Bob Odenkirk Has a Fire in His Belly While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones

careful careful careful why would you ask [Music] for first week Feast I'm Sean Evans and you're watching hot ones it's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings and today we're joined by Bob Odenkirk he's an actor and writer whose resume includes everything from the pioneering sketch comedy series Mr show to Breaking Bad and an acclaimed performance as Jimmy Mcgill and Better Call Saul you can also catch him starring in AMC's brand new comedy drama lucky Hank which is set to premiere on March 19th Bob Odenkirk welcome to the show Hi how are you I'm doing great I'm doing great how are you especially around a little tired yeah yeah I do see the value of like when there's kind of an intense spice mixed in with flavors it kind of is an awesome thing you know but I've never understood you know like the pure hot [ __ ] that just like blows your brain out like I don't get what you're getting from that but you know what it makes good TV it makes good TV oh I guess so I've heard such things such a good things about the show and I know that you've done great interviews I don't particularly see the connection there's a sense that the person is disarmed a bit because they're distracted by the heat but I think I'm perfectly capable of talking without having a part of my body injured okay read the whole wing a bite usually does the trick but I'll go wherever you go today well this is just really good there we go yeah this is not there's a big hint of heat at the end it's just damn good there we go [Music] that's really good wow up to a hot start there we go again get a round of applause yeah there we go so in your latest project lucky Hank you play an English department chair who describes the college he works at as mediocrity's capital yeah and I was immediately hooked by the first scene when your character begrudgingly offers harsh feedback to a student's essay was playing a cantankerous English professor at all cathartic for you considering how much of your career you've spent obsessing over the written word I would um it was it wasn't so much the cantankerous part that was cathartic uh after playing Saul Goodman for so long this guy is sort of fundamentally different than Saul because he is connected to people in his world he loves them they love him not to mention there's no drugs there's no guns there's no cartel there's no zombies there is there's genre peace this uh lucky Hank is closest to like an Alexander Payne film it's like equal parts comedy drama thank you I don't eat a lot of wings in my life look at you though could have fooled me well going in now that is um yeah this is a little more wanting to be hot but it's still not right it's flavorful yeah nothing beats this one there we go so like you I'm a product of the Chicago suburbs and a broadcasting major in what ways do you think your affection for comedy was shaped by watching stations like WGN and channel 11 PBS well definitely Channel 11 with Monty Python Dave Allen at large uh The Two Ronnies python was the one that made me go wait what is this they're making fun of everything yeah and they're being hard but it's silly as hell and then you've got Terry gilliam's absurdity which kind of takes you a step back and makes you go like come on it's just uh it's cartoons it's nothing but it's really gotta [ __ ] You by yeah at the core of it which I loved yeah did you have a favorite Chicagoland Regional TV commercial you know it doesn't matter yeah what's his face we've made fun of it on Mr Show Ford come on you don't remember this maybe it's just past mine because like I am a good old summer time hi Airy shmirler here you're a singing Ford dealer this week we have [Laughter] [Music] I'm not scared so long huh yeah okay a little bit of a higher level but manageable I'm seeing yeah no there we go Bob yeah crushing it a little hot hotter definitely sticking around a little longer I'll leave it a little bit of a trail behind so in 1989 the Chicago Tribune described your one-man show half my face as a clown is determinately and truly silly and satisfyingly so what can a one-man show do or accomplish that other genres can't group together and finding a stage two show is not always so easy so stand-up comedy boomed when I moved to Chicago it had this crazy Heyday that was insane yeah insane and there were 14 comedy clubs in Chicago at one point and I had a thought that my stuff could live in that world it was almost like sketch comedy done by one person there was uh oh there was an improv piece that I really loved to do I go hey everybody I'm going to do some improv we do this game it's called you know pick a hat and there's got a box full of hats I'm gonna just pick one out I don't know what it'll be but whatever it is I will do a character based on that so I pull out a hat it's a baseball cap and I I think and start playing baseball hey Bata