Beans to Billions: Lessons in Sales, Business, Motivation and Success - True stories of people who have turned humble beginnings into extraordinary success

Tom Arnold Uncensored Part 1 - A story about How it all began and How it's going today

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 Tom Arnold Interview - From Hollywood Highs to Family Life Lows | Beans to Billion Podcast

Join John Kaufman on the Beans to Billion podcast as he dives deep into the wild and inspiring life of Tom Arnold. From his humble beginnings in small-town Iowa to his meteoric rise in Hollywood, working alongside comedy legends and navigating the chaos of fame, Tom's story is one of resilience, humor, and heart. In this episode, Tom opens up about his career, the infamous Jenny Craig story, single parenthood, and much more.

 Introduction to Tom Arnold's Journey
 Early Life in Iowa
 Single Parenthood and Family Life
 Transition to Hollywood
 Meeting Roseanne Barr
 Navigating Fame and Media
 True Lies and Career Resurgence
 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

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00:00 Introduction to Tom Arnold's Journey
01:12 Early Life in Iowa
02:20 Single Parenthood and Family Life
14:00 Transition to Hollywood
22:13 Meeting Roseanne Barr
26:30 Navigating Fame and Media
29:00 True Lies and Career Resurgence
34:19 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

was explaining what happened. And I'm like What kind of a sick bitch takes the ice cube trays out of the freezer? And Jim Cameron's like, say that in this next scene

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Welcome back to the Beans to Billion podcast. I'm John Kaufman, and today I've got someone who's lived a life that's as outrageous as it is inspiring. He's an actor, comedian, writer, producer, and somebody who's seen the top, the bottom, and everything in between. Tom Arnold. Now, Tom's story isn't just about Hollywood glitz and glamour. It's about grit, resilience, and knowing how to grab attention, sometimes in the wildest ways. From growing up in small town Iowa, climbing to fame alongside his former wife, Roseanne Barr, working alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, and navigating fame and tabloids, his life has been a rollercoaster of epic proportions. We're going to talk about Tom's journey from being raised by a single dad and working in the kill room of a meatpacking plant, to working with some of Hollywood's biggest names. Plus, we'll dive into the infamous Jenny Craig story. Where he and Roseanne ended up gaining weight instead of losing it and lost millions. We'll talk about things like his journey into single parenthood and how it's changed him for the better. Good morning. You came from Iowa? A small town with a big family? Can you tell me a little bit about, you know, what it was like growing up? Like, kind of what your start really looked like?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Well, it's a while. It was a farm town. It's a big businesses of meatpacking plant there. Formal meatpacking plant. And, uh, everybody, you know, work there. You know, it's their goal. You go to high school, then hopefully get a job there. Okay, guys. They had benefits. It was a good job. It was a good job in our town. I wanted to go to college, so I had to work there for three years after college on the kill floor, um, to save enough money to go to the University of Iowa, because I thought if I get to the University of Iowa, they have a stage there and man, if I get on that stage and, uh, you know, I want to be a standup comedian and I get out of that stage, I'll be on TV in six weeks. And everybody in my hometown will love me, which turns out not to be true. Right. Yeah, You know, I was highly motivated, crazy, and I knew what I wanted to do. I knew it since my dad. I'm a single dad. My kids are 11, which is why I got no sleep last night, but in the old days, I got no sleep because I was having fun.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

yeah.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

on high alert, they got friends over. No, you never know. You might have to drive a friend home at one in the morning. If I get to ask each other, um, but. You know, I, uh, I'd always dreamed of being, and it's a weird thing to dream, but you know where I'm from, but our dad was a single dad when he was 22. Uh, I was four, my sister was three and my brother was one. That was a big job. And, uh, we used to tease him that he was boring because he worked at the plant and came home. And, and now that I'm a single dad, I'm like, Oh, how the hell did he do that? That's crazy. Um,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

