Old SNL pals Conan and Bob Odenkirk talk Chris Farley, drinking pee, and flipping cars
Aux Features Clips
It’s conceivable that some viewers only know Bob Odenkirk as Bob Odenkirk: Emmy-nominated dramatic actor at this point. After all, Better Call Saul continues to show off Odenkirk’s ability to play one of the most slippery-sympathetic protagonists in TV history, even if last night’s typically stellar Season 5 finale made the case that it’s Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler who’s the Breaking Bad prequel’s actual main character and, as Odenkirk put it on Monday’s home-edition Conan, “true mystery.” Still, Odenkirk is unquestionably killing it, tracing the doomed, ever-downward arc of Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman with the aplomb of a born-to-drama thespian. Even if he told Conan that, despite his willingness to go Method most of the time (“It’s okay as long as I’m not bleeding too much.”), he refused creator Vince Gilligan’s onetime suggestion that he actually drink his own whiz.
“I didn’t think I needed to do that,” is how Bob politely put it about that scene in the desert-stranded, Gilligan directed eighth episode, although the clip he shared with O’Brien did show the actor seemingly standing way too close to a truly amazing and dangerous-looking car stunt. (Odenkirk, ever the mensch, went out of his way to praise stunt driver Corey Eubanks, who actually flipped that thing.) Still and all, for those understandably entranced by Odenkirk’s dramatic work, he and Conan spent their 12-minute interview/catch-up session helpfully reminiscing about what Conan termed the “pure idiocy, pure foolishness” of their time together as fledgeling comedy writers on Saturday Night Live.
Odenkirk didn’t stick at SNL as long as Conan did, instead deciding that he could make a better sketch show elsewhere (Spoiler: he did), but the two spent some time laughing about how Odenkirk helped the late Chris Farley transition his Matt Foley character from the Second City stage (where Bob wrote the original sketch), to TV. (Where, Odenkirk revelaed, other neophyte comedy legend in the making Robert Smigel came up the Foley’s destructive, sketch-ending falls.) “I’ve never seen anything hit so hard,” Odenkirk said of Farley’s Second City performances as the van-living motivational speaker, adding in fond admiration, “Pure awesomeness.”
Less awesome was Odenkirk’s revelation that his 21-year-old son Nate is one of the many thousands of Americans who’ve been stricken by the coronavirus. Although Nate has largely recovered from his very scary two-week ordeal, Odenkirk shared the wisdom (which should be taken to heart by Donald Trump and the Fox News/GOP death cult intent on calamitously and preemptively ending preventative social distancing) that this is not just the flu. “It’s not that—it’s much worse,” said the guardedly relieved Odenkirk of his son’s frightening affliction, his solemnity quickly segueing into a bit about him hopefully prodding Nate about his gradually improving condition. “How many feet you have?,” Bob goaded an imaginary son eagerly, “I’m seein’ two feet!” Comedy out of calamity—that’s the Odenkirk brand.
19 Comments
Bob and Conan were at SNL for about the same amount of time (Bob may have been there a little longer), I think.Matt Foley is so one-note and catchphrase-reliant I was initially surprised Bob wrote it, but I suppose it’s something that is much more suited to the energy of a stage performance. It’s a sketch that worked once on air and never, ever again (I’m not criticizing Bob as I know he was not involved with SNL by this point).Here’s a fun monologue which features small roles for Bob and Conan.
I knew he was a writer but I became a fan after seeing him do some weird standup bit on Dennis Miller’s talkshow (back before Dennis went off the deep end). This is why I find it hilarious when he shows up in these serious roles, to me he’s still the guy reciting bizarre rhymes about Abraham Lincoln.
I just finished the SNL book Live From New York; it’s very long, but also very interesting. The candidness in that book is very refreshing. Odenkirk does not seem to regard his time at SNL very fondly.And while Dennis Miller is interviewed in the book, I thought he was given somewhat short shrift. Think what you will of his persona today, but I think his work at SNL at the Weekend Update desk is pretty important in SNL’s long history.
