Bob Odenkirk Biography

Robert John "Bob" Odenkirk (born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known for playing lawyer Saul Goodman on the crime drama series Breaking Bad.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he worked as a writer for such notable shows as Saturday Night Live, Get A Life, The Ben Stiller Show, and The Dennis Miller Show. In the mid-1990s, Odenkirk and David Cross created the Emmy-winning sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David, which ran for four seasons and ultimately became a cult success. In the early 2000s, Odenkirk discovered Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim and produced their television series Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. He has directed three films: 2003's Melvin Goes to Dinner, 2006's Let's Go to Prison, and 2007's The Brothers Solomon. He was also a director on the 2013 sketch comedy film Movie 43.

Early life

Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, and was raised in nearby Naperville. He is one of seven children of Barbara and Walter Odenkirk, who was employed in the printing business. His brother is comedy writer Bill Odenkirk. Odenkirk is of half Irish descent. His parents later divorced. His father's battle with alcoholism would later influence Bob's decision to avoid alcohol almost completely. Odenkirk 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." He also attended Columbia College Chicago.

Odenkirk has said his strongest comedic influence was Monty Python's Flying Circus, primarily due to its combination of cerebral and simple humor. His 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 also visited Chicago's Second City Theater at the age of 14.

He began his foray into comedy writing as a radio DJ for WIDB Carbondale, IL, his local college station at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He worked at WIDB with newsman Greg Weindorf and traffic man Matt "The Agitator" Helser now of Dirty Laundry Podcast fame. He created a radio comedy hour, sometimes an hour and a half, called "The Prime Time Special" with many recurring characters. "It often had us in stitches" said then WIDB Program Director, Victor Lentini. After three years of college, Odenkirk decided to try writing and improv in the Chicago comedy scene. First studying with the famous improv-guru Del Close (who had mentored the likes of Joel Murray and James Belushi). Odenkirk also 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 Bob to Saturday Night Live.

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.

In Odenkirk's final year at SNL, he worked alongside Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley, but his desire to perform caused him to leave the show. Odenkirk has credited SNL with teaching him many lessons about sketch writing, from senior writers like James Downey and Al Franken, as well as his friends Smigel and O'Brien.

When Saturday Night Live 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. Other notable writers on the show included Adam Resnick and Charlie Kaufman. The show was short-lived, and in 1992, Odenkirk briefly wrote for The Dennis Miller Show.

Odenkirk's friendship with Ben Stiller, with whom he briefly shared an office at SNL, would lead to him 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 also 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, Steve Grant. He would sporadically continue the character through 1998. Also in 1993, Odenkirk had brief acting roles on Roseanne and Tom Arnold's The Jackie Thomas Show.

Mr. Show: 1995-1998

See Mr. Show for more information Created by Odenkirk and David Cross, Mr. Show ran on HBO for 4 seasons, over 33 episodes. The show 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. 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 has disowned the final product.

Recent television work: 1999-2012

Since Mr. Show, Bob has acted 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.

In 2004, Bob 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. Bob also assisted Tim and Eric with the development of their second series, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job.

Odenkirk has had a number of small featuring roles on TV shows, including Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me!, Joey, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Entourage, Weeds, and How I Met Your Mother. He also appeared in Everybody Loves Raymond as Scott Preeman. Odenkirk had been selected to be Michael Scott in the pilot of The Office but the producers' original choice, Steve Carell, became available again and was cast instead. Odenkirk finally guested in the final season of The Office as a Philadelphia manager strongly reminiscent of Michael Scott.

In 2009, Odenkirk joined the cast of AMC's Breaking Bad as the corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman. He appeared as a guest star in three episodes of the second season, and has since become a series regular for the seasons after.

In 2011, Odenkirk wrote and developed "Let's Do This!" for Adult Swim. Odenkirk stars as "Cal Mackenzie-Goldberg, 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.

It was announced on September 11, 2013 that AMC has green-lighted a spin-off series for Odenkirk's character Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad. The show will be a one-hour prequel highlighting Saul before he met Walter White.

Work in film

In 2003, Odenkirk directed Melvin Goes to Dinner, which 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. Odenkirk directed Let's Go to Prison in 2006, written by Tom Lennon and Ben Garant of The State and Reno 911 fame. Let's Go To Prison starred Will Arnett of Arrested Development, as well as Dax Shepard and Chi McBride. In 2007, Odenkirk directed The Brothers Solomon, written by Will Forte. The film starred Forte, Will Arnett and Lee Majors. Odenkirk was one of the directors of the 2013 anthology comedy film Movie 43.

