Who's Afraid Of Tom Arnold?

On his new show, Roseanne Barrs ex-husband is hunting for evidence to take down Trump. Inside a Hollywoodoutcasts manic quest

- Brian Hiatt

When Tom Arnold opens the big wooden door of his house in Beverly Hills on a Tuesday in late spring, he’s wearing a blue T-shirt with a Superman “S” logo on it. On the floor behind him is a pink, toddler-size Minnie Mouse car, property of his two-yearold daughter, Quinn. “Hey, buddy,” he says, out of breath from his flight down the stairs, and still sweaty, post-shower, from his morning cardio. He lost 90 pounds five years ago, when his son, Jax, was born, aiming to stick around for the family he’s built with his very patient fourth wife, Ashley. Since then, he’s gained enough back to land at a football-coach burliness — still not bad for a 59-year-old who once blew a $10 million Jenny Craig sponsorship by gaining more weight than he was supposed to lose. (Or maybe it was SlimFast — he tells the story both ways.) ¶ We were supposed to be headed over to a taping of his friend Jim Jefferies’ Comedy Central show around now, but not for the first time in the world of Tom Arnold, something went wrong. “I did a bad tweet,” he says, walking through his kitchen toward his memorabilia-packed man cave of an office. It was, indeed, not good: He used the words “suck racist dick” in connection with black conservative figure Candace Owens. The right-wing press pounced. Arnold apologized, but he’s still too radioactive for Comedy Central. “Which made me laugh,” he says, “because Trump fuckin’ wins again on racism.”

Arnold parks himself at his desk, facing a TV tuned to CNN. Behind him is an Al Hirschfeld caricature of his younger self; on an opposite wall is a self-portrait drawn by Howard Stern, with a note thanking Arnold for being a good guest. In one corner is a framed tie David Letterman gave him when he showed up without one; in another, a cel from The