. 

“Yeah,” says Goodman, ever droll, “and I think we know what’s really important now — lunch.”

Cue the harmonica and sax. Those fun-loving, straight-talking, blue-collar Conners are back, and just when we need them most. In an age when sitcom “grownups”  look  more and more like college kids, the return of good  ol ’ Roseanne and Dan is a beautiful reminder that the funny bone doesn’t go numb at 50. The TV couple who once spoke for working-class America now reflect the changing face of middle age. Though that famous couch with the granny-square afghan is a replica (the original is in the Smithsonian), today’s Conners have a “gender-creative” grandkid and are making sense of selfies, medical marijuana, rising health care costs and the growing divide between the superrich and the rest of us. 

Goodman and Barr are adjusting to the moment, too. Between photo setups and video interviews for AARP The Magazine, they slip away for remarkably candid chats — and clearly, it’s a fascinating juncture for both of them.

All Kidding Aside

Barr: After the Roseanne show, I just kind of decided I was going to do whatever I wanted and not do anything for money, which I didn’t need, and so I had a lot of great adventures. I ran for president, traveled a lot. Lots of clearing land, planting stuff, playing music, getting crafty. I bought an old museum in Hawaii and kind of rebuilt it by hand. I turned it into an art project, and it took about six years to transform this big dump into a really awesome place. I made big murals out of rocks and glass, and I did it all with family.

I’m a real fun grandma, too. I swear and stuff — everything their parents don’t want me to do, I like to do. We get in the pool and have squirt gun fights. Shooting each other in the eyeball. They crack up. My grandkids know how to grow their own food, too, and that’s what I wanted them to know more than anything — how not to be dependent. Of course, they mostly want to hear about the other famous people I know, like if I’ve met the Rock.

I thought I made all the statements I wanted to make as a comic, but of course, now, as a grandparent, I realize there’s way more to say, like watching how your kids raise their kids. That’s a big part of the reboot, and it’s a big part of my life, too. This whole younger generation is just … I don’t know what in the hell they’re doing. They’re just so dependent on technology, and it’s all different. They talk a whole different language,  y’know ? 

Goodman: I was in pretty bad shape when I left Roseanne, to be honest. I had a lot of resentment. I just didn’t care. It was a terrible character fault of mine. I always wanted more of something. There was an emptiness inside me. I still have it, but I know what it is now. You recognize it and go, “There it is.” You don’t have to fill it with another pork chop or another drink.

For me it was probably just a fear of not being good enough, not being worthy of what I was getting, maybe survivor’s guilt from having grown up poor. But then after 10 years and the fact that I was sober, I started looking back fondly and realized how lucky I had been — and I really feel that now. 

I have a daughter that I worried about for a while [Goodman and his wife of 28 years, Anna Beth, have one child, Molly, 27]. She grew up with an alcoholic father until she was in high school. But things are great now. They’re probably a lot better than I thought they would turn out. When you’re younger, you don’t know yourself that well. I’ve maybe not learned a lot, but I’ve learned to appreciate things that I should have before.

It’s like with my character, Dan. He’s just got some age and experience on him. I wouldn’t say he’s “woke” because that sounds so New Age. Dan’s just more aware and more accepting of things and kind of celebrates different types of people. That’s like me now.

I wish I could find something that fascinates me as much as acting. I’d like to learn to draw, maybe pick up a guitar like I used to. I’d still like to learn French, German and piano. I used to play harmonica and sing a little bit. But after I got sober, I realized that I actually have no talent.