Review: This Will Be Funny Later

Published 5 February 2022 in the Winnipeg Free Press:

This Will Be Funny Later: A Memoir
By Jenny Pentland
Harper, 352 pages, $35

Reviewed by Mike Stimpson

Leo Tolstoy famously wrote that “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In her frank new memoir, Jenny Pentland explains her family’s unique route to unhappiness.

Roseanne Barr, Pentland’s famous mother, built a successful TV series out of her own family’s unique blend of quirks. A studio-hired writer morphed Pentland and her siblings into sitcom characters named Becky, Darlene and D.J., who shared a working-class home with parents Dan and Roseanne Conner.

The series, titled Roseanne, was an instant hit when it debuted in October 1988 on ABC. It was a financial game-changer for Barr, her husband and their kids, who all upgraded from a small house in Colorado to posh Los Angeles digs.

As Pentland relates decades later, much unhappiness ensued as the matriarch’s new fame brought considerable difficulties into their lives.

For one thing, the Pentlands (Barr is the comedian’s birth surname) became paparazzi targets as soon as the show’s first episode aired. That can be tough on an adult; it’s surely tougher on a preteen like 12-year-old Jenny.

The Pentland kids also suffered from their mother’s absence for long periods, and their father’s absence as he was a writer for the series. Filling in for the parents was a parade of domestic helpers, some of them unfit to work near children. 

One of those helpers, a nanny, gave the young Pentlands this insightful advice: “Only do PCP (angel dust) on weekends. On weekdays, when you are working, you should only smoke pot.” How quaint.

Gossip tabloids and the detectives they hired to dig dirt on Barr found out one of the Pentland youths, Jenny’s older sister, had a burgeoning substance abuse problem. 

And they uncovered a juicy Roseanne secret, that the TV star had surrendered a child for adoption at age 17. That bombshell shook up the Pentland kids’ world.

The tabloids went into a frenzy when, between Roseanne’s first and second seasons, the star began an extramarital affair with one of the show’s writers. Pentland describes that writer, Tom Arnold, as an “abusive addict.”

As a memoir, This Will Be Funny Later is, of course, about its author’s personal journey.

More than 20 years after fame and notoriety wreaked havoc on her family, a therapist bluntly told Pentland she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

The traumas were many. They included deep privacy intrusions by the tabloids, as well as the hostility of people who felt they had her pegged based on her mom’s reputation.

Pentland struggled with overeating, and her weight grew past 250 pounds. Her parents responded by locking the fridge and sending her to “fat camp.” More than one fat camp, actually.

Also, she was repeatedly snatched from home life, at her mom’s behest, by “bounty hunters” who took her to “reform” programs and outdoor survival camps like a prisoner.

At least two of those programs were spinoffs of Synanon, a violent cult. 

Serious stuff, but Pentland writes about it all with humour and snark and the detachment that can come after many years have passed. As the title suggests, much of it wasn’t funny when it happened but can be funny now depending on one’s perspective.

Pentland makes excuses for her mother. Basically, she says Barr was doing the best she could as a mom building a great show business career.

Arnold, her mother’s second husband, she doesn’t let off so easily. Pentland portrays him as an abuser who repeatedly betrayed her and her sister’s trust, and also sold information to tabloids.

There’s a happy ending to this story. Pentland and her husband now live with their five children amid the tropical charm of Hawaii, far from zany Hollywood.

Fans of the sitcom Roseanne will like this honest, amusing memoir. So will anyone looking for insight on the dark side of fame.