Personal life

Odenkirk is married to Naomi Yomtov; the couple have two children, Nathan and Erin.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Wayne's World 2	Concert nerd
1994	Clean Slate	Cop
1996	The Truth About Cats & Dogs	Bookstore man
1996	The Cable Guy	Steven's brother
1996	Waiting for Guffman	Caped man at audition
1997	Hacks	Cellmate
1999	Can't Stop Dancing	Simpson
2000	The Independent	Figure
2001	Dr. Dolittle 2	Dog #2	Voice
2001	Monkeybone	Morgue surgeon
2002	Run Ronnie Run	Terry Twillstein Wolfgang Amadeus Thelonius Von Funkenmeister the XIX Daffy Mal Yinkle Yankle	Writer DVD Exclusive Award for Best Original Song in a DVD Premiere Movie
2003	Melvin Goes to Dinner	Keith	Director Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Picture Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Acting Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival Award for Best Feature Film Independent Film Festival of Boston Audience Award Avignon Film Festival Award for Best Feature "? USA Nominated - DVD Exclusive Award for Best Director Nominated - Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize
2004	My Big Fat Independent Movie	Steve
2005	Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic	Manager
2006	Channel 101	Terry Wulhulherher	Segment: "Your Magic Touched Me: Nights"
2006	Danny Roane: First Time Director	Pete Kesselmen
2006	Relative Strangers	Mitch Clayton
2006	Let's Go to Prison	Duane	Director
2007	The Brothers Solomon		Director
2009	Operation: Endgame	Emperor
2010	Blood Into Wine	French winemaker
2011	Son of Morning	Fred Charles
2011	Take Me Home Tonight	Mike
2012	Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie	Schlaaang Announcer
2012	The Giant Mechanical Man	Mark
2013	Ass Backwards	Pageant Host
2013	Movie 43	P.I.	Director, writer Segment: "Find Our Daughter"
2013	Dealin' with Idiots	Coach Jimbo
2013	The Spectacular Now	Dan
2013	Nebraska	Ross Grant
2013	Hell & Back	The Devil	Voice Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987-1995	Saturday Night Live	Various Roles	Also Writer Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1989) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1990, 1991)
1991-1992	Get a Life		Writer
1992	The Dennis Miller Show		Writer
1992	Ben Stiller Show	Various Roles	Also Writer Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1993)
1993	The Jackie Thomas Show	Elmer	Episode: "Aloha, Io-wahu"
1993	Roseanne	Jim	Episode: "Tooth or Consequences"
1993-1998	The Larry Sanders Show	Steve Grant	11 episodes
1993-1994	Late Night with Conan O'Brien		Writer
1994	Tom	David	Episode: "The Bad Seed"
1995-1998	Mr. Show with Bob and David	Various Roles	Also Co-Creator, Writer, Executive Producer Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics (1998) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1998, 1999)
1996	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Bob	Voice Episode: "Fructose"
1996	Seinfeld	Ben	Episode: "The Abstinence"
1997-1998	NewsRadio	Dr. Smith Bob	Episodes: "The Injury" and "Chock"
1997-2001	Everybody Loves Raymond	Scott Preman	Episodes: "High School" and "Net Worth"
1997-2000	Tenacious D		Co-creator, Writer, Executive Producer
1999	Just Shoot Me!	Barry	Episode: "The Odd Couple: Part 1"
1999	3rd Rock from the Sun	Gary Parkinson	Episode: "The Fifth Solomon"
2000	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Gil	Episode: "Porno Gil"
2001	Ed	Rev. Richie Porter	Episode: "Valentine's Day"
2001	The Andy Dick Show	Chuck Charles	Episode: "Standards and Practices"
2003	Less than Perfect	Colin Hunter	Episode: "The New Guy"
2003	Futurama	Chaz	Voice Episode: "The Why of Fry"
2003	The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke	Carl Laemke	Pilot
2003	Arrested Development	Dr. Phil Gunty	Episode: "Visiting Ours"
2004	Joey	Brian Michael David Scott	Episode: "Joey and the Nemesis"
2004	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Bean Wizard	Voice Episode: "Hypno-Germ"
2004-2006	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Various Voices	Writer, Executive Producer
2005	Crank Yankers	Droopy	Voice Episode: "#3.14"
2006	Freak Show	Half Oldman Half Youngman Senator Tinkerbell	Episodes: "Pilot" and "Elections"
2007-2010	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Various Roles	Also Writer
2007	Derek & Simon	Various Roles	Co-Creator, Writer, Director, Executive Producer
2007	The Sarah Silverman Program	Mister Wadsworth	Episode: "Maid to Border"
2008-2012	How I Met Your Mother	Arthur Hobbs	8 episodes
2008	Weeds	Barry	Episode: "Head Cheese"
2008	Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal	Donnie	TV Movie
2009	Rules of Engagement	Mike	Episode: "Russell's Secret"
2009"2013	Breaking Bad	Saul Goodman	Main Cast Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2012, 2013)
2009	American Dad!	Third Worker TV Host	Voice Episodes: "Weiner of Our Discontent" and "Home Adrone"
2009	The Goode Family	Brian Kennedy	Voice Episode: "Pleatherheads"
2009	Glenn Martin DDS	Vince the Circus Owner	Voice Episode: "The Grossest Show on Earth"
2010	The Life & Times of Tim	The Interventionist Bathroom Attendant	Voice Episodes: "Nagging Blonde/Tim and the Elephant" and "London Calling/Novelist"
2010	Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule		Writer
2010	Entourage	Ken Austin	Episodes: "Sniff Sniff Gang Bang", "Porn Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Lose Yourself"
2010	Team Spitz	Principal Kersey	TV Movie
2011	Let's Do This!	Cal	TV Movie
2011	Jon Benjamin Has a Van	Rev. Rocco Janson	Episode: "Smoking"
2012	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Aaron Sampson	Episode: "Robot Town"
2012	Bob's Burgers	Chase	Voice Episode: "Tina-Rannosaurus Wrecks"
2012	The League	Miles Miller	Episode: "A Krampus Carol"
2012	Comedy Bang Bang	Tommy Shalders, Himself	Episodes: "Seth Rogen Wears A Plaid Shirt & Brown Pants", "Adam Scott Wears A Red Oxford Shirt & Jeans"
2013	The Office	Mark	Episode: "Moving On"
2013	Drunk History	Richard Nixon The Guy	Episodes: "Washington D.C.", "Boston"
2013	The Birthday Boys	Various Roles	Main Cast, Executive Producer
2015	Better Call Saul	Saul Goodman	Main Role