

Bob odenkirk snl writer series#
He was hired in 1987 and stayed on the sketch series until 1991 when he departed to write for Get a Life (an all-time comedy classic) and The Ben Stiller Show (ditto), where he met David Cross. Show with Bob and David, Bob Odenkirk worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live. Odenkirk received special Cinnabon training for Better Call Saul.Before Better Call Saul, before Breaking Bad, even before Mr. He would go on to play the character for a total of 10 seasons. “I didn’t even watch a whole episode, but I didn’t need to, I got it,” Odenkirk told The New York Times in 2022. When a friend became excited that he was being considered for a role, he grabbed the opportunity, watching the show while on the plane to the set in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He had not only not seen it, but had never even heard of it. “Saul Goodman struck us as a guy who could flow very easily through a corporate world and, under the surface, didn't really belong there.”īut Breaking Bad was not yet in the cultural zeitgeist-that would come when it entered rotation on Netflix-and so Odenkirk was totally unaware of the series. Show, Bob was always the guy wearing the suit, yet he was crack-up funny,” Gilligan told WIRED in 2013. Show and sought out Odenkirk for the role of slimy lawyer Saul Goodman for the show’s second season. He had never seen a minute of Breaking Bad when he was cast in it.īreaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan was a huge fan of Mr. Odenkirk later appeared on the final season of the show as a kind of Scott replica in Philadelphia. But Odenkirk, Silverman said, had an edge to his performance that may have made Scott less likable. According to The Office producer Ben Silverman, it came down to Odenkirk and Steve Carell. Show, Odenkirk had an opportunity to make a foray into a comparatively mainstream network sitcom: Odenkirk was up for the role of Michael Scott on the NBC sitcom The Office, and very nearly got it. Show was funny enough that they had to take laughs out.įollowing Mr. But don't you always wish that about your young self?" 3. "I learned a lot about comedy writing and I made some great friends for life at that show," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2021, "but I still wish I'd just handled it better.

(“F**k that sketch,” Odenkirk said.)ĭespite his reservations, Odenkirk still won an Emmy for his SNL efforts and believes it was a big step forward in his career. Odenkirk felt the sketch was too condescending toward Farley’s heavyset build. There were also, Odenkirk said, sketches that he was vehemently against, like Chris Farley’s famous 1990 Chippendales audition opposite Patrick Swayze. His attitude was such that longtime SNL veteran Al Franken once threw a football at Odenkirk's head. During his stint on the show from 1987 to 1991, Odenkirk has said he didn’t particularly enjoy himself owing to the fact he was a “stuck-up young man” who would sometimes criticize sketch ideas in front of SNL head Lorne Michaels.

Odenkirk did not have the time of his life on Saturday Night Live.Īfter making his rounds on the improv and stage comedy circuit, Odenkirk landed at every young comedy writer’s mecca-the offices of Saturday Night Live. In 2019, Bob guest starred on the legendary animated series as a lawyer for "Fat Tony." 2. Bob landed at Chicago’s Second City Bill eventually landed a job as a writer on The Simpsons. Both were interested in comedy, and often put on sketches in the basement. Most of the Odenkirk clan pursued conventional vocations, but Bob and brother Bill were the exceptions. Bob Odenkirk has a brother named Bill who wrote for The Simpsons.īorn in 1962 and raised in Naperville, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, Odenkirk was one of seven siblings. Best known as the conniving and ethically-malleable lawyer Saul Goodman on Saul and its predecessor, Breaking Bad, the 59-year-old actor (who has fully recovered from his heart scare) has enjoyed a decades-long career as a versatile writer and performer.īefore Saul brings down the curtain on its sixth and final season beginning April 18, check out some things you might not know about Odenkirk, including his familial relationship with The Simpsons and his onetime total ignorance of Breaking Bad. After news spread of his cardiac event on the set of Better Call Saul in the summer of 2021, a lot of people realized just how much they appreciate the talents of Bob Odenkirk.
