You might recognize comedian and actor Tom Arnold for his past stand-up specials That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It! (2011) and Past & Present Imperfectly (2018), his roles in blockbuster movies like True Lies (1994) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), or, most notably, his four-year marriage to now-infamous comedienne Roseanne Barr.
Or — and this is equally likely, especially if you’re a college student like me — you don’t.
The divide between older and younger patrons of comedy has never been more apparent to me than on Friday, February 6th at the Englert Theatre, while I watched Tom Arnold’s newest stand-up performance on his 50-city North American “My Crazy X-Wife Tour”. While most of the (primarily older) audience seemed to enjoy themselves during Arnold’s set, I came away from the performance with a different feeling entirely: not quite dislike, but not enjoyment either.
Before I get into my mixed feelings about Arnold’s comedy, I’d be remiss not to mention the positives of the night. Arnold has clearly been in the industry a very long time, and it shows in the quickness and wit of his comedic storytelling. His set is delightfully unpolished, delivered in a slightly rushed conversational style that keeps the jokes coming at a frenetic pace. And even when he’s not focused strictly on jokes, the stories he tells of his time in Hollywood are entertaining enough to keep the audience engaged.
In fact, one of the strongest points of the night was the instant rapport that Arnold had with his audience. He did, of course, attend the University of Iowa, which earned him automatic points. (He was also able to pull former Hawkeye women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder up on stage to introduce him, which, of course, won our immediate respect.) It seemed like many of the attendees even knew Arnold personally, with a few shouting out to him during the show; he even pointed out his nephew sitting in the front. Arnold was not afraid to engage with the audience members who talked to him during the show, which greatly relaxed the room and made the stand-up special feel more like a family gathering.
In a way, though, I think the “family gathering” aspect of Arnold’s performance also speaks to what I found unpleasant about the show. Arnold opened his set with a joke about going to the Playboy mansion with Donald Trump, which made some of the older members of the audience laugh, but, in the wake of recent news, left me a bit shocked. He then proceeded to “wish [Trump] the best” on his current presidency. The show never got that political again, but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. That remark colored how I interpreted the rest of Arnold’s jokes, especially those where he describes his encounters with famous men Hugh Grant and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were both later exposed in sex scandals of their own. Listening to Arnold perform felt like having a conversation with my male Republican relatives: you want to like them because they feel like family, but you can’t ignore the opinions you know they hold, even if they’re not the center of the story.
I can honestly say that I don’t think Tom Arnold meant to make anyone in the audience feel uncomfortable that night. Most of his jokes were woven into lighthearted, silly celebrity stories, many of which did make me chuckle. But during the show, I found myself returning again to that moment at the beginning.
I may not recognize Arnold from his impressive list of achievements, but I did sincerely want to like him. I wanted to be part of the Iowa family he was speaking to that night.
And I guess, in a way, I was. But not in a way I fully enjoyed.