Roseanne finds way back to standup comedy

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Feeling under siege, she retreated to her home and limited her comedy to small clubs where she felt less exposed. And, in a tiny, efficiently designed office and studio she established in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo, Barr concentrated on making music DVDs for children.

She quietly sings a few bars as an example: “It’s not always easy being 5 years old. Sometimes you get sick and tired of doing what you’re told. We can make a difference with every little thing we do. No one likes a bully, so think about every little thing you do.”

Barr moved here to raise her youngest son, 11, and to remove herself from the Hollywood scene she calls a “world of illusion.”

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“I’ve got five kids. I come from working people,” said the Salt Lake City native. “I’ve got to go to work every day, get up, wake my kid, make breakfast, wash my own dishes. I have to live my beliefs every day or I just turn into” a jerk.

She keeps her brood close. On a recent afternoon, a son and son-in-law were at the studio working on “Seven Days at Minimum Wage,” a Web log Barr is hosting with the AFL-CIO and ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) as part of a campaign to boost state pay standards.

Barr credits her public re-emergence to a solid, four-year relationship with musician-writer Johnny Argent (following the end of her third marriage), who jokingly refers to himself as her “current boyfriend.”

Barr also got a morale boost from activist-filmmaker Michael Moore when she joined him in 2004 on a college tour aimed at getting out the vote in the presidential election. Performing in front of thousands of receptive students, she felt a “reignited” passion for political humor.

World events played a part as well.

“After 9/11, I was not going to hide out or let fear stop me. That’s kind of what the (HBO) special is about, don’t let fear stop you,” Barr said.

Now, she said, “doors are starting to open, there are conversations about sitcoms.” The challenge, besides balancing her home life with work, is how to connect meaningfully with audiences the way she once did with “Roseanne.”

“I’m interested in the middle way. I think that’s what this country is about,” Barr said. “What thing could I do now and make it middle? I like taking extremes and making it middle.”

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