hey there you know uh back off the plate better you know I yeah give it to him hot come on I throw the Hat away I reach in and I pull out it's the same baseball cap and now I'm like uh hey hey hey hey hey better here comes the heat you know I'm the catcher now so now he's the catcher and then another hat and now it's another baseball cap and then he's the shortstop but if he's like hey better come on throw some meat I'm the shortstop and uh and then uh puts that way he reaches in it's a fireman's helmet and he throws it away [ __ ] yeah I don't remember the ending but uh that was really fun so you know um yeah that's what it was I love that walk down memory lane all right Bobby ready to move on here to Sauce number four Calientes yep parody do you cut this show up or do you make us make people [ __ ] watch me 12 wings no no wait we're very kind in the edit [Music] now does milk really help so I guess kind of but what I've found is once you're in it you're just in it you know what I mean like you're just in the tidal wave you just have to hold on to the board you know there's nothing that nothing's gonna change it it's not nothing's gonna bring you back to Earth so you've shared a stage at the Second City theater with Chris Farley how early on did you recognize his potential as a performer when I got within 100 feet for the first time yeah Chris is this guy you know Jack Black Chris Farley these are people who when people I I love it when people go that guy's got something they're like yeah really you think you know I mean who [ __ ] can't tell that he's the [ __ ] I love Chris and then the motivational speaker the sketch I wrote for him that did so well and we had done an improvisation and we were all playing teachers of a school and it was like a don't don't do drugs Rally or whatever we were talking to the students and he did his coach character and uh it was Matt Foley he might even use the name Matt Foley it didn't have a story van down by the river it wasn't a motivational speaker but you know he uh you know was going come on you guys and it it stuck in my head as it would anyone and I went home that night and I wrote that sketch and I've written hundreds of sketches of my life and I wrote it exactly the way it's done although Robert Smiggle added the CR breaking the table we didn't do that at Second City but everything else is exactly the way I wrote it that night in my little apartment in Chicago and brought it into Chris and said here's a sketch you can do that character you did and uh and and my daughter once asked me what was the most fun you had in Showbiz and I said I did this sketch with Chris Farley I played the dad in the sketch and we did it seven times a week at at Second City every time I did that was the most fun I had in Show Business [Music] I'm waiting until we get to that place where it's just a two by four to the mouth [Music] um that is not unpleasant and it's it is hot yep we're not fooling around now right it's getting better it has flavor still exactly like a nice spicy curry almost yeah there we go Bob you're doing great you're doing great should I do it that's one thing about me I show up we got Seth Meyers this question but I'm curious your perspective is someone who understands sketch comedy on a technical level do you ever feel like there's a tension between what writers think is funny and what audiences think is funny like is there a comedy corollary to like an Eminem verse that's so obsessed with the mechanics of rapping that people listening to it can't even tell if it's good or not in Mr show I can point to hunger strike and one of my favorites of all time the story of Everest where he keeps knocking over the Thimbles now a lot of people absolutely love the story of Everest it's their favorite sketch but there are people who hate it and hunger strike is a great one that I think is one of the best things we wrote it's David Cross as a Eastern Mystic uh who's been on a hunger strike and he's going to make a speech he's been on hunger strike for you know 40 days and he's supposed to talk about his people and and they're getting their freedom and all he can talk about is food this is [ __ ] genius and it's so funny but some people hate it when you do that thing where you repeat the joke and you grind it into the ground that can be so funny to comedy writers a lot has to do with where something is when you see it I think sometimes performers don't understand that they don't think about that because you take that same audience you put them in a stand-up club and they think I need to get this one thing it better be that and then you walk them across the street into a theater on the same night and they their brains can open up to all kinds of other things that you could do and so the venue matters a lot anyway Theory I have a lot of theory I got a lot of theory in me [Music] a guy who looks like Debbie cross on the cover yeah yeah honestly I don't think it's hotter I think