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.

Better, Stronger, Faster

The scene dissolves to Goodman on a break, getting his sore back pounded in an old-fashioned, Jack LaLanne–era sort of way by his groomer.

“I’ve got bionic parts now,” Goodman says between thwacks. He’s talking about his set of titanium knees. “You live through enough and survive, you have to make peace with your flaws and your broken pieces.”

Goodman doesn’t see the point in bragging about his significant weight loss. “It was basically just portion control, and ‘I don’t need it,’” he says. “I was just shoving everything into my mouth. But I don’t want to be an example to anybody when the weight comes thundering back on — when I start eating Crisco out of the can with a spoon and a side of confectioner's sugar.”