John Goodman Reveals How He Recruited Close Pal Bruce Willis to Pull Hilarious Prank on Roseanne Barr: ‘Pretty Cool’

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Updated Tue, November 3, 2026 at 6:54 PM UTC

John Goodman revealed he once convinced Bruce Willis to play a classic prank on Roseanne Barr.

The Digger actor recalled the anecdote from his Roseanne days during a conversation with Josh Horowitz on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.

John Goodman and Bruce Willis Played a Prank on Roseanne Barr

Goodman recalled a time when Willis was starring in Moonlighting (1985-1989), and he visited him on the set of Roseanne (1988-1997), when the two got up to no good.

“Bruce came over to hang out in my dressing room one day, and I surprised Roseanne,” the actor said. “There was a reveal. I was supposed to be in bed, and she comes up and yanks the covers off. So I put Bruce in there. And I think they have it on film. It’s pretty cool.”

John Goodman Was Close Friends With Bruce Willis

The prank didn’t come out of nowhere. The two men were actually already great friends in the ’80s, after they met at New York City’s Cafe Central.

“It was a hangout spot,” Goodman explained. “I got dumped by a girl in ’78 and my evenings were free. And I was making some nice bank in the commercial industry. I really started scoring, so I had some dough for once in my life. It was like the first money I had. So naturally I wasted it.”

He continued, “I met all these great actors that hung out there, and we would just talk about acting. That’s how I got to know Bruce. We’d talk about Three Stooges. Films we liked, performances we liked, actors — and he was hot on the subject. He was in love with acting, and so was I.”

Their friendship endured after Willis made it big. “We just hit it off,” Goodman said. “And when he made it, any time I needed to be in Los Angeles, he put me up, and we had a great group of guys, a lot of fun.”

John Goodman’s Film and TV Career

Goodman starred as Dan Conner on Roseanne between ’89 and ’97, which is still his most recognizable role to date.

He also starred in The Big Lebowski, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Monsters Inc. — and most recently, Digger alongside Tom Cruise.

Bruce Willis’ Career and Life Now

Willis went on to be a big star, thanks to movies such as the Die Hard franchise, The Sixth Sense and Pulp Fiction.

Unfortunately, the actor was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, then with frontotemporal dementia in 2023. His illness means he’s no longer able to act these days.