Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr was an American comedian and TV star who was best known for starring in the widely-popular sitcom about a working class family, "Roseanne" (ABC, 1988-1997, 2018). Barr was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and had a difficult childhood. She dropped out of high school when she was 17, and shortly after got into a horrific car crash that left her with a traumatic brain injury. Shortly after the car crash, Barr was admitted to a mental institution. While staying in the institution, Barr gave birth to her first daughter, who she then gave up for adoption (years later she would reunite with her daughter). Less than a year after being admitted into the institution, Barr was released. When she was 18, Barr told her family she was going to visit a friend in Colorado, but hopped on a bus and never returned home. Once in Colorado, Barr began performing comedy at clubs throughout the city. She eventually developed her style, which was loud, foul-mouthed, and biting-and audiences absolutely loved it! Before long, Barr found her way to Los Angeles, where she began appearing at the famed Comedy Store on L.A.'s iconic Sunset Strip. Then in August of 1985 she nabbed the break of her career when she was asked to perform a set on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (NBC, 1954- ). Barr's performance was a huge success, and immediately catapulted her into the limelight. Before long she was getting offers to appear on sitcoms and perform her standup act on TV. As Barr's career began to rise, she was approached by Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, who were notable for executive producing "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-1992), about starring in a new sitcom they were developing about a working class family in Illinois. Barr liked the script and agreed. When "Roseanne" debuted premiered in the fall of 1988, it was watched by over 21 million people, making it one of the biggest hits of the season. Over the next 9 seasons, "Roseanne" became one of the highest rated shows on television, while making Roseanne Barr a bona fide TV star in the process. During "Roseanne's" final two seasons, Barr had earned $40 million, making her the second highest paid woman on TV, after Oprah Winfrey. After "Roseanne" went off the air in 1997, Barr continued appearing in films and on TV. Some of her post-"Roseanne" film roles included "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997), "Cecil B. Demented" (2000), and "Home on the Range" (2004). In 2005, Barr once again began performing standup comedy at clubs all throughout the country. Having always had an interest in politics, in 2012 Barr ran for president under the left-wing Peace and Freedom Party. She would go on to earn 70,000 votes as a third party candidate during the 2012 general election. Roseanne's presidential candidacy would be the basis for her 2015 documentary "Roseanne Runs for President!" (2015). In 2014 Roseanne returned to her comic roots by serving as a judge on the revived "Last Comic Standing" (NBC, 2003-2010, 2014-2015). She would also serve as a judge on the 9th season of the series in 2015. Then in 2018, after 20 years since she last played the part of Roseann Conner, Barr and the original cast returned to TV with a rebooted "Roseanne" on ABC. The revived series premiered on the network in March of that year with high ratings, making it one of the most watch series on network TV. However, ABC cancelled "Roseanne" in May of that year, after Barr sent out a controversial tweet that was widely condemned as racist. Despite the cancellation of "Roseanne," the rest of the cast began appearing in a spin-off series called "The Conners" (ABC, 2018- ) in the fall of 2018. Roseanne, however, had no affiliation with the spin-off series.