he [ __ ] up man go ahead rearrange shifting gears over here so I think you're an inspiration to anyone who wants to evolve their career not the least of which the entertainment people who have lauded your ability to span everything from Best in Class TV drama to absurdist Comedy looking back at your career so far what do you see as the value of a bomb bravery that you first a sense that but I'm not different you may not like that movie I did and you're maybe right I think sometimes people don't understand how much a filmmaker or actor maybe agrees with your appraisal of their work right you you know there's a review and it's this isn't good and that isn't good and the actor or some of them me or the director oftentimes me is like oh you're right you know but that you can't kind of show that face you have to you have to support all the people who made the project and we're not on a limb with you I almost pursue failure sometimes because if you get afraid of that you're [ __ ] again I would I would would and have go ahead and look at my resume you'll be able to pick them out done projects that were really wobbly like did you think that was going to work and just you know no I didn't all right Bobby you're ready to move on here to Sauce number seven yeah this is the dreams of calypso a little step up here going in [Music] I'm trying not to read the labels because they're all like ah [Music] I'm very impressed Bobby's walked in here being like I'm not really a hot sauce guy I'm definitely not it's not bad it's got flavors you are though there's still flavor here going on dreams of calypso it's a beautiful label in an interview with vanity fairy said you don't like how much resentment drives Jimmy's actions with that in mind what were your thoughts on Jimmy's treatment of Howard yeah I don't like it very upsetting very unnerving to play a guy you know this goes to playing people who have serious you know issues which are the only kind of people they write because that's fun to watch and I remember reading about Brian playing Walter White and I remember reading about Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano and the frustrations that they felt with the challenge of just staying in that guy's head and I would be like well come on it's acting I mean how how hard can that be and then I got to do something and I was like oh this is [ __ ] hard because you're that guy for 12 hours a day for years and even though it's not your real life you know that's what you're this what acting is sitting there going I Feel This and like he feels that and I'm feeling this and I resent this and I want that and why do I want it because [ __ ] that guy and [ __ ] this person and I'm gonna get him back and you know and you're just Conjuring up those feelings it's exhausting you know that they say don't hold on to resentments and stuff and E it's true I mean don't [ __ ] it compartmentalize let go of that [ __ ] because it's just killing you it's not gonna help you make better choices it's going to hurt you more than it hurts anyone you resent all right just be careful [Music] it's probably hitting for you now just like it is for me trying to get a read [Music] Satan's [ __ ] I'm gonna join you that sauce not for no reason [Music] [Music] I know I know [Music] so I was a big fan of your 2021 film Nobody a hyper violent last person standing action film that required almost two years to prepare for what would you say are the characteristics of a good Hollywood fight scene like what makes this fight scenes and nobody works so well you know what I'm eating chicken wings right now right I know careful careful careful why would you ask [Music] us I love the Jason Bourne films but when he's fighting he's just a machine some of them their job is to present a tough guy and so they're meant to be a fighting machine that is tough and is not afraid of anything and doesn't get hurt so I thought well I could play a guy who does get hurt and does feel it but in order to do that we have to leave the camera on your face and leave it on you during the fight long shot so that means you have to do your own fighting yeah hell yeah and you did but I thought you know if I'm gonna do this then that means I have to do the fighting because I want to bring this thing into action films where I stay in character in the middle of the fight and I've gotten hurt I'm scared I'm not sure I'm gonna succeed here or maybe I feel Glee whatever it is the character's still alive even in the middle of the fight so that's what I thought I could bring to that genre and um that's why I had to train so long I mean that sucked I why would you buy this you're an idiot and why would you I'll wear that I'll wear that that's [ __ ] [Laughter] on that note are you ready to move on to the ninth sauce whoa that's how you do it there you go that is how you do it Bob that is how you do it you're stuck you said you're gonna give me these yes you don't have to give me that