I know the feeling I was a single dad for like a long time since my kids were you know in diapers And it's a it's a rough thing at times, but it's super rewarding, right?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Very rewarding. I mean, if I think of the sacrifices I've made, I've made no sacrifices. I sacrificed being lonely, being unhappy, being, not being unconditionally loved. I had to sacrifice that, you know, and, uh, I find it, even the minutia of it, very, uh, interesting and entertaining and learning who these kids are and what, you know, protecting them, but also trying to figure out who they really are and try to facilitate that. So. You know, they're, they're growing up. Uh, I do miss the baby time. I'm going to tell you, you have right here, right here, everything.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah, I get that. Mine are teenagers now I've got a one that's 16 and one that's 18 about to be 19 both girls and they're They're a handful of times.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

know, people say, uh, with my daughter, who's nine and my best friend, my son used to be my best friend, but then he got his Fortnite buddies and I'll walk, I'll walk into my own house. I'll go, Hey son. He's like, dad, please, please. I don't want my friends to hear you. Okay. All right. What the hell is that? And then I'll come in the kitchen later. Cause his friends, his people. Picture on the internet of me and Tupac or something. One of the things we did It'll be like daddy. We say hi to my friends. I'm like, hell no about saying hi to your friends You guys got me all the time one way or the other i'm cool all the time or i'm not talking to you but my daughter is uh, she Loves to hang out with me. She loves to go with the CVS when you're my age you go to cvs and had uh, just fun and we have a really interesting relationship She's But you know, when she asks me a question, I think about the answer because she, that question she's asking me, whatever it is she's thought about that question. It doesn't necessarily mean what you think of it. This is something that she's thought. And uh, so, you know, that's, it's great. And uh, I haven't had a date in seven years, but if I do, I have four ex wives, so And you can have three X files and still kind of go, yeah, that's crazy. But

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

at some point you're learning you're learning, huh?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

if you have four, you go, holy hell. It's me. It's me a hundred percent. So, so I have paced myself, but I will say, uh, if I ever do date again, that that woman will be the beneficiary of my daughter and I's relationship, because I am much more patient than I ever thought I could be. I do things that, uh, on paper seem like I will not like this. Whatever this game is, Squishmallows makes no sense, but I play and then I learned to love

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah, absolutely

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

That's key things. Um,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

you spend your time being like your life trying to be manly right and then you have a little girl and next thing You know, you're wearing a weird wig or you know playing fairy princesses on the floor. It's it's insane.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

but I also find that our son, my son is a big dude. He's this much taller than everybody else. You see his football pictures I post of it. And, uh, you know, um, he, he, he's still a baby. He's big. He's a big guy. It But my daughter is. You know, I'm so great when I had my son, I thought I'd been given everything. That's above and beyond anything I'd ever prayed for anything. There he is, you know, comes out and, uh, they did a C section on his mother. He comes out and I'm right there. I look at him and it's unconditional love at that point. And I realized I could be a crap dad. This kid was still up.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I might as well be a really good dad. And I knew early on because of this marriage, I would say that I was going to be, I was like, I better get my shit together because I'm going to be raising these kids or so I could just the vibe in the house. So, you know, that's, you know, every day I get up and I go, what, I got to work on my sobriety, my mental health, whatever, you know, and then I, I, start the day. And so there's some days around here. That I am not happy. There are days when. You know, I get a little overloaded or I'm going to court with their mom again, or the 15th, 16th time.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

but I, I, before I leave my bedroom, I look in the mirror and I put a smile on my face. And sometimes, later in the day, I look in the mirror and I've still got the smile on my face.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

You can't, I can't, my kids have seen the bad behavior by adults, by one adult, I just, you know, I just don't do that. I guess,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

don't you don't want to be the one that they look back and go. Oh my god Why was he in my life?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I just, probably if you told people ten years ago, you know, Tom Arnold is going to be the stable one, the stable where people may not have believed in him. I am. And so it's important that I protect him from the, the worst things, uh uh, and uh, so far so good. When my son's like, daddy, why don't you have a Lambo? I go, I could have a Lambo, but I got you guys seven years ago of court and it was very expensive. It's ongoing.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah, you are the Lambo kid, right?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah, that that's right. That's right. But my daughter's like. Daddy, how old will you be when I go to college? I'm like, uh, 75. She's like, I'm not going to college. I go, that's my girl. That is my girl. So this teenage thing, friends are worried. She'll hate you when she's a teenager. And I'm like, I will be senile when she's a teenager. I won't even notice her.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

