The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Bob Odenkirk - On Failure, “Better Call Saul” and Fatherhood

Episode Date: April 2, 2022

Actor, director and writer Bob Odenkirk discusses how “Better Call Saul” came to be, his recent heart attack experience and his new memoir “Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Bob O'Connick, welcome to the Daily Show. Hello, Trevor. Um, great to see you. Good to see you. Great to be here. Yeah, good to be in the space. At the roundtable.

Thank you so much for joining me, especially to talk about a book that, I mean, it's like part memoir, but really, it's, I feel like this is a this is this is this is this is a this is a th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, anybody who wants to just work and grind through life. I hope so. That would be great if it had more than one use. No, I feel like that's one of the biggest uses. That's what we will. It'll hold the door open too. Stick it under the door. Oh, please, Bob. It's a really good book about your life. It's about my career or something comedy. It's about showbiz. It's about, it's, it's, it's, it's, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's, it's a th. It's a th. It's a th. It's a th. It's a thi. It's a thi. It's a thi, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a th. It's a th. It's a th. It's a th. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really, it's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really. It's a really thi. It's a really thi. It's a really thi. It's a really thi. It's a really a really thi-a. It's a really thi-a. It's a really thi-a. It's a really thi. It's a really thi. It's a really thi. It's about my career or comedy. It's about showbiz. It's about hanging in there. It's about a lot of dead ends, which I only included about, I'm going to say a third of the dead ends.

Because it's very hard to write about shows and things that no one's ever going to see or can see. I wrote the book for a number of reasons. One, pop culture moves so fast these days. And a lot of the things I did are smaller, cultish things. I'm still very proud of them. Mr. Show, I was part of Get a Life, helping with Tenacious D, and Tim and Eric. But these things are all going to get covered over by lots more gloppy comedy and stuff. All of these feel like the stepping stones thensensensensensens stones thensensensens st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st st thi th th th th th th th th th th th th thi. And thi and thi and thi and a thi and a th th thi and a thi and a thi and a thi and a th th th th th th th th th th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th. And a th. And a th. And a th. And a th. And a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th and a th th th th th th th thi. And a thi. And a thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. all going to get covered over by lots more gloppy comedy and stuff. All of these feel like the stepping stones that got you to the world that we see you and

now, like the person that we see today. I like I fell in love with you, obviously, like many people from breaking bad. You know, that's where I went like, this guy. Yeah, that's where I've never loved a lawyer who's sleazy, who's, you know what I mean? I feel like you changed how we even see lawyers in that way. Lawyers for some reason love this guy. Guys, he's a bad guy. You think, wait, you think he's a bad guy? No, no, I think he's a good guy, but his guy is his choice to be Saul Goodman, to

put on this front, to embrace situational ethics, I think is a bad choice. I don't like it. I don't like people like that. But in the end, in the end, because I know the end now, we finished two weeks ago tomorrow, we finished shooting. This is long-awaited.

In the end, I like where it goes. Okay, okay. So we will see, you will see. When you read this book, I mean the title says, comedy, comedy, comedy, drama. Yeah. I don't know your story. A lot of people don't know your story. They just see a person on TV.

They go like, this person's amazing. Then we see you somewhere else. This person's even more amazing. see the grind, we see like you said, it's failure, failure, failure, dead end, dead end, dead end, dead end, moment of success. No, failure, failure, dead and dead, moment again. And it feels like throughout your life, like Saul Goodman, you've been just trying to get that grip on this world and this career. Are you happy with where your life has gotten to? Is this like a celebration of that now? Very much so. Yeah. th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to, the the the the th. the th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the way, I mean, look, I've had unbelievable success in the last few years with Better Colesol and this film, Action Film Nobody played really well around the world. And of course, that informs it, but I'm very happy with where I'm at. But I also am happy with all the variety of things that I did and have gotten to do,

and I think that that's a great quality to show business. It's the different avenues you can go down over time, because this business loves people reinventing themselves. It does feed on the injured, you know? If you're trailing blood, you will get eaten and spit out. But if you can just regenerate yourself quickly and go, I'm back, the business is like, oh great, he's back. And that's pretty neat. I was really touched by you sharing parts of your story

