In honor of the great Laurie Metcalf’s 58th birthday this weekend (and, more importantly, the recent viral internet meme “Hipsters Who Dress Like Jackie From Roseanne”), we figured we’d offer up a list of some of her best moments — comedic, dramatic, or both — as the ahead of her time hipster that was Roseanne Conner’s sister Jackie.
Though Metcalf deservedly won three consecutive Emmys for her work on the series, it still somehow feels underrated in retrospect, especially when you watch the below clips. Metcalf’s post-“Roseanne” career has been nowhere near deserving of her talents (mostly guest acting roles on shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Desperate Housewives,” though she has managed two Tony noms recently for “The Other Place” and “November,” respectively). Just try and watch all these clips without laughing out loud, tearing up, and not firmly believing Metcalf’s performance as Jackie was among television’s greatest.
1. Jackie calls her and Roseanne’s aunt to try and let her know that their father has died (“Wait Till Your Father Gets Home,” Season 5, Episode 16… truly one of the best episodes of television ever made):
2. Roseanne finds out that Jackie’s boyfriend Fisher has been hitting her (“Crime and Punishment,” Season 5, Episode 13):
3. Jackie sleeps with Arnie (Tom Arnold) and then decides to become a trucker (“Why Jackie Becomes a Trucker,” Season 4, Episode 3… the whole episode is below but 4:12 and especially 13:15 are the highlights)
4. Jackie smokes some very old pot with Dan and Roseanne and then thinks the bathtub she’s sitting in might be the sink, and that it’s shrinking (“A Stash From The Past,” Season 6, Episode 4):
5. Jackie tells her mom she’s pregnant from a one night stand (even though Roseanne already did), notably one episode after she was in the aforementioned shrinking sink (“Be My Baby” Season 6, Episode 5… the whole episode is below, go to 8:37 for the noted highlight):
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