one you all favored these are good there we go there we go then some then there's yeah as wide as the Grand Canyon there did you have a biggest customer pet peeve when you were serving burgers at debevics before your comedy career took off well [Music] my biggest problem with that de bevix and it says something about my talent as an actor you know uh being a waiter there you're you're supposed to like be a smart alec yeah and be rude well all the waiters and waitresses could do that and it was fun and whatever but then when I became a waiter I didn't really want to do it but also I can't because when most people go sit down people are like oh and when I go sit down they go what I'm sorry what he's mean world's smallest Sunday overrated or underrated oh uh no that's uh underrated you like the world portion control s get the world's smallest Sunday I didn't know you knew that but you once had the difference yeah yeah if only what is this this is the killer this is the last day why are you opening it if I said I do the show it's actually a problem that super responsible quality that I have right right um it's from growing up in a family of seven with a dad who wasn't home well but that last dab thing there's nothing responsible about that oh that's too much that's that's big I would take a walk yeah yeah okay so there's still some on there there is I'm not cheating this is gonna suck right you know what I think yeah the worst is kind of over that's what I'll say well there's not a shock Ed right but mercifully our dinner date with the wings of death it's come to an end all right and we covered your wide-ranging career from writer's room journeyman to TV star to action movie leading man but I know that the Bob Odenkirk experience ultimately it's that angsty kid walking through the theater line streets of Old Town with a fire in his belly and a chip on his shoulder that's right Robin Williams once said for me comedy starts as a spew a kind of explosion and then you sculpt it from there if at all it comes out of a deeper darker side does that resonate with you yeah comedy is finding the things you hate about people and the world and having fun with that making fun of that and it could be a little tiny dumb thing that you hate a thing you hate about yourself uh a behavior in the world that just takes you off and and then turning that into uh Joy well Mike drop and look at you Bob Odenkirk taking on the wings of Dyson you're not a hot sauce guy I see no milk not a sip of milk this entire time now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you Bob this camera this camera this camera let the people know what you have going on in your life oh um lucky Hank is a new show it's comedy drama mixed even Steven comes on AMC March 19th it's an amazing cast beautiful funny funny actors in every direction so I hope you'll give it a try and stick with it and in October thing I'm proudest of in the world I wrote a book with my kids and my daughter did the illustrations it's called zealot and other important Rhymes it's poems for kids I wrote them with my kids when they were little we would write a poem together a silly one and then some of them were good and I kept them around and then when my daughter grew up she's an artist and she just did the drawings for them so please watch for that if you have anyone between three and eight in your house or soon to be [Applause] you did it thank you that was uh far more uh entertaining and fun than I thought it would be [ __ ] [Music] hello I'm camera guy Bill [Music] well I'm the kind of cowboy who likes to sausage wings but I need a brand new flavor to make these tastes insane plus a killing Maple that's rolling down the line All Aboard it's Canadian time would you look at that coming around the bend a dash chili frizzles from smoking Ed sauce is loose runaway Caboose hotter than a babe on a moose or a great northern staple try that classic chilling Maple made with real maple syrup making on your stirrups Gideon burst to face got the Tweet hey Get on Up and Dance on your feet first and face got the sweet heat Get on Up and Dance on your feet sweet and refreshing to keep your senses guessing with the tiny apple cider tons of bucking rodeo rider whoa Let's Open The Honky Tonks Just Begun get permission from your mom go to heatness.com [Music] for a Great Northern State we'll try that classic chili maple oh [Music] for a great northern staple shot that classic chili maple [Music] y'all come back now

Channel: First We Feast

Views: 4,732,038

Keywords: First we feast, fwf, firstwefeast, food, food porn, cook, cooking, chef, recipe, cocktail, bartender, craft beer, complex, complex networks, spicy food, foodie, burgers, food documentary, Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Mr. Show, bryan cranston, bob odenkirk hot ones, lucky hank, amc, bob odenkirk interview

Id: JGzkeRHG5Zw

Length: 25min 57sec (1557 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023