- This is Bob Odenkirk
and this is the Wired Auto Complete Interview.
[upbeat music]
Is Bob Odenkirk an actual lawyer?
You know what a TV is, right?
[playful music]
All right. When did Bob Odenkirk start acting?
About the third season of "Better Call Saul."
Most of my career I was a comedy writer
and then I performed as a sketch actor
in many, many sketches 'cause that's what I wrote.
But it was kind of a fundamentally different thing
to take on the role of Saul Goodman,
Jimmy McGill in "Better Call Saul."
Even different than "Breaking Bad."
I think there was a level of acting
of losing yourself in a role, of knowing a character
in "Better Call Saul" than anything I'd ever done.
I think I got more of a handle on it as it went.
Third season was when I remember showing up going,
you know, "Let's go to work. I know what I need to do."
Where's Bob Odenkirk's star?
It's on Vine, north of Hollywood Boulevard,
by about a block and a half.
It's where we shot a "Mr. Show" scene.
You could look up on YouTube.
It's pumpkininny.
And then you'll see me right where my star is.
But I didn't know I'd have a star there one day.
When does Bob Odenkirk appear in "Breaking Bad"?
The final four episodes of the second season,
and I was only in three of them
because I had to do "How I Met Your Mother,"
and because I had to do "How I Met Your mother,"
they had to invent another character
to pull that plot along
and they invented Mike Ehrmantraut.
So thank God I was on "How I Met Your mother"
'cause they could invent Mike
and then me and John Banks could do "Better Call Saul."
Bob Odenkirk, Larry David.
When I was at "Saturday Night Live" as a writer
for three and a half years,
I used to do the improv here in New York,
and Larry David would go up too
and he would just get mad at the audience.
And he would be getting laughs,
but he would get angry at them.
And you'd be like, "Larry, they liked you."
He killed me.
He kills me. He's the funniest guy.
I love "Curb" and I loved being on "Curb."
That was so much fun.
Bob Odenkirk van down by the river.
I grew up in Chicago and I went
and saw "Second City" when I was 14
and it really inspired me to want to be in showbiz
and sort of believe that adult people work in showbiz.
My friend, Tom Gianas was directing the main stage show
at "Second City" and he invited me to join
and be a part of that show.
So I said yes, I helped write the show.
In the course of writing that show,
in the cast was Chris Farley and I went home that night
and I wrote the motivational speaker for Chris Farley,
exactly the way you see it when he does it on "SNL,"
except for the table breaking,
which was added by Robert Smigel.
That's the story of that.
How did Bob Odenkirk get cast in "Breaking Bad"?
A real good question and when I hesitated to ask,
because I didn't want to get kicked out of "Breaking Bad."
I didn't want them to rethink their choice.
And Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould who wrote the character
of Saul Goodman into the first script
that he was in in "Breaking Bad"
were both fans of "Mr. Show"
and both thought I was the guy to play the part.
I don't know why.
Vince Gilligan is the smartest guy in the room,
but he pretends not to be.
He's got this performance that he does.
You could call it the aw shucks guy.
He secretly knows that he's working really, really hard
and he's also smart as shit.
So he listens to people, very, very politely.
He's never ever rude.
And then he does what he's gonna do
and it's the right thing every damn time.
How did Bob Odenkirk and David Cross meet?
It's a famous story.
Janeane Garofalo was the kinda queen pin
of the alternative comedy scene back in '92, '93.
I was sitting in my house in the afternoon eating lunch.
Janeane came to my door, the screen door was shut,
and she's standing outside with her friend, David Cross,
and he has a basketball.
And she knocks on the door and I'm sitting right there
and I'm looking over here,
and she goes, "Hey Bob."
I go, "Hey Janeane."
"This is my friend David Cross from Boston."
"Hey, you guys."
"He likes to play basketball.
I know you do too.
Do you wanna play?"
And I go, "Nah, I'm eating."
And then they left.
It was one of the most embarrassing things in David's life.
How is Bob Odenkirk?
Thank you for asking.
I did have a heart incident.
Also could be called a heart attack.
Feel free.
My widowmaker artery was totally blocked,
so you know, that's not good.
Take my medicine, I got two stents in here,
working out, hopefully gonna get to do another action film
'cause I loved making that first one.
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Okie dokie.
Where is Bob Odenkirk from?
I grew up in Naperville, Illinois.
A really nice town and nice people and all that.
I was very bored with the town when I was 15,
but I sure enjoyed being a kid there
and I don't mind going back.
I like it there. I go visit my sisters who still live there.
Can Bob Odenkirk still win an Emmy?
Fuck, yeah, but I think every five nominations equals a win.
Can Bob Odenkirk sing? No.
No, no I cannot, but I will.
I'm a terrible singer
and I love to make people listen to me sing.
Does Bob Odenkirk play guitar?
Not well.
I can play though. I can hack around on it.
Bob Odenkirk "Lucky Hank."
"Lucky Hank" is a unique show
in that it's kind of 50-50 comedy and drama.
That's not easy to do because if you get too silly,
you stop believing in the stakes of the dramatic part.
So you need to stay connected with the people,
you need to believe in those hungers
and desires and problems.
And yet, there are also some pretty purely funny scenes.
There are no zombies, there are no guns,
there are no drugs, there's no drug cartel,
there's no mafia.
There's people in academia that are professors and students
at a small college that's having financial problems
and they try to make a go of it,
which is to say it's like life.
