David Marchese

You know, it's like your job was to take care of the kids and do dad stuff.

Is it the case that you understood that in the moment?

I did.

Or you only understood that in retrospect?

I think it would have been more depressing if you said the thing that brought you the most value and purpose in your life was being in Better Call Saul.

Imagine the kids hearing that answer.

You know, the idea that you were sort of like a broken toy that kept pursuing sketch comedy.

Yeah.

I'm glad you did because I've really gotten a lot out of your comedy over the years.

And to such an extent that still when I watch a movie like Normal or the Nobody films, I'll have moments where I think, wow, it's weird that Bob Odenkirk is like blowing people away in these movies.

It's very weird.

What?

cultural itch do you think these kinds of action movies that are about an unassuming middle-aged man whose sort of inner hero comes out, what itch are they scratching?

Why are they proving to be so successful right now?

So...

You did Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and there was sort of an indisputable...

popular success to that stretch of work.

And prior to that, when people would talk about Bob Odenkirk, it was often attached to a term like cult success or cult favorite, which of course is a backhanded compliment for like not really successful at all.

But prior to this big career, like double bump you had sort of relatively late, did you have moments where you thought, okay,

Like, I don't know if I'm going to get the success I want, or I don't know if the career is really working.