It won't be my problem, right?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah, yeah, so it's it's good. We take it a day at a time around here, and I will say this having a It's not a high conflict divorce. We've been divorced for a long time. I've never called the police on her Yeah, it's a lot

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

the same with all your exes I've heard

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

not the same with all your exes.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

no, and she's a Files all these things in court and, uh, uh, you know, uh, it is a, what is called post separation of legal abuse is where somebody is the legal system to just keep attacking, like that's their thing. And I, the, they eventually you're in court and they get a court psychologist to check people out. What is the deal? Uh, you know, I thought it might be drugs, uh, or, uh, you know, bipolar. I'm not for me with that. Whatever. And the lady came back and said, well, it's good news. She's not a psychopath who wants to murder you. I'm like, that is good news.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

That's helpful.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

he's a sociopath who wants other people to murder you. Okay. Narcissistic sociopath. So narcissistic sociopath doesn't seem like two words that would go along. They'd go together. And. When, when I originally heard the term narcissist, I thought, what, maybe that's me because I get up on stage in front of people perform and movies. And, you know, on live TV, geez, you gotta be kind of a narcissist for that. But it's a, it's a real, uh, diagnosis. It's different than that.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

the great thing I said to the judge, well, what could I do about this? And, and, and she's like, nothing. I go, Oh, well, what will she do about it? She was like, she won't do anything. But there are, you could, there are signs, there are, um, you know, you can tell when something's going to happen. You just get a feeling like, okay, here's what she's going to do. She's going to do this, call the police, file a restraining order. Then we go to court, settle it. And, uh, it is sort of like that. It's very, uh, we're in the middle of a trial now, finally. Usually she files my stuff. I go into court, judge dismisses it all every time, but we're still paid to ask because you got to. Repair. Someone said, you know, one time she filed 145 attempts of court against each one is five days of jail. And there were things like two minutes late for FaceTime, whatever. And, you know, it takes meticulous. Well, I have to rigorously defend those 145 days, which takes a lot of money. And then even though it gets thrown out of court. just in case because it's involving my Children. And, um, you know, so that's kind of what, you know, my mom growing up just left like she was out. She was 16, but I was 18 when I got married and she's like, Yeah, I'm not maternal. I'm gonna I'm out, which was which was hard, but also great that she did that. You know, so they are most grateful for the thing I'm maddest about is she took off. The thing I'm most grateful for is that she took off.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

had to be solid, you know,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

and like how do you think like that affected your drive to like kind of You Go out, be the stand up guy, kind of be, you know, somebody who sought, you know, the fame and the fortune and all that kind of stuff that you did. You know,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

well, you know, it was kind of crazy, but the only time we ever heard our dad really laugh really loud was when there was a Bob Hope special on Bob Hope was comedian back in the day. And he had these specials. He'd go to Vietnam and entertain the troops or Korea or Germany and take pretty women with him. And sort of tell double entendre jokes. And that's what my dad loved. We'd hear him downstairs. Just busted a gut. And I've ever said, whatever it is that Bob Hope does. That's what I'm going to do.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mm hmm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

One of the first things I did, I moved here in 1988 to January to write the Roseanne show. But, uh, one of the first things I did, we got a writer strike right away. So first thing I did was a Bob Hope special and, uh, It was a Robin Hood sketch. We were in tights, but whatever. Uh, Bob Hope, uh, called my dad and signed a whole bunch of stuff for him. It was just great. And, uh, and the real magic is my dad in the same living room on the same TV that he used to watch Bob Hope when I was a kid is now watching his son stand next to Bob Hope.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

yeah,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

And so that's kind of a miraculous thing. So that, when that happened, I'm like, okay, that's it. No more, no more goals.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mm hmm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Okay, I can go back. But, um, you know, you gotta, you gotta do what you gotta do.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

