This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Critics call her crass and uncouth. For fans, Roseanne Barr by any other name would be just as sweet.
Devotees packed the downstairs reading room of Sam Weller's Bookstore to hear Barr read from her new book Roseannearchy Thursday night. Then they snaked around the shelves afterward for an autograph, partying like it was 1989.
That was the first of two years that Barr's "Roseanne" ruled the roost as the most watched television series in the United States. Back then the self-proclaimed "domestic goddess" and cast reveled in draping taboo topics in humor both frank and funny. Along the way Barr — a Salt Lake City native who graduated from East High School in 1973 — made the world a safer place for outspoken women who just happened to be overweight.
"She was the exaggerated version of what a woman could say and do, so that women everywhere could follow after her," said Victoria Burgess, a 70-year-old writer and psychologist working in Salt Lake City.
And while the Roseanne fan of 2011 may long for the nostalgia of those golden days, last night's event showed no shortage of younger fans.
"I wasn't allowed to watch her show in reruns growing up," said Marsha Lee, a 22-year-old student at the University of Utah studying photography and mass communication. "So I'd watch it in the back room with my hand on the recall button so I could switch channels if I was caught."
Ten-year-old Isabel Hope Sanchez, who owns all the "Roseanne" episodes on DVD, had read all of Barr's new book in anticipation of her upcoming reading. Barr's book is currently ranked No. 2 in sales on amazon.com's list of comedy books.
"I'm a big fan of her humor," said the Kearns fifth-grader. "She's like me and my mom."
Appearing from behind the downstairs bookshelves donning black attire with red gloves, Barr didn't disappoint. Her crowd remained hushed, but only between bouts of laughter, as Barr read a chapter in her book titled "Eat, Pray, Love, Conjure Satan" and "The End," in which a lunch date with Satan turns into an unexpected meeting with ex-husband Tom Arnold.
In a question-and-answer exchange with the crowd, Barr talked about the bullying her gay brother endured while growing up in Salt Lake City. She ended with a call to political action, noting that she plans to run for president in 2012.
"Once the fat ladies and the gays get together, it's all over," she told the crowd. "It's going to be heaven on Earth."
Two women in attendance said they remembered growing up with Barr when she lived in Salt Lake City.
"She had a great big pink Cadillac we used to drive around in," said Marsha Lee, who graduated high school with Barr. "She was amusing even back then."
Daralyn Fisher, who lived in Barr's Salt Lake City neighborhood of Lincoln Street, said Barr led classmates singing songs such as "Scab Sandwich" during school assembly trips.
"I used to get calls at home from National Enquirer back in the day when she was really famous," Fisher said. "I said, 'I don't know anything.' "