My fave cold open of all time was Dennis last show, him and Lorne sitting backstage talking about his time there and thanking Lorne for the opportunity etc. And he asks Lorne if he can say it to start the show, Lorne says “sure you can say it! “ Dennis grinning ear to ear “live from new York, it’s Saturday night!”…pause..Lorne “ that was great Dennis, now if you’ll excuse me…Live from New York…”
I read the Backstage book but never could read the more recent versions as I didn’t want to hear about how much my favorite cast members secretly hated each other. Odenkirk’s unhappiness with Lorne’s methods is very well known, although he did go their anniversary (and, along with much of the rest of the studio audience, seemed to get little out of it if memory serves), and has said he’d be interested in hosting. He also tweeted about the show’s tribute to Hal Willner. I doubt Lorne would ever want to go there, but I wish he could host. It would be a good change of pace, a way to tie up the past, and maybe manage to get something genuinely creative on (then again he may just end up singing with Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon about West Side Story, I don’t know). I grew up watching Miller’s Update, so I’ll probably always have a sentimental attachment, although I don’t think his demeanor ages very well. I do agree he was very important to the show’s history – they never would have taken the risks they took in the ‘90s with anchors like Norm if not for Dennis changing the idea of what being behind the desk meant. Here’s an interview he did with Odenkirk and David Cross back in the day.
Speaking of weird bits on some other comedian’s show, . . . does anyone else remember that one early season on Real Time with Bill Maher, where instead of doing the usual seated monologue bits he did to break up the show, they switched to Paul F. Tompkins doing a barfly standup bit [complete with a tumbler of scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other] with a chunk of his choosing?
I don’t remember that, but I remember some half-hour HBO comedy special where Tompkins was telling stories at a “bar” with a bartender in the background. The main thing I remember was him talking about hanging out at Dirty Frank’s, a dive bar my wife used to go to when she lived in Philadelphia.
Isn’t most sketch comedy “one-note” and “catchphrase-reliant?” The format doesn’t really lend itself to the development of complex themes and characters.At any rate, the Matt Foley sketch isn’t beloved because of its premise or catchphrase (which are the same in this case) but because Chris Farley was one of the most engaging, manic, physical, committed and funny comedians to ever perform on SNL.
Much sketch comedy is, but Mr. Show generally wasn’t, which is why I was initially surprised at his being involved with Matt Foley. Farley’s talent was, sadly, from the time of that first Foley sketch, badly misused by SNL and in his films (I still cringe when I remember how they dismissed him in his hosting stint by having Tim Meadows describe him as “fatty fall down”); but he made a lot of people happy, and I hope he is at peace.
Lorne Michaels loves recurring characters. It was funny once? Do it ten more times until everyone hates it! Matt Foley really worked because of Chris Farley’s physical comedy but like all bits it got old.
Lorne seems to go back and forth on that subject – he actually tried to get rid of the show’s recurring characters a few years in, only to bring them back the next season. Even Matt Foley wasn’t as badly overused as some recurring characters because Farley’s last season dialed way back on recurring bits (I think he only appeared once then). Then in a desperation move the recurring characters began flooding the show again when Ferrell, Shannon, Oteri, etc. arrived. Sometimes it works, but when you go back and watch episodes from the ‘00s and early ‘10s, the recurring characters are so garbage and such a waste of the talent of the people involved. I’m glad they have dialed back again in recent years but I know it never lasts.
And that thing where he gets in Spade’s face and does that thing with his glasses while Spade’s unsuccessfully trying to hold it together.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can totally see how Odenkirk wrote Matt Foley. The character is right at home with the desperate, delusional man children that were the bread and butter of Mr. Show.
aren’t stunt performers amazing? You send an email to whoever they work for and you’re like “Need somebody to be: (a) bitten by cobras (b) in a car that’s on fire (c) and that flips over no fewer than two times” and they’re like “do you need this person to be stout or svelte?”
Stellar writing: (Where, Odenkirk revelaed, other neophyte comedy legend in the making Robert Smigel came up the Foley’s destructive, sketch-ending falls.)
Not sure why you are posting that as a response to my comment but, yes, this site fucking sucks at copyediting and they rarely fix mistakes even when they are in the header.
If you watch the ‘behind the episode’ on that trunk wreck scene, you see Bob being filmed walking the road with a huge green screen erected behind him, then the wreck filmed separately.Still impressive that the wreck itself was largely a practical effect, but it wasn’t a one-shot over Bob’s shoulder.
Now YOU’RE being sagacious!
My first time seeing Bob Odenkirk was on a segment of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, where he was a guest along side David Cross. Because of that appearance, I have a habit of calling him Ba Bodenkirk. It makes me laugh every time, and nobody else ever gets it.Also, for anybody who really, really likes Odenkirk, he does a charmingly weird stand-up set on an album titled Amateur Hour. I can’t say it’s the best material I’ve ever heard (Odenkirk admits as much while he’s performing it), but as somebody who just likes listening to Odenkirk talk, I love it.