Robert John Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, to Barbara (Baier) and Walter Odenkirk, who worked in printing. His ancestry includes German and Irish. He grew up in Naperville, IL, the second of seven children. He worked as a DJ for WIDB, his college radio station at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Three credits shy of graduation, he moved to Chicago. He began work there in local improv workshops. He also did open-mic stand-up comedy for several years. In Chicago, he became friends with Robert Smigel, who would later help him become a writer for Saturday Night Live (1975).In 1987, Bob was hired as a writer for Saturday Night Live (1975) and in 1989 he went on to win an Emmy for his writing work. He worked on the show from season 13 to 20 (1987-1995). However, he had trouble getting his work on the air, so he began work as a writer for Get a Life (1990) starring Chris Elliott. The show was quickly canceled, but he was soon hired as writer for The Dennis Miller Show (1992). On that show he made his acting debut and was noticed by Ben Stiller, who later hired him as a writer and actor for The Ben Stiller Show (1992). The show only lasted for 13 episodes, but Bob won another Emmy for his writing.After The Ben Stiller Show (1992) was canceled, Bob made recurring appearances (1993-1998) on The Larry Sanders Show (1992) as Stevie Grant, Larry’s hyperactive agent. He also wrote for Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1993) during 1993-94. During this time Bob hooked up with fellow The Ben Stiller Show (1992) writer David Cross, also a stand-up comedian. They started doing sketch-comedy shows together in Los Angeles. In 1995, they got their own show on HBO (Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995)). The show lasted for four seasons and 30 episodes.After Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995) ended, Bob wrote Run Ronnie Run (2002) and directed three feature films (Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003), Let’s Go to Prison (2006) and The Brothers Solomon (2007)), and appeared in . After 1998, he also made many guest appearances on TV shows like Just Shoot Me! (1997), 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Ed (2000), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), Less Than Perfect (2002), Arrested Development (2003), How I Met Your Mother (2005) and Weeds (2005). From 2009 to 2013, he appeared on 43 episodes of Breaking Bad (2008) as Saul Goodman, a shyster lawyer, and, starting in 2015, he reprised that role as the main character in Better Call Saul (2015).
Bob Odenkirk
Movies
Corporate
From Pat Bishop, Matt Ingebretson, and Jake Weisman comes a dark, edgy look at life as a Junior-Executive-in-Training at your average, soulless multi-national corporation. Matt and Jake (Ingebretson and Weisman) are at the mercy of a tyrannical CEO Christian DeVille (Lance Reddick) and his top lieutenants, sycophants John and Kate…
Fun Facts
Older brother of Bill Odenkirk.
Father of Nate Odenkirk (with Naomi Odenkirk).
He wrote Chris Farley's "Matt Foley
Quotes
David and I got cut out [of] the editing process on that. We were able to affect it more than not. We sent in our notes, we were able to see cuts. We weren't allowed to see dailies and we weren't allowed to sit in the editing room and just work.
When I go to M Bar there's all kinds of agents there, looking for people who doing good stuff.
It's nice that the independent scene is taken seriously, and has been.
I think that cable TV is a great venue to do something interesting.
I can't really say how big the cult is. But I'm proud of it. I'm proud that it has a life.
The alternative scene, for a couple years now, has been taken seriously and that's a cool thing. I don't think it's exploded or anything, but I think it's pretty cool that it still exists, it's still affecting people.
It is so weird to be on this side of that, because when you're starting out, and it seems like you're starting out for so long, you look up to the people who have made their mark. And you sort of want to be that.
I'm about to go to Sundance for my 3rd year, and Sundance has never felt like a real independent festival at all. On the other hand, it might to start feel that way.
I think independent movies are actually very challenging right now, because it was this huge scene and it was great for a few years. Then, it was totally co-opted by the studios. Now, it's become very corporate, the independent scene.
I pretty much live about 10 minutes from my office. I have two kids, and I have about 8 projects that I'm working on, so I basically just get up and go to work, and go home every night and play with my kids, so I don't really know.
I actually think there's a potential, a crazy potential, that network TV could become something valuable and worthwhile, just because of fear on the part of the networks.
I'm surprised at the opportunity I got. I really am. I'll read a Better Call Saul script and think, Are they really trusting me with this? Are they seriously gonna let me have this moment that they've written for me with the wonderful filmmakers and sensitivity of this project? Breaking Bad came out of nowhere. I thought I'd show up and they'd say, Go home. You're not the Bob Odenkirk we're thinking of. It's the other one, from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The music that still moves me the most? There's no question it's the Replacements. Nothing comes close. I play it still them all the time - most of all I play Stink! and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take out the Trash. And I play it for my kids! My daughter especially likes it. Their music has a lot of anger in it. A pissed-off, teenage, youthful anger. There is something vampiric about listening and reaching back into your past for a jolt in the present. Also, there's a lot of pain. It's interesting that Bob [Stinson] was the one with the most aggrieved background, but Paul [Westerberg] wrote those lyrics that are really heartbreaking. Go is a great song, from Stink, that is full of alienation and sadness that I still find easy to access and probably always will.
Chris Farley was crack funny. Somebody explained to me how freebase felt, and that's what it was like to watch him. It was pure, unarguable, unquestionable. It wasn't about cleverness. There was a lot of pain in Chris, but it was an expression of joy and humanity, and it was powerful. The best thing I ever got to be around in comedy.
I did have a gut feeling, years ago, that in a dramatic context I could be really impactful. As much as comedy is my first love, it's natural for me to get earnest and honest. I have comedy friends who congenitally can't do that, but I can. In fact, if there's a part of comedy I love, it's that it's a transmission device for honesty - sometimes brutal honesty.