Bob Odenkirk

American actor, comedian, writer, director and producerTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

Template:Use American English
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* Actor
* comedian
* director
* producer
* writer

**Robert John Odenkirk** (born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for his role as smooth-talking lawyer Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill on the AMC crime drama series *Breaking Bad* and its spin-off *Better Call Saul*, and for the HBO sketch comedy series *Mr. Show with Bob and David*, which he co-created and starred in with fellow comic and friend David Cross.

From the late 1980s to 1990s, Odenkirk worked as a writer for television shows *Saturday Night Live* and *The Ben Stiller Show*, winning two Emmys for his work. He also wrote for *Late Night with Conan O'Brien* and *Get a Life*, and acted in a recurring role as Agent Stevie Grant in *The Larry Sanders Show*. In the early 2000s, Odenkirk discovered the comedy duo Tim & Eric and produced their television series *Tom Goes to the Mayor* and *Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!* He directed three films, *Melvin Goes to Dinner* (2003), *Let's Go to Prison* (2006), and *The Brothers Solomon* (2007). He was also an executive producer of the sketch comedy show *The Birthday Boys*, developing the show with the comedy group after seeing their work at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2015, he and David Cross reunited, along with the rest of the *Mr. Show* cast, for *W/ Bob & David* on Netflix. Odenkirk co-wrote, produced and starred in the Netflix original film *Girlfriend's Day* which was released in 2017.

The success of *Breaking Bad* and *Better Call Saul* led to acting work in high-profile projects, such as *Nebraska*, directed by Alexander Payne; *Fargo*, written and created by Noah Hawley; *The Post*, directed by Steven Spielberg; Disney/Pixar's *Incredibles 2*, written and directed by Brad Bird; and *Little Women*, written and directed by Greta Gerwig.

## Early life

Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, then raised in Naperville. He is one of seven siblings born to Walter Odenkirk, who was employed in the printing business, and Barbara Odenkirk, Catholics of Irish, German, and Dutch descent. His parents divorced in part due to Walter's alcoholism, which influenced Bob's decision to avoid alcohol as much as possible. He would later say that he grew up "hating" Naperville because "it felt like a dead end, like Nowheresville. I couldn't wait to move into a city and be around people who were doing exciting things." Walter Odenkirk died of bone cancer in 1986.

Odenkirk attended Naperville North High School. At 16, he was "tired of high school", and because he had enough credits, he was able to leave high school when he was still a junior. Because he was so young and thought he would be awkward at any college, he decided to attend the local College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. After a year, he went to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then transferred to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, "honing his sketch-writing and performance skills with live shows on both colleges' radio stations." He began his foray into comedy writing as a radio DJ for WIDB, the local non-broadcast college station at SIU. At WIDB he created a late-night (midnight to 4 am) radio comedy show called The Prime Time Special. He worked beside other fledgling stars like Greg Weindorf and Matt Helser. After three years of college, Odenkirk was three credits short of graduating when he decided to try writing and improv in Chicago. He completed the credits while living in Chicago, and received his bachelor's degree from SIU in 1984. First studying with Del Close, Odenkirk attended "The Players Workshop of the Second City" where he met Robert Smigel, and they began a collaboration that would last for years and take Odenkirk to *Saturday Night Live*. He also performed at the Improv Olympic alongside notable comedians Chris Farley and Tim Meadows.

Odenkirk said his strongest comedic influence was *Monty Python's Flying Circus*, primarily due to its combination of cerebral and simple humor. Other influences included radio personality Steve Dahl, *SCTV*, Steve Martin's *Let's Get Small*, Woody Allen, The Credibility Gap, and Bob and Ray. He visited Chicago's Second City Theater at the age of fourteen. His younger brother is comedy writer Bill Odenkirk.

## Career

### Work in television

#### *Saturday Night Live*: 1987–1991

Odenkirk was hired as a writer at *Saturday Night Live* in 1987 and worked there through 1991. Working alongside Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien, he contributed to many sketches they created, but felt uncertain of the efficacy of his own writing at the show.

He acted in several small roles on the show, most visibly during a 1991 parody commercial for Bad Idea Jeans.

During his final year at *SNL*, he worked alongside Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock and Chris Farley, but eventually he decided to leave the show in order to pursue performing. He has credited *SNL* with teaching him many lessons about sketch writing, from senior writers like Jim Downey and Al Franken, as well as his friends Smigel and O'Brien.

When *SNL* took its 1988 summer break, Odenkirk returned to Chicago to perform a stage show with Smigel and O'Brien, titled *Happy Happy Good Show*. The following summer he did a one-man show, *Show-Acting Guy*, directed by Tom Gianas. During his final summer hiatus, he wrote and acted in the Second City Mainstage show, *Flag Burning Permitted in Lobby Only*. In that particular show, he wrote the character "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker", for Chris Farley, which would later be reprised on *SNL*.

