Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk is a comedian, actor, writer, and director who trained at the Players Workshop of The Second City in Chicago and performed on the Second City Mainstage in 1990 before building a career as one of American alternative comedy's defining figures. Born October 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, and raised in Naperville, he studied at Southern Illinois University Carbondale before relocating to Chicago to pursue comedy. He joined Saturday Night Live as a staff writer in 1987, winning an Emmy Award for writing in 1989. He co-created and starred in Mr. Show with Bob and David, the HBO sketch series he developed with David Cross that ran from 1995 to 1998 and became a landmark of alternative comedy. His screen acting career expanded substantially with his recurring role as corrupt attorney Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad beginning in 2009 and his starring role in the AMC prequel series Better Call Saul from 2015 to 2022, for which he received six Primetime Emmy nominations. He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2022 and published a New York Times bestselling memoir, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, the same year.

Career

Bob Odenkirk was born on October 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, and raised in Naperville, Illinois. He attended Naperville North High School, graduating at age 16. He enrolled briefly at College of DuPage and Marquette University before transferring to Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he studied radio, television, and film and co-hosted a comedy radio show called The Prime Time Special on WIDB. He left SIU three credits short of graduating to move to Chicago, later completing those credits at Columbia College Chicago. He received a B.A. in Communications from SIU in 1984. His primary comedic influence during his formative years was Monty Python's Flying Circus.

In Chicago, Odenkirk trained at the Players Workshop of The Second City, where his key mentor was Del Close. He met collaborator Robert Smigel during this training period. He performed stand-up open mics and improv and sketch shows around Chicago from 1984 through 1987.

In 1987, Odenkirk was hired as a staff writer for Saturday Night Live, where he worked alongside Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien in the writers' room. He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1989 for his SNL work. He departed SNL in 1991.

In the summer of 1990, during a hiatus from SNL, Odenkirk performed on the Second City Mainstage in Chicago, appearing in the revue Flag Smoking Permitted in Lobby Only or Censorama. His castmates included Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Jill Talley, David Pasquesi, Tim O'Malley, and Holly Wortell. During this engagement, he developed the character Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, for Chris Farley, a character that became one of Saturday Night Live's most recognized recurring bits.

In 1992, Odenkirk joined The Ben Stiller Show on Fox as a writer and performer alongside Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, and Janeane Garofalo. He created and starred in the recurring sketch Manson Lassie. The show ran 12 episodes from September 27, 1992, through January 17, 1993, before cancellation. The show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1993, and the production also marked the beginning of Odenkirk's creative partnership with David Cross.

He subsequently wrote for Get a Life, The Dennis Miller Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He also appeared as recurring character Stevie Grant on The Larry Sanders Show (HBO, 1993-1998).

In 1995, Odenkirk co-created Mr. Show with Bob and David with David Cross, which aired on HBO. The series ran four seasons and 30 episodes from November 3, 1995, through December 28, 1998. The core repertory cast included Cross, John Ennis, Tom Kenny, and Jill Talley. Writers and performers who worked on the show included Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Paul F. Tompkins, Karen Kilgariff, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Brian Posehn, Scott Aukerman, and Dino Stamatopoulos. Mr. Show is now regarded as a landmark in American alternative sketch comedy.

Odenkirk also directed three feature films: Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003), Let's Go to Prison (2006), and The Brothers Solomon (2007).

In 2009, Odenkirk joined Breaking Bad (AMC) as corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman. What began as an intended three-episode guest arc in Season 2 expanded into a recurring and then regular role, appearing in 43 episodes through the series finale in 2013. The character's popularity led to the creation of a prequel spin-off series, Better Call Saul (AMC, 2015-2022), in which Odenkirk starred as Jimmy McGill, the character who becomes Saul Goodman. He received six Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Better Call Saul. In July 2021, he suffered a cardiac arrest on the set of Better Call Saul and required CPR and defibrillation before making a full recovery.

His additional film credits include Nebraska (2013), The Post (2017), Incredibles 2 (2018, voice), Little Women (2019), and Nobody (2021), in which he played an action lead role. He published his memoir Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama with Random House in 2022, which appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 18, 2022, and an honorary Doctor of Performing Arts from Southern Illinois University in December 2019.

Historical Context

Odenkirk's trajectory from Del Close's training at the Players Workshop through SNL and Second City, into Mr. Show and then prestige television drama, traces one of the more extended arcs from improv training to screen actor-writer recognition in American comedy. His development of Matt Foley for Chris Farley during his Second City Mainstage engagement in 1990, while on leave from SNL, illustrates how the institutional overlap between Second City and SNL functioned in the early 1990s: writers moving between the two organizations brought character ideas developed in one context to the other.

Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995-1998) occupied a position in the late 1990s landscape of alternative comedy that was distinct from the improv-to-television pipeline that Second City and SNL represented. The show's anti-naturalistic sketch structure, its use of recurring characters and premises across episode arcs, and its cast of non-mainstream comedic voices, many of whom were alumni of the Chicago improv circuit or the Los Angeles alternative comedy scene, distinguished it from the institutional comedy production of the period. Many Mr. Show alumni, including Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, and Paul F. Tompkins, subsequently developed significant careers.

Odenkirk's casting as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad in 2009 placed him in a prestige cable drama at a moment when the genre was asserting its cultural standing. His transition from alternative sketch comedy to drama, facilitated in part by the comedic register Saul Goodman occupies within Breaking Bad's tonal range, and his subsequent starring role in Better Call Saul, demonstrated that performers trained in improv and sketch could sustain drama series leads at the level of Emmy recognition.

Legacy

Odenkirk's contribution to Mr. Show with Bob and David produced a series that is now recognized as foundational to the alternative comedy sensibility that shapes American sketch, podcast, and internet comedy through the generation of performers and writers who worked on or were influenced by the show. Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Paul F. Tompkins, Brian Posehn, Scott Aukerman, and Karen Kilgariff all worked on Mr. Show and subsequently became significant figures in American comedy, demonstrating the generative function the show performed for that generation.

His development of Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker for Chris Farley at Second City in 1990 produced one of the most enduring characters in Saturday Night Live's history. While Farley performed the character on SNL, Odenkirk's authorship of it connects his Second City work to the SNL character canon.

As a screen actor, Odenkirk's six Emmy nominations for Better Call Saul and his associated cultural prominence have contributed to the continued public recognition of The Second City as an institution capable of producing performers who sustain significant work across comedy and drama alike. His memoir Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama (2022) provides a first-person account of his training and career that constitutes a document of the Chicago and New York alternative comedy ecosystems of the 1980s and 1990s.

Early Life and Training

Bob Odenkirk was born on October 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, the second of seven children in a Catholic family of German and Irish descent. His family relocated to Naperville, Illinois, where he attended Naperville North High School, graduating at age 16. His primary comedic influence during his school years was Monty Python's Flying Circus. He enrolled at College of DuPage and Marquette University before settling at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he studied radio, television, and film.

Personal Life

Odenkirk is married to Naomi Odenkirk, a producer and manager, since 1997. They have two children. He does not drink alcohol, a decision he has attributed to the influence of his father's alcoholism. In July 2021, he suffered a cardiac arrest on the set of Better Call Saul in New Mexico, requiring CPR and defibrillation from crew members and emergency responders before making a full recovery.