yeah. And, like, how did you adjust, like, going from, you know, small town guy working in a meatpacking plant, Um, I heard you worked at McDonald's, you know,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I did. I really, I really liked McDonald's. And I did that at college in Iowa City. Uh, the University of Iowa is a great school, and it's a great school, they had a great writer's workshop, which I, uh, sat, sat in the back of that room many times. Great people. You know, Kurt Bodega was up there, and David Milch, and just a, just a bunch of really creative guys. And I found out later, they were talking about why they go to Iowa. Uh, you know, they, they live wherever they live, East Coast, whatever. Why would they go to Iowa for the semester or the summer? And they said, it's the women. It's the women. Because, uh, Iowa women are very forward. Like, there's, you see, you'd think they wouldn't be. But they, but they are.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

you grew up on a farm. You see all the cows and the chickens and everything doing their business. They're like, Hey, we know what this is about, right?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah. you say, hey, I think I'd like to do that with you. And you're like, okay, tell me what to do. So it was very forward, even our sports, you know, uh, uh, the, the women's basketball, uh, state tournament drew way more people than the men's basketball state tournament. And you can finally see that in fruition with Caitlin Clark and some of these other, uh, women who, you know, it was always a big thing. It wasn't like people think, well, I was sort of that culture where there's the man and the woman and got her dress and she cooked all the food and doing all this stuff and that's what she does. So. But from my experience, it was not like that.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah. So, so how do you transition out of that into like Hollywood? Like, how was that mentally for you? Like, was that a hard transition for you? Or was it like super easy, barely inconvenient, so to speak?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I think I always believed it was going to happen. I just believe that, but after on my third year, being back in plan, you know, I'm looking around, there's people happy there. How are they freaking happy here? And I realized they have families, they have families and this is their job. And it was a good job for our town, but it wasn't like their life. Like they appreciate it. They're happy. I'm like, yeah. Well, maybe, maybe if I don't get out of here and I just figure out a way to be happy, get married or

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mhm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

my grandpa worked for 50 years and it's a pork processing plant, you know, we're Jewish, but that's what we do. we do whatever. And then I started thinking, maybe you can't get to Hollywood from Ohio. Maybe it's, you know, physiologically possible. Maybe there's no way to do that. And we were at our local disco, the Jailhouse. Disco Disco just got to a Tumble, Iowa, and this it was a fun place until my parents and their friends started going down there and line dancing and then it was over for us. That was it. Uh, so I walk out there outside. Uh, it closes time and I see Andy Kaufman standing on the street there. Andy Kaufman is a great

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mhm, yeah, one of the best ever, grew up watching him,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah, he was on a taxi at the time and I went up to him and said, What do you, how'd you, how'd you get here? He said, well, 20 miles down the road there's a, in Fairfield, Uh, there's Maharishi International University and I, I've been there studying Transcendental Meditation. And I came down to your town because there's a women's wrestling event. Yeah. at the Coliseum, and I've been wrestling women. That's part of my act now. So I went up there, he paid the women to stay late, wrestle with him, to train with him. And then he took everybody in the audience on school buses to Happy Joe's. Happy Joe's Pizza is a very good pizza, but he loaded everybody up. And I remember thinking, I want to do that. I want to be so successful that I can take everybody to the office to Happy Joe's Pizza. That seems like. That's the whole run and the fact he got to where I was proved that I could get where he was,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Before we dive back in, I'm going to let the listeners know about something real quick. If you're listening today and would like to learn how to set goals, overcome objections, and learn how to become a better salesperson, Entrepreneur or just want a fantastic read that will change your perspective and hard work and success Pick up a copy of my book. Stop selling start believing It's the ultimate guide to building meaningful connections handling objections and closing deals like never before It's packed with actionable insights designed to help you go from struggling to thriving And right now you can grab a copy at stop selling start believing dot com On Amazon or anywhere books are sold. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your sales game to the next level.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

That encouraged me and then I ended up have making enough money to go to Iowa and ended up up there and You know it things didn't happen as fast as I would have wanted but I also was like in for whatever happened I was in for a Working for free, uh, for, you know, sleeping on couch. I was in for whatever. I just loved every part of what I did. Every part of being a comedian. And after,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

a passion for it then, yeah,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

yeah, well, at Minneapolis since the time had five comedy clubs. So I moved from, uh, what really happened is these real comedians, Minneapolis were coming down. I would open for them.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mhm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