and how you grew up as one of seven siblings, right? You know, and your dad was struggling with his alcoholism, yeah, yeah, yeah. Walked out on the family, etc., th, and your dad was struggling with his alcoholism. Walked out on the family, et cetera. It feels like that really changed a lot of how you wanted to be a dad. Like in the book, there's a really beautiful part where you go, I don't want to do better call soul because I want to be a better dad, I want to be at home. And then it's your kids who say, no, you gotta to go, to go, to go, to go, to go, to go, to go, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to that, that, that, that, that, to to that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, th.... that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, thi. thi. Did you manage a call to kids? How did this happen? I don't wonder too much about it but that does seem a little magical because my kids

were 13 and 15 at the time and then when they first came to me and said we are going to do we want to do Better Call Sox. It was a joke at first. The first scene I did with Brian Cranson on the set of Breaking Bad in the office As soon as we were done with a take one of the camera crew said can I get a job on the sequel? And everyone laughed and then it became this kind of running joke. There's got to be a sequel. They should do a show about Saul. And then Vince Gilligan came to me more than once. Do you think there's a show in that about Saul? I think there is. But when they said, you know, it's shot in Albuquerque,

I looked at my kids and I thought about our life, and I did think of all my own dad, and he did not prioritize his family at all and I just said I can't do it. I can't leave yet. There's too much work here at the house. And the kids overheard that and I hung up the phone and my son was standing there across the room and he goes so you're not going to do that show huh? And I go no no it's not time and he goes well you're going to disappoint a lot of people. And then we carried on talking and he said, we'll help out at the house, dad, we'll make it work.

So I let it go, and then my daughter came to me, and she had talked to my son, and my daughter was more like a kid who grew up in Hollywood with questions. What would it be like? Would it be hard to do? Do you think th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. And thi thi. And thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. And thi. And thi. And thi. And thi. And thi thi. And th. And th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi thi. thi thi. thi. theeeea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea like? Would it be hard to do? Do you think people would like it? And then she said, if it's bad, how bad would it be? Real manager type. This is a 13-year-old. Yes. And I go, it wouldn't be bad. It would be an interesting experiment. That's the worst it would be. And she goes, well you should do it. I love that. I love that. Before I let you go, how's how's th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th do people do people do people thi do people do people do people do people do people do people do people do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do goes well you should do it. I love that. I love that. Before I let you go how's your heart? I'm great. You had a heart attack? I did. I did. You can just have a heart attack because that's July 25th. You know I finished the book yeah long before I had the heart attack. I did. I had a heart attack and I was very lucky to have it on the set and there were some the the the th pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro pro. the the the the the to. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm. I'm the to. I'm to. I'm to. I'm th. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I that. I that. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I was very lucky to have it on the set and there were some pros around who immediately gave me CPR and everybody listening, take a CPR class,

brush up on it. They saved my life. You don't remember any of it. The next day, after the surgery, I woke up, my family was there, and I was like, hey, I was like, I gotta go back to work. And they were, I'm in a the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I th. I'm in th. I'm in a th. I'm in a th. I'm in a th. I'm th. I'm in thi. I'm thia' pro pro-a' pro pro-pros pro-prosprosprosprosprosprosprosprosomea' pro. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. thi. thi. thi. thi-I. thi-I thi-I thi-I thea-s. thea-s. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t t t t t up, my family was there, and I was like, hey, I was like, I gotta go back to work. And they were, I'm in a hospital gown. And they go, no you don't, you had a heart attack. I'm like, well, no, no, what? No, I was, I was at work and they go, how did you get here? And I go, and my brain did this all on its own. I drove here, and I parked on to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the to the to the their, their, their, their, their, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I'm their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm the the the the the the th. th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the this all on its own. I drove here and I parked on level two. And then, because I knew you guys were here. And then I came in here and my wife goes,

so you came in here and you got in that bed and you put that gown on? And I looked down and I'm like, Yeah. You know, like, my brain made up a little story about how I'd gotten there. Totally weird. But I'm great. I'm glad, man.

I'm glad you're great. I'm glad we get to celebrate the season of Better Call Soul with you. I'm glad we said we get to celebrate the book with you. Congratulations to you. Thank you, to the kids. I will. Thank them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them the the the their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. their their their the the the the the the the the the the the thoooooooooooooooo. the the the the thoo much. Say hi to the kids. I will. Thank them for all of us as the fans. I will. We really do appreciate them. Thanks. All right people, Bob's book. Comedy, Comedy, Dramar is available right now. Watch the Daily Show, Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.