Arnold Schwarzenegger and comedian Tom Arnold make up one of the greatest hero-sidekick pairings of all time as counterterrorist spies Harry Tasker and Albert “Gib” Gibson in the 1994 action comedy classic True Lies. Now, almost 30 years later, Schwarzenegger and Arnold are teaming up again in Schwarzenegger’s first-ever TV series FUBAR, created by Nick Santora. “Everywhere I go, people ask me when I’m going to do another big action comedy like True Lies,” Schwarzenegger said about the show. “Well, here it is.”

Tom Arnold has been waiting for the right opportunity to share the screen with his real-life buddy for a long time, and FUBAR seemed like the perfect fit. “Sometimes [Schwarzenegger] will do Expendables 14 or something and I’ll be like, ‘When will they have sidekicks for all the Expendables like me?” he jokes to Tudum. “I read [about FUBAR] in the paper, and I was like, ‘Dude, how do you do that without me?’”

In FUBAR, debuting on Netflix on May 25, Schwarzenegger plays Luke Brunner, an undercover CIA operative on the verge of retirement whose plans change when he’s called up for one last undercover mission: saving another operative that just so happens to be his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro). This time, Tom Arnold won’t be portraying Schwarzenegger’s sidekick — his character Luke already has a team of them, played by Fresh Face Milan Carter, comedian Fortune Feimster (Sweet & Salty, Good Fortune) and You Season 3 alum Travis Van Winkle. Instead the comedian reunites with Schwarzenegger in the role of an old friend, Norm, who does the Brunner family a big favor: extracting bone marrow from Luke’s grandkid’s birth father, Kyle (Schitt’s Creek star Dustin Milligan).

Arnold spoke to Tudum about playing Norm in FUBAR and his decades-long friendship with Schwarzenegger.

How did you get approached for this role?

[Nick Santora] pitched it as, “It’s a quirky character, you get to kick a little ass, but you’re also — you torture people.” No matter what it was, I going to do it because I wanted to go up and see Arnold, and see what they were up to up there. It was great fun. To see Arnold having so much fun doing this makes me very, very happy.

What was it about FUBAR that excited you immediately? Aside from working with Schwarzenegger again, of course.

It’s a father-daughter movie, and especially once you’re a father, you’re like, “Oh yeah, that gets me.” And it’s got humor, too. That was the thing about True Lies — it had a lot of interpersonal relationship humor. It’s also cool to see a hero have flaws — once the superhero has a flaw, you’re like, “Oh yeah, you’re one of us.”

Even though you didn’t share scenes with Schwarzenegger, did you have any fun times on set?

Well, as soon as we got there, we went for a bicycle ride. We rode out into traffic in downtown Toronto. I was behind him because I always ride behind him… that way when he goes down, I’ll know where the pothole is. That had happened once. Also, he likes to be out in front because he is the Terminator. He wasn’t afraid to get right out into the intersection. People were freaking out because they’re like, “Oh my god, it’s the Terminator. Oh my god, it’s him.” And he’s like, “Thank you very much, everybody.”

That must have happened wherever you went.

If you’ve ever been shopping at a mall with him — he loves going to malls and trying on shoes more than any man I’ve ever seen in my life — people start coming around. And he does this thing where he says, “Thank you very much” to everyone and keeps moving, so he becomes like a robot, which I’m pretty sure he is anyway.

Is True Lies still the movie people approach you most about?

People love that movie. And even Jamie Lee Curtis winning an Oscar this year — that’s kind of neat. We did this great movie together and look at her win the Oscar, so maybe there’s a chance that I’m still in this thing. The thing with True Lies is, it was a huge hit. I didn’t know how big of a deal it was when I was doing it, or I would’ve been nervous. And everybody stayed friends. I remember thinking, “I bet this is how all movies are.” It turns out that’s how no movies are. Nobody 30 years later is still buddies.

What’s one of your favorite Schwarzenegger memories from True Lies?

Before we started filming, [director] James Cameron said, “I want you and Arnold to get super tight. Would it be OK if I sent him over to your house to train with you in your unused home gym?” And I said, “Oh yeah, I think it would be OK if the greatest bodybuilder [who] ever lived came to my house and worked out with me.”

The next morning, Arnold showed up at 6 a.m. And I opened the front door and I’m like, “Oh shit, Arnold, I forgot you were coming.” Everybody I’d ever met was in this room. “Guys, it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. Everybody, he’s working out with me.” And we did train one day. And after that evening, Cameron calls and asks, “What time do you want him there tomorrow?” I go, “I don’t.” And he’s like, “Why?” I go, “Well, I can now say I worked out with Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

During filming, our trailers were next to each other, and he had a giant semitruck trailer retrofitted [as] a gym. Every night we’d get off, he’d go left to his giant gym, and I'd go right to Ben & Jerry's ice cream. 

Then the movie started going over time and over budget. It was supposed to take three months — I think it took seven. It started getting to him. One night I’m like, “OK, have a good workout.” And he goes, “No, no, give me two pints of rum raisin.” And from that point on for a while, we started eating ice cream together and he was a little depressed. He gained some weight. And I felt, “Oh, now we have a real friendship.” Because there was no way he was pulling me up to his level, but just the fact I could pull him down to my level — that’s a friendship, man. That’s a human friendship.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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