All my buddies be there. We, we drink, uh, Uh, uh, when Everclear, uh, hot switches, powdered Gatorade and Everclear mixed, scrabbled up, a pretty smoked drink. We drink that. My friends would laugh and laugh when I was up there. And I get on stage and we all leave, 50 of us, to finish partying out, out in the street. And the comedy club owner from Minneapolis said, Hey, next time, if you could get your buddies to stay for the real show.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mhm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

We'll give you a job at a comedy club. I'm like, God. So we did, they stayed. I got on a bus, I had a trash bag with clothes in it and a hundred bucks, took a bus up to Minneapolis, went right to the comedy club

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

mhm,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I knock on the door and say, Hey, I don't have a car or driver's license, various reasons. So I need to live very close to here. Uh, and he's like, Whoa. What do you mean? Did you move here? I go, yeah, I moved here. Cause You offer me a job because yeah, that job is one weekend for 15. I'm like, oh I quit school. I got to pay it. So I walked,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

the hand just a little bit there, huh?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I walked to the nearest bar, uh, Wibb's pub. It was a great bar up there and met a waitress who was looking for a roommate and they were looking to hire somebody there to be a bouncer or whatever. And so I just, uh, started living there and started. You know, doing the clubs and the open mics.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

So how hard was it for you like when you started going like to actually get that first paid gig, right? I mean, that's got to be like the dream, not just to get up and do it for free, even though that's what you love. But like, at some point, you know, you got to get paid for this, right? Like how hard was that? Like the objections and the pushback you had to overcome?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Well, you know, there's several things. This is a 1983, 1988. That's why I lived in Minneapolis. I worked at first Avenue. It's a club where when I got there, they're filming Purple Rain. And, uh, Prince is out there a lot, a lot of it on music people. I mean, it was a scene and, uh, you had extra ways. You could MC stuff and. Get paid a little bit here, a little bit there. Um, you know, starting to figure out ways to get paid, to do things, to do shows, to do a little writing for commercials. And I still worked at a Devani's sandwich shop. I still did that. And, but I just sensed that one of these days I'll be making 50, 000 a year. That was my whole goal. And that seemed like so much money. Um, but but I became a real writer. Uh, When in 1983, when I was 23, Roseanne Barr, who was 30, uh, Linda Denver, very funny comedian. The guy that booked the club, the Minneapolis said, Hey, I've met a woman in Denver. She's very funny. I want you guys to work together. I think you guys would be the ball weekend. And, uh, she came in and she was amazing. And, and, uh, we got along very well. In fact, the MC. This woman named Liz Winstead, who's still on TV. She started the daily show. That's one of her things,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Okay. Got it.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

she was the MC. And I, we said, I said, Hey, can we borrow your car for a little bit? And we don't have a car. She said, okay. And then we're gone for the weekend. They're gone out partying. And, uh, it was great fun. And, uh, you know, she had a family back in Los Angeles. She had kids, which I thought was cool. And we, we get together a couple of months ago on the road. And, uh, I started, she, she asked me if I would write jokes for her, for her character. And I knew her character very well, so I started writing jokes. And she would do these jokes on Johnny Carson when she went on there. I'd watch it, very satisfying. And then she had a 87, she had an HBO special and asked me if I would play her husband. And I said, sure, I'll play, that'll be fun. And, uh, and then the show, the Roseanne show started. And she said, you have to write it, you know my voice more than anyone. So. I, I was a standup comedian. Now I'm a writer, like legit writer. Okay, I'll do that. That's the job available. I'll do it. It was a much more be, be better paying job than what I was doing. Standup.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Probably more than the 50,000 year you had a goal in, right. so,

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

50 a week. Yeah. And, and that moved up. And at first, you know, I was, uh, the thing I knew was her character. The thing I knew was, uh, I didn't know about how the ins and out of show business and uh, but I knew it was her show and. What she wanted was going to happen. And there was some resistance within the writer's room. And, uh, I was very blunt. I go, I don't know how to handle all this, but we're going to do what she wants. But what we'll do is we'll, she'll say what she wants. We'll make it better than that. That's what this is. No, not going to be a power thing between the old executive producer and her.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah. Mm-hmm

