Who Jackie?
has been retold for 28 years much to the surprise of theRoseannewriter who said it.
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In a2014 episode of his podcastNorm Macdonald Live, Norm Macdonald tells a story.
The other writers in the room provisionally approve of this pitch.
Its a story thats both mythological and just within reach, says former30 Rockwriter Vali Chandrasekaran.
Because it feels like its existed forever, but also, everyone sort of knows someone who was there.
Like all the best stories, no two people tell it exactly alike.
But the story always has the same punch line blaccent optional.
Even when its coming from the mythical David himself.
Frequent turnover added to the chaos.
FormerRoseanneshowrunner Eric Gilliland remembers sending writers off to a room just to brainstorm episode titles.
Someone would ask, Can I take a day off?
Roseanne hired funny friends on the spot, no spec script required, says former writerRitch Shydner.
We were down-to-earth guys, and she was like a regular blue-collar person too.
Part II: Who David?
Its easy enough to verify his identity from there.
(He isnt.)
Although he never found full-on mainstream success, David Tyree had several near-brushes with fame.
He remembers opening for Tyree at the Comedy Store in La Jolla after Tyree suffered a family tragedy.
When somebodys hot, everybody notices, because it seems like theyre the next one to pop.
And it always felt like Tyree was just about to pop, says mononymous comedianDante.
But then he didnt.
Looking back, he sure came close.
The special opens with a sketch in which Tyree and Dangerfield are getting side-by-side massages at Hollywood Health Spa.
They told me you was here, says Mr. T. Hey, man.
Matter of fact, everybody loves you.
Just keep taking care of yourself.
We want you around for a long time.
Youre the best, baby.
Instead, the entire setup preserves in amber Tyrees high status in the comedy world at the time.
I gave it 40 years and it gave me very little.
A couple months later, after another formerRoseannewriter nudged him, Tyree agreed to talk on the phone.
He waited an entire year for the call before giving up hope and heading out on tour.
She finally gave him an interview during the shows seventh season.
Contrary to how the Who Jackie story is often told, Tyree was not entirely without television-writing experience beforeRoseanne.
He says he apprenticed under TV legendNorman Learin the 1970s and sold a couple scripts forWhats Happening!
!around that time.
(They gave me a nice check, Tyree says.)
But these credentials didnt impress the executive interviewing him for theRoseannejob, despite Barrs direct referral.
The show had recently fallen in Nielsen ratings from the No.
4 spot in season six to No.
9 in season seven, and now these two were there to turn the tide ahead of season eight.
Thats the way she put it, Yeager remembers.
Then she would bring in some people, and they would be just as lost as we were.
Other formerRoseannestaffers who came to the show as TV-writing novices remember feeling similarly disadvantaged.
Thats what it was like in that room.
(I dont remember the joke, Tyree says.
I only know it was David because David was a dumbass.)
At the table read, Barr didnt like the joke the team had landed on.
Tyree mentioned hed pitched a good one that had been shot down.
They all hated me after that, he says.
But Tyree is less diplomatic in his appraisal of them.
They had no fucking clue how to write a show, he says.
I might not have known who Jackie was, but these motherfucking showrunners didnt know shit.
When the two returned a short while later, Gilliland asked whether they had any questions.
Tyree apparently had just one: Who Jackie?
It wasnt that remarkable a moment, Yeager says.
Just a guy saying something stupid on his first day of work.
Others remember it differently.Roseannewriters Zuker and Raether insist Tyree had been there at least a few weeks already.
But nobody I spoke with thought it was anywhere close to the two years Macdonald suggested on his podcast.
Another thing the writers are unsure of is exactly what led to the defining moment of the story.
That was another one where our jaws were on the ground.
Tyree doesnt remember pitching the sink idea that day either.
In fact, he doesnt remember pitching anything.
I was totally ignorant of the characters of that show.
Totally, Tyree admits.
I didnt watchCheerseither, andCheerswas No.
I didnt watchanycomedy shows on television that I thought I should have been on.
I just couldnt do it.
I said, I dont wanna watch someone else get my check.
Yeager can at least explainthatrumors origins.
Another heavily disputed piece of the Who Jackie puzzle is what happened right after Tyree asked the notorious question.
Raether says one of the other writers leaned over and asked Tyree, Have you ever seen the show?
sending everyone into hysterics.
FormerRoseannewriter Bob Nickman recalls that everyone laughed and gave [Tyree] shit.
WriterLois Bromfieldalso remembers the room breaking out into laughter, as does Costa.
Everyone laughed, and I said, Im serious, I dont know who the fuck Jackie is.
I was leaving the next night, and I heard twosecurity guardssaying, Who Jackie?
and laughing their asses off.
They would soon be joined by many others.
For whatever reason, in the years to come, Who Jackie spread across town.
It was the pre-social-media equivalent of a viral meme.
And this was before everyone had cell phones and shit.
But that wasnt the first Who Jackie that made it on TV.
It wasnt even the first one on30 Rock Liz Lemon had alreadysaid those wordsduring the previous season.
Years earlier, Jason Lees titular character on mid-aughts hitMy Name Is Earlwould often blurt out Who Jackie.
As time went on, the references started getting more brazen.
At one point in the reboots second episode, Sara Gilberts character Darlene asks Roseanne, Wheres Dad?
Hes in the kitchen, Roseanneresponds.
Hes washing his tail in the sink.
Writers in this town are gonna be talking about this story for years, he says with pride.
Its gonna be like the new Who Jackie.
She has no idea what her father is talking about.
He only gets about two seconds into it, however, before Hannah cuts him off.
I truly dont care, she says.
If anyone is named Jack or Jackie in any way, itll often come up, Zuker says.
Theres no reason to mention his ethnicity in the context of this blunder that he made.
He also played bit parts in little-seen films like 2006sWho Made the Potatoe Salad.
He continued performing stand-up and trying to sell TV pilots until he retired in 2010 at age 62.
Until now, what he thinks of the Who Jackie story has long been a subject of speculation.
Ive heard he wasnt totally psyched about it going viral, says Zuker.
He did not think it was a big deal, says Nickman.
He felt like an idiot, says Bromfield.
In truth, Tyree had no idea the story was going around enough to feel one way or another.
He was heading to his car one day after work when someone yelled at him: Who Jackie?
Perhaps it was one of those security guards Zuker remembers being enamored with the story.
I just looked at him, he recalls.
Because to me, it wasnt a big deal.
I just kept on smiling, going to my car.
I might have even laughed.
I thought it was funny that someone remembered what I said, even though it was out of ignorance.
Thats all were here to do is be funny.
Knowing what he knows now, however, Tyree has one request.
I wish theyd mention my fuckin name, he says of the Who Jackie storytellers.
Theres no such thing as bad publicity.
Everybody whos gotten bad publicity, their career goes up.