[Bob whistles]
What did Bob Odenkirk write on "SNL"?
Not much.
I was not a very effective writer on "Saturday Night Live."
I struggled mightily.
I really wanted to help out at the show,
but I hadn't focused enough on "SNL" when I got there
to ask, "What does this show do?
What does it need to do? What does it want to do?"
I just wanted to write stuff that made me laugh.
I was very lucky I was sort of helping out Robert Smigel
who was maybe the best writer they've ever had
at "Saturday Night Live."
But I only helped.
I only wrote a couple jokes in there, maybe gave it a turn.
I actually got better towards the end.
I was able to help Chris Rock
and Farley and Sandler to put some scenes up
and of course I wrote the motivational speaker
for Chris Farley.
So that's the best thing I did for "SNL."
But I wrote that in Chicago for "Second City,"
not for "SNL."
What has Bob Odenkirk directed?
I've directed a couple feature films
and many episodes of TV that you've never seen.
I mean, the movies didn't turn out great,
but in some ways they were successful to me.
"Let's Go to Prison," I really wanted it to feel
like a '70s blaxploitation film
and we had a lot of fun with the camera,
like they did in those movies,
and we wanted it to have a gritty feel
because the material, the subject matter
is kind of rough stuff.
But it just didn't win people over.
"Brothers Solomon," admittedly,
I didn't know what I was doing.
I knew how to direct,
but I just didn't know how to make this movie work.
Will Forte wrote that script
and it's full of heart and it's really sweet and fun
and everybody of course showed up to work
and then I let 'em down.
I wish I could reshoot that and if I could,
I would reshoot it as an indie film
with no built sets and those characters interacting
with real people as much as possible.
It'd be a better idea than what I did.
What episode of "The Office" is Bob Odenkirk in?
It was like season six or seven or something.
The joke was they said Jenna's character,
he goes to interview for a job somewhere else.
It turns out her boss would just be
a duplicate of Michael Scott.
So I was kind of riffing
on Steve Carell's excellent performance when I did that.
What episode of "Seinfeld" is Bob Odenkirk in?
The abstinence one where nobody's having sex
and it's making them smarter
because they're not having sex.
And I play a doctor who's gonna take the MCATs
and he does well 'cause Elaine won't have sex with him.
What did Bob Odenkirk do in "The Incredibles"?
I played the network executive
who wants to give them a show
and sculpt them in certain ways.
I seem to be the bad guy.
Spoiler alert, I'm not.
The character is a genuine character
who loves the family of the Incredibles.
Did Bob Odenkirk audition for Michael Scott?
I did.
I couldn't wait to audition.
I did my best.
I think I did a great job.
Supposedly, it was between me and Carell
and he got it and he did so great.
And he's the best, the best at Michael Scott.
Did Bob Odenkirk write "Better Call Saul"?
I didn't. I didn't write any of it.
Occasionally we'd get a scene that was kinda pure funny
and then I would feel more free to suggest to Peter Gould,
you know, "How about I say this or that?"
But that show was not one
where you goofed around or improvised.
Did Bob Odenkirk write for "The Simpsons"?
I didn't. My brother Bill did for many, many years.
He also has a doctorate in chemistry
from the University of Chicago.
Cool stuff.
Did Bob Odenkirk play football?
I played football on my junior high team.
I was really a little guy and they put me in safety.
I did okay, but everyone was so much bigger than me.
Bob Odenkirk, Robin Williams.
Robin Williams was extremely kind to me and David Cross
when we did "Comic Relief VIII."
Our show, "Mr. Show" with Bob and David
was not a massive hit.
It was the definition of a cult hit.
We were invited to do "Comic Relief VIII"
and nobody knew who we were.
The other two hosts kind of rolled their eyes at us
and Robin came up to us and said, "You guys are great."
And he had seen "Mr. Show." He loved comedy.
It meant a lot to me, you know?
And then I got to be in a movie with him.
I think it was his last film, "Boulevard."
I very much enjoyed performing with him.
That was hard, how that ended.
Bob Odenkirk "Little Women."
An unbelievable gift.
I have two kids of my own.
The book is one of the greatest books of all time.
That cast is a ridiculously talented, wonderful cast.
Greta Gerwig is an amazing director.
We had so much fun.
I had so much fun just being around
the energy of that young cast,
and I absolutely love and will always be thankful
I got to play Father March.
Bob Odenkirk, Larry Sanders.
I got to play Stevie Grant on "The Larry Sanders Show."
It was really my first acting gig.
I know we talked about my first acting.
That probably is really it.
"Larry Sanders" is a great show.
If you've never seen it,
it's a comedy but played very grounded.
It was a wonderful thing to be a part of.
Just all good actors and great to be on that set.
Bob Odenkirk book review.
Thanks for asking.
I should do a book review show 'cause I read a lot,
and lately my favorite books,
one's called "Guilty of Everything" by John Auber Armstrong.
He was in a rock band, The Modernettes,
and he's a great writer.
And I'm reading another of his books right now
called "Wages" and it's fucking hilarious.
I also published a memoir last year,
"Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama"
that tells you a lot of the stories I just told you
in more depth.
Also, I have a book coming out,
a book that I wrote with my kids when they were little,
and it's a book of poems and it's called "Zilot,"
Z-I-L-O-T, "Zilot."
Well, there you go.
That's all there is to know about me.
Thank you for asking.
[bright music]