'Robert "Bob" Odenkirk' (born
October 22,
1962) is an
American actor,
writer,
director and
producer. Odenkirk is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the
HBO sketch comedy series, ''
Mr. Show''.
Biography
Early life
He was born in
Naperville,
Illinois and began his foray into comedy writing as a radio
DJ for
WIDB, his local
college station at
Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Inspired by his local success, he decided to go to
Chicago and, under the pretense of doing a radio-show interview, spoke with members of
The Second City to see what it took to make a career in performing and writing comedy. While in
Chicago, he ran into former Second City director
Del Close (who had mentored the likes of
Bill Murray and
John Belushi) at a
bookstore. Odenkirk nervously struck up a conversation with Close and asked if he would mind being interviewed. He agreed and they went back to Close's apartment, where their conversation inspired Odenkirk to seek work as a
comedian.
Career
Odenkirk immediately moved to Chicago three credits shy of graduation and got involved in the local
improv and comedy scene. He started in improv workshops and doing
open-mic stand-up comedy. After a few years, he had made several friends as a result — one of whom was then-future ''
Saturday Night Live'' writer
Robert Smigel. It was through his friendship with Smigel he began submitting his work to ''SNL'' and was eventually hired as a writer. While still at Second City, Odenkirk wrote such memorable characters as
Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, for actor
Chris Farley (who carried the character into ''SNL'' and prominently acknowledged Odenkirk's authorship). Odenkirk was initially elated to be working for ''SNL'', but after a while he became more and more frustrated with the
politics of the show and rarely got any of his work on air.
While on a writers' strike from ''Saturday Night Live'' following the 1987–88 season, Odenkirk was part of an
improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow ''SNL'' writers Robert Smigel and
Conan O'Brien called ''
Happy Happy Good Show''. Odenkirk decided to leave ''SNL'' and try working in
Los Angeles. Around this time, he visited his friend Steve Meisner, who informed him that the TV show ''
Get a Life'' was looking for writers. Odenkirk submitted some material and was accepted onto the show. Though ''Get a Life'' was cancelled fairly quickly, Odenkirk made several important friends on the show who later helped him get a job writing for ''The
Dennis Miller Show''. There, 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''. While working on ''Ben Stiller'', Odenkirk met fellow writer
David Cross, and after ''The Ben Stiller Show'' was cancelled, Odenkirk and Cross began performing in sketch-comedy shows together in LA. These sketch comedy shows eventually evolved into what became ''Mr. Show''. Odenkirk has also made cameo appearances on ''
Seinfeld'', ''
Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', ''
Arrested Development'', and ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm''. On the series
The Larry Sanders Show, Odenkirk had a recurring role as Larry's agent, Stevie Grant. He also guest starred on an episode of
Joey, "
Joey and the Nemesis".
Other work
He was the
spokesperson for
Miller beer in their
electoral-themed
commercial campaign to become "The President of Beers" during the
2004 Elections, as well as the executive producer of
Adult Swim's ''
Tom Goes to the Mayor''.
Odenkirk has directed three films: ''
Melvin Goes to Dinner'' (2003), ''
The Pity Card'', and ''
Let's Go to Prison'' (2006). ''Let's Go to Prison'' was written by two writers for the sketch comedy show ''
The State'', and starred
Will Arnett of ''
Arrested Development'' fame. The film failed at the box office and with critics, with many pointing out that Odenkirk's strength is sketch comedy and not long form story telling. Odenkirk has completed directing another film, ''
The Brothers Solomon'', which was released on
September 7,
2007.
His brother,
Bill Odenkirk, wrote for ''Mr. Show'' and ''
Futurama''. Bob guest starred in ''Futurama'' episode "
The Why of Fry" as Chaz, the mayor's aide. Bill currently writes for ''
The Simpsons''.
In 2006, he discovered a British sketch group called
Straitjacket Comedy and began promoting them because he felt that they have an evolved comic sensibility that should not remain unexposed to the comedy viewing public.
He is also directing the
Super Deluxe series
Derek & Simon starring Simon Helberg and Derek Waters. Odenkirk said on
The Sound of Young America podcast that he asked Helberg and Waters "you guys are so funny just talking, just hanging out, why don't we do a show where it's just you hitting on girls and failing?"
[1]
Filmography
Further reading
★ Odenkirk, Naomi. ''Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide''. Squaresville Productions, September 2002.
★ Klein, Robert. Patinkin, Sheldon. ''The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater''. Sourcebooks, October 2000.
References
1. http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/05/podcast-bob-odenkirk.html
External links
★
Bob and David.com - Official Site
★
★
Bob Odenkirk on Tom Green Live - July 26, 2006
★
Bob Odenkirk on Tom Green Live - April 13, 2007
★
Interview With Bob Odenkirk at Scene Missing Magazine
★
Bob's show on SuperDeluxe
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