#### Various writing and acting work: 1991–1994

In 1991, Odenkirk was hired to write for the TV show *Get a Life*, which starred *Late Night with David Letterman* alumnus Chris Elliott. He wrote for *The Dennis Miller Show*.

Odenkirk's friendship with Ben Stiller, with whom he briefly shared an office at *SNL*, would lead to his being hired for the cast of *The Ben Stiller Show* in 1992. Working as both a writer and actor on the show, he created and starred in the memorable sketch "Manson Lassie", and helped the show win an Emmy Award for writing. However, the show had already been canceled by the time it won the award. Odenkirk served as a writer on *Late Night with Conan O'Brien* for the show's 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Odenkirk met David Cross at *Ben Stiller*; shortly afterward, the pair began performing live sketch shows, which eventually evolved into *Mr. Show with Bob and David*. In 1993, Odenkirk began a recurring role on *The Larry Sanders Show* as Larry Sanders' agent, Stevie Grant. He would continue the character through 1998. Also in 1993, he had brief acting roles on *Roseanne* and Tom Arnold's *The Jackie Thomas Show*.

#### *Mr. Show*: 1995–1998

*Main article: Mr. Show*
Created by Odenkirk and David Cross, *Mr. Show* ran on HBO for four seasons. The series featured a number of comedians in the early stages of their careers, including Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jack Black, Tom Kenny, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Brian Posehn and Scott Aukerman. While nominated for multiple Emmy awards in writing and generally well liked by critics, it never broke out of a "cult" audience into larger mainstream acceptance due to being a premium cable show. After *Mr. Show*, Bob and David and the writers from the staff wrote the movie *Run, Ronnie, Run*. The film was an extension of a sketch from the first season of the show. However, the studio took production control away from Cross and Odenkirk during the editing stages, and the pair disowned the final product. Template:Citation needed

#### After *Mr. Show*: 1999–2008

 File:BobOdenKirk1SecondFilm.jpg
Odenkirk starred in numerous television shows and some films. He has written and produced many TV pilots, including *The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke* and *David's Situation*, but none have made it to air or been picked up as a series.

Odenkirk also was supervising producer for the series Futurama

In 2004, Odenkirk received an unsolicited package including the work of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Inspired by their unique voice, he connected with them and helped them develop a semi-animated show for Adult Swim called *Tom Goes to the Mayor*. He assisted Tim and Eric with the development of their second series, *Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job*. He had a number of small featuring roles on TV shows, including *Everybody Loves Raymond*, *Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist*, *Seinfeld*, *NewsRadio*, *Just Shoot Me!*, *Joey*, *Curb Your Enthusiasm*, *Arrested Development*, *Entourage*, *Weeds*, and *How I Met Your Mother*.

Odenkirk was in consideration to play Michael Scott in the pilot of *The Office*, a role which ultimately went to Steve Carell. Odenkirk finally guested in the final season of *The Office* as a Philadelphia manager strongly reminiscent of Michael Scott.

#### *Breaking Bad* and other works: 2009–2014

*Main article: Breaking Bad*
In 2009, Odenkirk joined the cast of AMC's *Breaking Bad* as corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman. He appeared as a guest star in three episodes of the second season, and eventually became a series regular for the seasons after and remained on the show until its final season.

In 2011, Odenkirk wrote and developed *Let's Do This!* for Adult Swim, starring as Cal Mackenzie-Goldberg a "two-bit movie mogul and head of Cal-Gold Pictures as he leads a collection of crazy, fame-hungry strivers chasing Hollywood dreams". The pilot can be seen on Adult Swim's website.

Odenkirk executive produced the sketch comedy show *The Birthday Boys* which starred the comedy group of the same name. Odenkirk also appeared in and directed a number of the sketches on the show as well. It premiered on IFC on October 18, 2013. In 2014, Odenkirk played Police Chief Bill Oswalt in FX's miniseries *Fargo*.

In fall of 2014, Odenkirk played Dr. Stork, a podiatrist who specializes in cutting off people's toes, in Adult Swim's anthology series *Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories*.

#### *Better Call Saul*: 2015–present

*Main articles: Better Call Saul and With Bob and David*
Odenkirk currently stars in the title role of *Better Call Saul*, a *Breaking Bad* spinoff. Primarily set in 2002, six years before the character's debut in *Breaking Bad*, the series follows lawyer Saul Goodman's journey from court-appointed defense attorney origins to his eventual status as a successful, though unscrupulous, criminal defense lawyer.