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

you know, it lets the people go. And then it brought in a bunch of comics that I know from all the United States, very people, Norm McDonald, Drake, say there a whole bunch of comics that I knew were funny and different. And, and I just thought about right, the, the, half hour script for the sitcom script for Beautiful Existence.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah. And that was like literally the biggest show on TV back then. Like every, we all watched it. I mean, it was appointment tv.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Well, uh, the second season of the Roseanne show, the, the writers are like, dude, if we were a couple, then I'd, I'd moved out there with my fiancee from Minneapolis and she was going through a divorce. So I moved out there and then that didn't work out. And then Roseanne came up and said, Hey, listen, nobody likes either one of us. We should get married. I'm like, yeah, that's a good idea. So we're a couple. This is a tabloid. They said you should appear on the episode. A lot of people will watch that. And, uh, I did. I was very nervous acting because now I'm an actor, you know, end up writer. And, uh, she helped me with that. Gave me a one great tip, which is anytime you walk into a room, walk in balls first. That's a room. So walk in. That was a, that was a good tip for me to hear.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Basically just go in and own it. Right. Like takeover. Mm-hmm

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

48 million people watched that episode. Now, 48 million people don't watch, uh, Maybe the Superbowl, but if you get four people watching your show now, you got to hit, so it was a different time. Uh, it was a lot of fun. It, you know, got to work, got to hire all these great writers, got to work it with great actors working, you know, I did it six years, uh, very grateful for all that stuff.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

One thing that always fascinates me about kind of that period of your life is like, you know, you could not turn on a TV. You couldn't open up a paper. You couldn't walk to the grocery store, pass a tabloid stands, uh, 365 days a year. Your name, your face and Roseanne's name and face was in front of you. Like you guys just owned the media cycle back then, like just massive amounts of attention. Yeah. Was that intentional or was that just kind of a by product of being kind of crazy at the time

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

in the eighties, the first time we were at the national choir, and we're like, Oh my God, we're in the, it's so great. And so we started playing along with them. I'd give my, we were having issues on the show, uh, one of the guys, I wanted him to quit, writers. And so I gave that story to them and we thought, oh, we're controlling this. We really are in charge of this narrative. And that's, that ends quickly because they, then they'll go at you. Their way of keeping you is going at you.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

And so, you know, things happen. My, uh, I'd written some letters to Roseanne that are the stack of letters and. They're in my suitcase, my briefcase. And they disappeared from my office and suddenly they printed in the star tabloid. And so we got a private eye down there to find out how that happened and how the, you know, I probably shouldn't have brought them to work, but they're one of my files. And it turned out my assistant, who was just this great woman, had stolen them because, uh, she didn't have enough money to feed her horse or something. And, uh, we, we got to court, then we sued, uh, them, the Inquirer, the Star, and we won this big lawsuit, which, that you never win with those guys, because first, and I won enough to get a Bentley Turbo, and then the best thing we won was they couldn't print any stories about us for two and a half years.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Oh, wow.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

Yeah, unless we said, okay, print this story. So, games a little recreative. Get on some other stuff. And, um, you know, but it was exciting time. And, and,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

then we broke up in, uh, April 1994 and I lost my job that day. Of course, you know, it was like Beyonce and my job same day. Uh, uh, we were married, but same thing. Uh, and, uh, but, uh, Jim Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger said, oh, fuck those people, you know, there is there, people were saying, I have no talent. I wrote a co test. I'll be back in Iowa in two weeks.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah. I always kind of wonder, like, how do you kind of deal with that? Because like, there was this perception back then, right? That, you know, even though you were a writer, you'd been with her from the start, that you just kind of like showed up and, you know, were only somebody because of her, which I mean, your career after that has clearly borne that, that that was not true.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

For people, it's easy for people to make those assumptions and judgments. And I've probably done that before, too. You can't believe two talented people would be together. There's always one, and then there's sort of the hanger on. And, and people are saying, he'll be back in Iowa in two weeks. And I'm like, yeah, that's probably true. I probably will be back in Iowa in two weeks. And I'll have great stories for my grandkids. Because I worked on one of the best shows on television for

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I worked with all those great people like go through that and Arnold, uh, Jim Cameron, fuck those people, man. When True Lies comes out in two months, it'll change everything. And, and it really did. It really did. I wanted to believe, but it actually did. And we were filming that movie the last year of my marriage and times were not good.

