Bob Odenkirk is no stranger to both movies and TV. Throughout his career he’s not only acted in both, but he’s helped write and even direct some of them. His career started when he was hired to help write some Saturday Night Live skits, and even acted in a few of them while he worked there. He eventually moved on, briefly working for a number of other shows before teaming up with another writer and beginning to write their own show together, the massively influential Mr. Show.
Odenkirk took on a lot of smaller projects for a while, appearing in one or two episodes of several TV shows but not holding a major role in any of them; he focused on directing and producing (paving the way for the successful comedy careers of Tim and Eric). Then came one of the roles he’s now most known for: Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad. What was originally supposed to be a three episode guest stint turned into a recurring role because of Odenkirk’s acting, and then a spinoff was created centered on his character. Check out some of his best works here to see what he’s all about.
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8 Long Shot
Lionsgate
The rom-com Long Shot follows the story of journalist Fred Flarsky and U.S. Secretary of State Charlotte Field. Charlotte is running for president, and Fred recently quit his job thanks to a new boss that opposed his views. The pair knew each other in their childhood so when they see each other again they connect easily. Charlotte ends up hiring Fred to write speeches for her, and as they start spending more time together, they slowly begin to fall in love. Of course, the relationship isn’t without its ups and downs.
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Odenkirk plays President Chambers, the current president who used to be a TV star and is now trying to get into the movie industry. He plays the role of an easily persuaded and pressured president well, and thus his presence becomes a comically constant figure in the problems the couple runs into.
7 Nobody
Universal Pictures
Nothing is as it seems in Nobody. Hutch Mansell runs an ordinary life with his wife and two children, and he works an ordinary office job. Even so, his marriage is strained, and it grows even more so after two burglars break into his house and he refuses to intervene, even after his son gets involved. It’s revealed after that he didn’t do anything because he could tell the burglars were desperate and didn’t even load their gun.
As he continues, Mansell accidentally gets wrapped up in an issue with a Russian crime lord, and he’s actually excellent at fighting off the criminals he sends after him. Mansell now has to find a way to stop the crime lord from coming after him to keep his family safe. Odenkirk stars as Mansell here, and he plays the innocent looking civilian so well you’d never imagine Mansell is actually the action hero and can easily fight off everyone who gets in his way. It’s a surprising bit of casting, but Odenkirk nailed it.
6 The Post
20th Century Fox
The Post is a historical political film based on the true story of The Washington Post and the Pentagon Papers. Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg documents the military’s progress for the Secretary of Defense, where it is revealed to him that the government believes the Vietnam War is hopeless but still tells the media they believe in the war. Disappointed, he later copies thousands of classified reports on the Vietnam War, starting in the Truman administration, and leaks them to the New York Times. When they publish their initial piece, they are barred from publishing any more.
Odenkirk can be seen as Washington Post editor Ben Bagdikian, who is directly responsible for getting the Pentagon Papers for the Post. He helps bring the story to life and educate those who didn’t know what happened or are too young to remember it, and holds his own alongside Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in this very good recent film by Steven Spielberg.
5 Mr. Show
Warner Bros. Television
Mr. Show, also known as Mr. Show with Bob and David, was the first series Odenkirk ever produced. With co-creator David Cross, they wrote comedy sketches and stitched several of them together for each episode, usually with some kind of link in them, so it made sense to keep them together. Odenkirk and Cross introduced most of the episodes, putting on almost fake personas of themselves to do so before the skits began.
Mr. Show featured many popular comedians while their careers were just beginning, such as Sarah Silverman, Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob), and Jack Black. It only ran for four seasons, but during that time it was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Satellite Award.
4 Melvin Goes to Dinner
Arrival Pictures
A film adaptation of Michael Blieden’s stage play Phyro-Giants!, Melvin Goes To Dinner was directed by Odenkirk, and stars Blieden. Former medical student Melvin dropped out of school and instead works in a planning office. When he accidentally ends up calling an old friend, they decide to meet up for dinner that evening and reconnect. The friend arrives early and brings a lady friend along with him, and by the time the actual dinner was supposed to begin, four people are now involved.
As the evening passes the dinner is filled of conversation that reveals the connections among the dinner members, sometimes given in the form of flashbacks. Odenkirk does take on a small role in the film, but because the original stage actors are the main characters, it is mostly his directing that is featured here, as he helps bring all the twists and ties in together at just the right moment to keep the audience engaged and entertained.
3 Undone
The adult animation series Undone is a psychological comedy drama with psychedelic rotoscoped animation. That may sound like a lot, but it works well with the plot. The main character, Alma, barely recovers from a nearly fatal car accident. After, she discovers that time doesn’t work the same as it used to, and she can now use this ability to try and find out the truth of her father’s death. He is the one that contacts her from beyond the grave, and helps her learn how to travel through time and space. Odenkirk plays Alma’s father in the series and balances the characters out, as he is incredibly stiff and melancholic compared to his daughter’s usual humor. He plays perfectly against type, and without him, the series might have fallen flat.
2 Better Call Saul
Sony Pictures Television
Better Call Saul is a spinoff of Breaking Bad centering around the character Jimmy McGill and how he turned into the lawyer known as Saul Goodman. McGill is a former con artist who is inspired to leave his life of crime by his older brother and even goes to work in the mailroom at his brother’s firm. He is motivated further still by his brother’s success to go to college and get a lawyer degree. When his brother’s firm doesn’t offer him employment despite passing the bar, he goes off on his own and tries to find low paying clients, including work as a public defender. It’s here that he begins to intersect with the illegal narcotics trade and slowly turns into the criminal lawyer he is in Breaking Bad.
Odenkirk is Jimmy McGill here, and is great at showing the slow change of a criminal trying to do good only to find he can’t run from his past. He also received many award nominations for his performance, including three consecutive best actor Golden Globes.
1 Breaking Bad
It’s impossible to not include Breaking Bad on this list, as it is one of Odenkirk’s most recognizable roles and the one which introduced him to the world outside alternative comedy. The show follows Walter White, a seemingly innocent high school chemistry teacher who is actually a big part of the local meth drug trade. He is driven by his desire to help his family financially after he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, not wanting them to go into debt for it. He works with former student Jesse Pinkman and takes on the name Heisenberg to hide his identity, but as they slowly expand the amount of meth they make and the demand for his meth grows, he runs into a lot of problems with the law, with local drug cartels, and with his own family.
Odenkirk plays Saul Goodman, the crooked lawyer who ends up representing Walt and Jesse and helping them avoid criminal detection. His performance is great, as he tries to keep Walt and Jesse out of trouble while also obviously not minding that they are, in fact, constantly breaking the law.