The first season consists of 10, 47 minute-long episodes, with a second and third season of 10 episodes following in early 2016 and 2017 respectively. The fourth season is available on Netflix as of February 9, 2020, and the fifth season premiered on AMC on February 23, 2020.

Odenkirk has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for each of the series four seasons.

#### *With Bob and David*: 2015

It was reported in April 2015 that Odenkirk was teaming with former co-star David Cross to produce a new sketch comedy series based on their previous production, *Mr. Show*, called *W/ Bob and David*. The series was commissioned by Netflix with the first season having been released in November 2015, featuring four, 30 minute-long episodes along with an hour-long behind the scenes special. Odenkirk and Cross both write, star in and produce the show.

Odenkirk has expressed interest in doing more seasons.

#### *Girlfriend's Day*: 2017

Odenkirk co-wrote, produced and starred in *Girlfriend's Day*, a Netflix original film. This film noir comedy about a greeting card writer was directed by Michael Stephenson and influenced by *Chinatown*. It was a movie Odenkirk had wanted to make for 16 years, after *Mr. Show* writer Eric Hoffman sent him the original script and they began developing it.

### Other work in film

Odenkirk's first roles were very minor parts in films such as *Wayne's World 2*, *The Cable Guy*, *Can't Stop Dancing* and *Monkeybone*. In 2003, Odenkirk directed *Melvin Goes to Dinner* and played the role of Keith. The film received positive reviews from critics and won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film and Music Festival. It was later self-released in five cities, then distributed on DVD by Sundance.Template:Citation needed

In 2006, Odenkirk directed *Let's Go to Prison*, which was written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, and starred Will Arnett, Dax Shepard and Chi McBride. The film received a 12% "All Critics" score from the website Rotten Tomatoes and had a total box office gross of a little more than US$4.6 million. The following year Odenkirk directed *The Brothers Solomon*, written by Will Forte and starring Forte, Will Arnett and Kristen Wiig. The film received a 15% "All Critics" score from Rotten Tomatoes and had a total box office gross of approximately $1 million.

After starring in *Breaking Bad*, Odenkirk began to have more prominent roles in critically successful films, such as *Little Women*, *The Post*, *The Disaster Artist*, *The Spectacular Now*, which received the Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, and the Alexander Payne-directed *Nebraska*, which was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

## Personal life

In 1997, Odenkirk married Naomi Yomtov, who was later the executive producer of *W/ Bob and David*. They have two children together.

Discussing costume choices on *Better Call Saul*, Odenkirk stated he has a bit of color blindness, and leaves it to the costume managers to select the right outfits for his roles.

On December 15, 2019, his alma mater SIU announced it had awarded Odenkirk the honorary degree of Doctor of Performing Arts.

## Awards and nominations

*Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Bob Odenkirk*
## References

