(Roseanne Barr provides the voice of Maggie the cow in Disney’s animated feature “Home on the Range.” Film critic Dan Dunn met Barr in Century City for what turned out to be a pretty animated conversation with the notoriously outspoken star.) QUESTION: Where does giving voice to an animated cow rank among your list of credits?
ROSEANNE BARR: I like to say that being a voice in a Disney movie is the most awesome aspect of this experience. It’s Disney, and it’ll be around forever, and it’s for kids. So I guess I’ve done it all now.
Q: After some success doing stand-up in Denver, you came to L.A.and within a week secured a gig on “The Tonight Show.” A year later, you had your own hit sitcom. What was it like becoming an overnight sensation?
RB: It was a mindblower. It totally caught me off guard, and it never stopped. Buckle up, get on the rollercoaster and here we are — still going.
Q: Back when you were performing in small clubs in the Rockies, did you ever imagine you’d become such a huge star?
RB: Yeah, I saw it. It was all laid out in my mind’s eye, you know, what could happen. And I saw what it was going to take to get there, and asked for lots of advice from the right people, and I did it.
Q: You’re doing stand-up again. Do you find the comedy comes from a much different place than it did back in the early days?
RB: It totally does. I’m old. I’m a grandma now, so the perspective has changed. But I still have that burning desire to say something, and to say it my way.
Q: Do you see that same passion in many of today’s young comedians?
RB: A lot of them are clearly doing whatever it is they think they need to do to get a sitcom. But there a few of them out there who really are standing up and saying some good stuff. It makes you feel like, man, it’s the ’60s all over again. I think that’s a product of having someone like (President) Bush in office. It unites people to go against him.
Q: So I take it you’re not a George Bush supporter?
RB: Man, I hope he loses. It’s like they get off on rubbing people’s faces in the fact that there are no jobs and that they’re going to do whatever they want to do.
Q: How are audiences responding to the anti-Bush material in your set?
RB: They’re too mellow. I mean, I’m talking about the end of the world. I hear (Bush) talking and it seems like the end of the world is coming. But a lot of people, it’s like they’re hearing something totally different. I think everyone’s on drugs. We’re just a drugged-up society. The war on drugs is a joke — it’s being waged against poor people on street drugs by rich people on prescription drugs.
Q: Is there a solution? Can we sober up? RB: I dunno, and I don’t know if people care. It’s like, hey, the world’s a big freakin’ accident waiting to happen, and I’m cutting back on carbs. So there’s one positive if the world blows up — the end of the diet industry.
Q: Seriously, though, do you have hope for the future?
RB: I do, I guess. I’m an idiot. We can fix anything if we put our minds to it. And what the hell does any of this have to do with the cartoon I’m in? Are you going to ask me anything about the movie?
Q: Well, you play a cow. Do you eat meat?
RB: I love animals … because they’re so tasty.
Q: When you see Maggie up there on the screen, do you recognize any of your mannerisms?
RB: Oh, yeah. They filmed us, then they used that as a reference when they drew the characters. So she curls her lip and sort of sneers like I do when I deliver a punchline. She cocks her head like I do, too. I mean, they really got it down.
Q: Who were your biggest supporters? RB: Louie Anderson played a big role. So did Sam Kinison. Mitzi Shore, mostly, at the Comedy Store. And, of course, Rodney Dangerfield helped all of us. I saw a rerun of this old Dangerfield young comedians special that we were all on. It was me, Kinison, Seinfeld and, I think, Tim Allen. It was really something back then — Rodney just did so much for us.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2004. Read the original PDF.