Published: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

Updated: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

Tom Arnold plays McCurdys

Sarasota became something of a household name to comedian Tom Arnold when he was growing up in Iowa.

“The way I grew up, if you did really well in life you ended up in Sarasota, Fla.,” the actor, writer and comedian said during a phone interview from his Los Angeles home earlier this week. “That’s the truth.”

Arnold plans to “retire” just for this weekend, bringing an assortment of comedy with him for four performances at

McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre and Humor Institute.

His success as a comic blossomed during the 1980s, leading him to write for the hit show “Roseanne” and later appear on the blockbuster film “True Lies” alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though busy with other film projects and writing a few new TV pilots for next season, Arnold decided to tap into his stand-up comic skills again with hopes of booking a few shows here and there.

“Unfortunately, they booked a whole year’s worth,” he joked. “So here I am.”

Is this going to be your first time in Sarasota?

Arnold: Ever? No. I’ve been there before. A lot of people from where I’m from — Ottumwa, Iowa — they move down there when they retire. Or when they get sick of the winters.

How has it been being back on the road?

I like it, the shows have been great. Doing the shows is fun. There’s people in every town that I grew up with. It’s crazy. So I’m catching up with a lot of old friends and family. I’m also covering a lot of old territory I covered in the ’80s that I didn’t do so well in before I had my mental health together — before I got sober. It seemed fun. It seemed like a great life, but I kind of like to do it right. So I will be there (in Sarasota). It’s two weeks away from my wedding. . . . I’m getting married in Maui on the 28th. So this is my last real road gig before then.

Is there going to be a big theme to the wedding?

I hope not. I hope it’s just everlasting love. I hope that’s the theme. We’re getting married at a friend’s house — a place on the beach that I love. . . . So I’m catching up on stuff, like tomorrow I’m getting my teeth capped in the back and I’m having a little neck thing on Wednesday right before I fly down there. Just a minor neck thing. I had a motorcycle wreck. They just missed one little spot there, I guess. But I’ll be fine. You have hospitals there, right? When I had my last motorcycle wreck I had to fly to Florida. But it was to Plantation, Fla., for a big redneck wedding that I was performing.

I wanted to ask you about that — about hosting “My Big Redneck Wedding” on CMT.

You know there’s a lot of rednecks in Florida, not just Iowa. Twenty miles outside of L.A. there’s a lot of rednecks. There’s rednecks everywhere. When they asked me about doing the show, one — the people that made it made this show called “Made” that was on MTV that I really liked ... I loved the way they shot that. And two — I started watching some of the stuff they shot and the people really loved each other, though they didn’t have much and it really was inspiring to me.