**Notes**

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hubbard, Brodie F. (February 2004). "Bob Odenkirk Interview". *Modest Proposal: Comedy for Our Target Demographic*. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110714122750/http://mpempire.com/?p=1312. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Overview for Bob Odenkirk". *TCM (Turner Classic Movies)*. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=144048&apid=0. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Parsi, Novid (March 17, 2010). "Bad boy", Time Out Chicago. Retrieved on March 17, 2010.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pfefferman, Naomi (November 15, 2013). "Bob Odenkirk on 'Nebraska' and 'Breaking Bad'". *Jewish Journal*. Tribe Media Corp. http://www.jewishjournal.com/the\_ticket/item/bob\_odenkirk\_on\_nebraska\_and\_breaking\_bad. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
5. ↑ Nealon, Sarah (April 9, 2017). "Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk on his debt to his Irish grandmothers". https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/91275228/better-call-sauls-bob-odenkirk-on-his-debt-to-his-irish-grandmothers. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Bob Odenkirk on Disappearing from High School & Better Call Saul". Jimmy Kimmel Live. 27 February 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74nWYeCrmGk. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
7. ↑ DuPage, College Of (2015-12-10). "Congrats COD alum Bob Odenkirk 4 a Golden Globe nomination 4 best actor in a TV series, drama! #BetterCallSaulpic.twitter.com/FTQN4xUL0W" (in en). https://twitter.com/collegedupage/status/674972313482235904.
8. ↑ "SIU gives honorary degree to actor Bob Odenkirk", Associated Press, *WREX-TV* (Rockford, IL) (December 15, 2019).
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Sacks, Mike (July 2, 2009). "How I Made It in Comedy: Bob Odenkirk". *Chicago Reader*. News + Features. http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bob-odenkirk/Content?oid=1141571. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Bob Odenkirk Interview". *By the way: In conversation with Jeff Garlin. #20 Bob Odenkirk*. October 3, 2013. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140318215634/https://soundcloud.com/jeffgarlin/bob-odenkirk. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
11. ↑ "Bob Odenkirk Laments 'SNL' Stints: "I Was a Dick" to Lorne Michaels". March 3, 2015. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bob-odenkirk-laments-snl-stints-778941. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
12. ↑ Sandberg, Bryn Elise (October 27, 2014). "Bob Odenkirk on 'Better Call Saul': "It's Total Drama"". http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul-744069. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
13. ↑ Template:Cite journal
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Harp, Justin (February 8, 2015). "Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk: Key TV moments from Breaking Bad star". http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s247/better-call-saul/feature/a626253/better-call-sauls-bob-odenkirk-key-tv-moments-from-breaking-bad-star.html. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
15. ↑ Chan, Anna (October 18, 2013). "'Roseanne' guest stars like George Clooney found big stardom". http://www.today.com/popculture/roseanne-guest-stars-george-clooney-found-big-stardom-8C11406530. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
16. ↑ "The Jackie Thomas Show: Credits". http://www.hollywood.com/tv/55482092/the-jackie-thomas-show. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
17. ↑ Oksenhorn, Stewart (March 14, 2013). "Four comics face reality: Could Bob Odenkirk, Norm Macdonald, Phil Hendrie and Joe Rogan have picked a worse time to try to become sitcom stars?". Retrieved on November 16, 2013.
18. ↑ Carter, Bill (May 1, 2013). "One Last Cringe for 'The Office' Finale", *The New York Times*. Retrieved on May 4, 2013.
19. ↑ Adams, Erik. "The Office: “Moving On”". https://tv.avclub.com/the-office-moving-on-1798175836/amp. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
20. ↑ Glazer, Eliot (March 8, 2012). "Watch the First Episode of Bob Odenkirk's New Adult Swim Series, Let's Do This". *Vulture*. New York Magazine. http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/lets-do-this.html. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
21. ↑ Bibel, Sara (August 13, 2013). "IFC's New Sketch Comedy, 'The Birthday Boys' to Premiere Friday, October 18", *Zap2it*. Retrieved on August 13, 2013.
22. ↑ Snierson, Dan (September 25, 2014). "Bob Odenkirk Prepares To Cut Off Gillian Jacobs' Toes on 'Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories'". *Entertainment Weekly*. https://ew.com/article/2014/09/25/bob-odenkirk-gillian-jacobs-tim-erics-bedtime-stories/. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
23. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (June 19, 2014). "'Better Call Saul' Renewed for Second Season by AMC; First Season Pushed Back to 2015". *TV by the Numbers*. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/06/19/amc-releases-first-photo-from-better-call-saul/275154/. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Whitney, Erin (April 2, 2015). "Bob Odenkirk & David Cross Are Reuniting For A Netflix Series". Arianna Huffington. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/bob-odenkirk-david-cross-netflix\_n\_6994374.html.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "How Bob Odenkirk Brought a Comic Sweetness to His New Noir Film 'Girlfriend's Day'". esquire.com. 17 January 2017. http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/q-and-a/a52320/bob-odenkirk-interview-girlfriends-day-trailer/. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
26. ↑ "Let's Go To Prison". http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets\_go\_to\_prison/. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
27. ↑ "Let's Go to Prison". http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=letsgotoprison.htm. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
28. ↑ "The Brothers Solomon". http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brothers\_solomon/. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
29. ↑ "The Brothers Solomon". http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=brotherssolomon.htm. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
30. ↑ "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Feature Film Awards". Sundance.org. January 26, 2013. http://www.sundance.org/festival/release/2013-sundance-film-festival-announces-feature-film-awards. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
31. ↑ "2013 Official Selection". *Cannes*. April 18, 2013. http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/59652.html. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
32. ↑ "Breaking Bob: Bob Odenkirk's Sunday", *Chicago Sun-Times* (September 15, 2013). Retrieved on April 1, 2015.
33. ↑ Fienberg, Daniel (September 3, 2018). "Why Monday's 'Better Call Saul' Opening Made Bob Odenkirk Say "Hooray!"". *The Hollywood Reporter*. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fien-print/better-call-saul-season-4-bob-odenkirk-interview-1139292. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
34. ↑ "SIU gives honorary degree to actor Bob Odenkirk". 2020-12-15. https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-bob-odenkirk-siu-degree-20191215-ecyp2gngjfalvduikldaucs35i-story.html.
35. ↑ Dan Snierson (July 15, 2019). "Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk to play lawyer on The Simpsons". *Entertainment Weekly*. https://ew.com/tv/2019/07/15/simpsons-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/. Retrieved July 15, 2019.

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