Judd Apatow had quite the experience working with Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold back in the day.
Apatow, 57, recalled being a part of the three-part 1991 HBO special Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth in his new book, Comedy Nerd. That gig led to Apatow writing jokes for both Arnold and Barr.
“I was there during the period when she got in trouble for grabbing her crotch and singing the National Anthem. At one point, I decided to ask for a raise,” Apatow recalled. “I think I made the request through my manager, and later that night Tom and Roseanne both called me and cursed me out on the phone for asking for more money. It was brutal.”
He added, “I explained that for what [Barr] was paid for one show she could pay me for a year, but they weren’t buying it. An hour later they called back and in a very mellow way just said yes.”
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However, that wasn’t the “craziest” thing he experienced with the former couple. While shooting at Apatow’s grandmother’s house, Barr and Arnold got into a fight.
“Roseanne said, ‘Tom, would you ever want me to get plastic surgery?’ Tom said with a smile, ‘No, of course not. I married you the way you are, so clearly I don’t care about how you look,’” Apatow recalled. “Roseanne got instantly enraged and told me and the director Pete Segal to ‘get out of the room!’”
Apatow said he and Segal could hear “fighting of some sort” before entering the room again.
“I walk back in and they are both sweaty and huffing and puffing,” he claimed. “Tom has three long scratches across his forehead like in the Bruce Lee movie Game of Death.”
Barr asked Segal if he thought Arnold “was joking” with his question.
“Pete says, ‘Yes, definitely.’” Apatow wrote. “Roseanne starts screaming, ‘You just want to get the f***ing shot!’”
Barr threatened to leave, but Arnold allegedly “grabs her keys, runs outside and tosses them in a thick set of bushes.” So they continued fighting.
“They both go back in the room where we hear yelling and people banging off the walls. Then it gets quiet. Then, too quiet,” Apatow recalled. “Somehow we all came to the conclusion they started having sex. A little while later they both came out of the room happy as can be and Roseanne shot her cameo.”
The comedians were married from 1990 to 1994. Arnold, 66, recently chatted with Us Weekly exclusively while promoting his My Crazy X-Wife tour, and confirmed that Barr was “not even close” to being his craziest ex-wife.
“People say ‘My Crazy X-Wife, oh I know which one that is. It’s Roseanne,’” he told Us, explaining what fans say before they see his show. “And I’m like, ‘she’s not even close to my craziest ex-wife because we didn’t have kids together.’ The worst thing she did was go on Saturday Night Live and say I have a three-inch penis, which is confidential information. You take that to the grave.”
Comedy Nerd is out now.