Bob Odenkirk: The Comedy Writer Who Became Saul Goodman
Before he was Jimmy McGill, he wrote for SNL, built Mr. Show with David Cross and got Tim and Eric on television. Why Bob Odenkirk is one of the great behind-the-scenes figures in alt comedy.
Bob Odenkirk is now best known as Saul Goodman, but for twenty years before Breaking Bad he was one of the most important people in American alternative comedy. He wrote for Saturday Night Live, co-created Mr. Show with Bob and David with David Cross, and used his clout to get a generation of stranger comedians onto television. This profile focuses on that comedy career and how it set up everything that followed.
Chicago and Saturday Night Live
Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, on October 22, 1962, and grew up in Naperville, a Chicago suburb. He came up through the Chicago improv and sketch scene of the early 1980s, the world of Second City and the teachers who would shape long-form improv. It gave him two things he never lost: a love of sketches that build and escalate, and the instinct of a writer who wants to make the whole show work rather than just his own bits. Our guide to the Chicago comedy scene covers that world.
In Chicago he became friends with Chris Farley, and he created the character of Matt Foley, the shouting motivational speaker who lives in a van, for Farley to perform. Farley later made Foley one of the most famous characters in SNL history.
Odenkirk himself was hired as a writer on Saturday Night Live in 1987 and stayed until 1991. He shared in the writing staff's 1989 Emmy. He later wrote for Chris Elliott's cult sitcom Get a Life and briefly for Late Night with Conan O'Brien at its launch, working alongside his friend Robert Smigel.
The Ben Stiller Show and Larry Sanders
In 1992 Odenkirk joined The Ben Stiller Show on Fox as a writer and performer. The show lasted one season, won an Emmy for writing after its cancellation, and introduced him properly to David Cross. Around the same time he had a recurring role on The Larry Sanders Show as Stevie Grant, Larry's slick, ingratiating agent, a performance that, in hindsight, looks like an early sketch of Saul Goodman.
Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995–1998)
Odenkirk and Cross first worked up their material as live stage shows in Los Angeles, in the alt comedy rooms that were then flourishing, before HBO commissioned a series. Mr. Show with Bob and David ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998.
Its signature was structure. Instead of the stop-start rhythm of most sketch shows, each episode linked its sketches together, a minor character from one bit becoming the star of the next, so the half-hour flowed as a single piece. Odenkirk is generally regarded as the show's master architect, the one most concerned with how sketches escalate and connect, while Cross brought sharper satirical anger. Both wrote and performed everything, and the writers' room and cast included Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jack Black, Brian Posehn and Scott Aukerman.
The show was never a ratings hit and HBO moved it around the schedule, but its influence on American sketch comedy was enormous. Tim and Eric, Kroll Show, Key & Peele and I Think You Should Leave all owe it something. For the full story, read our definitive guide to Mr. Show, and see where it ranks among the greatest sketch shows.
The producer years: Tim and Eric and beyond
After Mr. Show ended, the duo made the film Run Ronnie Run! (2002), which the studio re-edited and sent straight to video, and Odenkirk turned increasingly to directing and producing. He directed the features Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003), Let's Go to Prison (2006) and The Brothers Solomon (2007).
His most important contribution in this period was spotting Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Impressed by their early homemade work, he helped them develop Tom Goes to the Mayor for Adult Swim (2004–2006) and executive-produced it and its follow-up, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007–2010), where he also made guest appearances. Without his backing it's hard to imagine their brand of anti-comedy reaching television when it did. He later did the same for younger sketch groups, executive-producing IFC's The Birthday Boys (2013–2014).
In 2015 he and Cross reunited for W/ Bob & David, four new episodes on Netflix. With Brian Posehn they also published Hollywood Said No! (2013), a book of their unproduced scripts.
Saul Goodman: the second career
In 2009 Odenkirk was cast as Saul Goodman, a fast-talking strip-mall lawyer, in the second season of Breaking Bad. He was meant to appear in a handful of episodes. He became a fixture, and in 2015 AMC launched the prequel Better Call Saul, with Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill, the struggling lawyer who becomes Saul. It ran six seasons until 2022 and earned him repeated Emmy nominations for lead actor in a drama.
The role is a drama, but it uses everything comedy gave him: verbal speed, the ability to play a hustler who half-believes his own pitch, and the timing to make a con funny and sad at once. Many of Jimmy's best scenes are, in structure, sketches about a man talking himself into something.
In July 2021, while filming the final season, Odenkirk had a heart attack on set. Crew members gave him CPR, he recovered, and he returned to complete the show. He has spoken about it publicly, including in his 2022 memoir Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, which is also the best first-hand account of his comedy years.
Action hero, Broadway and recent work
Odenkirk's third act has been even less predictable. He trained for years to star in the action thriller Nobody (2021), as a mild suburban dad with a violent past, and returned for Nobody 2 (2025). He led AMC's academic dramedy Lucky Hank (2023), adapted from Richard Russo's novel Straight Man, which ran for one season. In 2025 he appeared on Broadway as Shelley Levene in a revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, and in 2026 he starred in the thriller Normal.
- 1987
Joins SNL as a writer
Stays until 1991; shares the 1989 writing Emmy.
- 1992
The Ben Stiller Show
Meets David Cross; plays Stevie Grant on Larry Sanders.
- 1995
Mr. Show premieres on HBO
Four seasons, to 1998.
- 2004
Tom Goes to the Mayor
Executive producer for Tim and Eric's first show.
- 2009
Saul Goodman debuts
In season two of Breaking Bad.
- 2015
Better Call Saul and W/ Bob & David
A drama lead and a sketch reunion in the same year.
- 2021
Nobody
The unlikely action career begins.
- 2022
Memoir and the end of Saul
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama published; Better Call Saul ends.
Why he matters to alt comedy
Odenkirk is the clearest example of how alternative comedy's influence travels through people as much as through shows. As a writer he shaped SNL and created one of Farley's signature characters. As a creator he made Mr. Show, the American sketch show that comedy writers still study. As a producer he gave Tim and Eric their start. And as an actor he showed that the precision of sketch comedy could carry one of the great dramatic performances of the century. His partner David Cross stayed the angry outsider; Odenkirk became the bridge between the alt rooms and the mainstream, without ever disowning where he came from.
Frequently asked questions
What was Bob Odenkirk's HBO show?
Mr. Show with Bob and David, the sketch comedy series he co-created and starred in with David Cross. It ran on HBO for four seasons, from 1995 to 1998.
Did Bob Odenkirk write for SNL?
Yes. He was a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1987 to 1991 and shared in the show's 1989 Emmy for writing. He also created the motivational speaker character Matt Foley for Chris Farley, whom he knew from Chicago.
Did Bob Odenkirk discover Tim and Eric?
He was one of their earliest champions. After seeing Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's early work, he helped them develop Tom Goes to the Mayor for Adult Swim and executive-produced it and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
What happened to Bob Odenkirk on the Better Call Saul set?
In July 2021 he had a heart attack while filming the final season in New Mexico. He was resuscitated on set, recovered, and returned to finish the series. He has discussed it in interviews and in his memoir.