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Mm hmm.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

really enjoyed filming that movie throughout the country, working with those guys, um, seven

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

Yeah, that was like one of the best movies like in that era, too I mean that was kind of peak Arnold to write done, you know

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

And it holds up. And I'll tell you though, when they, uh, uh, first of all, uh, I didn't think I was going to get the movie. There's no way I was going to get that movie. I knew real actors were auditioning for the part I got. And my agent called, he said, uh, Hey, Jim Cameron wants to meet you for the movie True Lies. I'm like, well, that's bullshit. You've obviously set up a mercy meeting with him. You and the rest of the Yehoos at William Morris, who think Sam and I are leaving William Morris. You call him up, uh, please meet with this asshole, Jim Cameron. We do a lot of business together. You don't have to cast him, of course, but take a meeting. So I wasn't going to even go because I had a little bit of self esteem. Then I thought, I'd like to meet Jim Cameron. So I go

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

have you got to lose at that point? Right? Yeah.

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

his office. He's great. We chit chat a little bit. And after a while, he's like, okay, do the audition scene. And I'm like, I gotta be honest, I did not even read the audition scene. He's like, what? I go, I, because if I tried, when I didn't get it, it would hurt more. But if I don't try and don't get it, you know, it's not so bad. And, uh, he's like, oh, he goes, here, it's three pages. Read it to me one time. And so I take these pages and I read this scene to him one time. And he's like, huh, that's good. Hey, get out here. I didn't know Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the loft upstairs. And, uh, all of a sudden Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger, holy shit. He's coming downstairs, looking at it. And Jim Cameron said, he cast me when I said I could take it. You know, how you size up a man? He's like, I'm kind of low. He's not that much bigger than me. And, uh, the R. O. K. We did it one time. It was magic. It really was. The chemistry was, um, and Jim said,

john_3_01-01-2025_121059:

I think that my favorite, my favorite line from that whole movie is when you're telling him, you know, or when he mentions like he, she took the silverware and everything in the kitchen sink, and, you know, you were like, yeah, it happens. You know?

tom-arnold_2_01-01-2025_091059:

I used to give trades. That is, uh, that is, uh, yeah, that's a real deal. Um, I came into work and at that time I was living in a house and Rosanne would have somebody come into my house to fuck with me. And it's sort of how women do. They're so much smarter, so much devious. I think of the macro ideas like that. I will burn your house down. They think, I'm going to send somebody in there and take all the batteries out of all the remotes of the house. When he gets to work, he's going to be like doing this and going, what the fuck? This is weird, crazy. And Arnold and I started doing this healthy shake thing where we had whole vegetables, whole fruit and we had to grind them. And, uh, with ice, I had to make three big ones, one for the way to work, one for lunch work, and one for later. And so, the ice cube tray, uh, the ice cube maker could not keep up with that. So I got 30 ice cube trays. So I go down in the morning, open up the freezer, and start making the shit. And, and the ice cube trays are gone. You gotta be shitting me. That's what she So I, I came in, make out with Kim and Arnold, we're in there. I go, uh, I was explaining what happened. And I'm like What kind of a sick bitch takes the ice cube trays out of the freezer? And Jim Cameron's like, say that in this next scene. and and that's what I did.

Same exact thing happened to me with wife number two, remember? I had no idea nothing was going on, right? I come home one day, and the house is completely empty. And I mean completely empty. She even took the ice cube trays out of the freezer. What kind of a sick bitch takes the ice cube trays out of the freezer?

Mixcast 4-3:

Like what you're hearing so far, there's more coming. Tom's going to finish the story about true lies. There's a whole bunch of new stuff coming out that you've probably never heard before. There's Stop, rewind. If you're enjoying what you hear so far, stick around, hit like and subscribe. There's more coming in part two in the next week or so. We're going to go over things like the Roseanne roast, single parenting. What Tom's doing now, what his new challenges are, and where he's found happiness. Check back, there's more funny stories and deep hitting stuff that really is going to blow your mind. Like, subscribe, and come on back. Have a good one.