Bob Odenkirk autobiography and UK tour

[Blue Jam]

...and anyone going to see Goodman vs The Preacherman tonight? That one's not being streamed, according to Fane :(

Started the book yesterday, about halfway through. So far it's a joyous load of comedy geekery and Bob's writing style just has a nice flow which means I'm breezing through it . He even manages to keep the section on his crap dad from getting too bleak, writing about how his dad was an angry man who drank but Bob was instead able to channel his own anger into being The Shouty One Off Mr. Show. The Chris Farley bit is also more a celebration of Farley's talents instead of being too focused on the bleak circumstances of his death.

Lots of love for Jeanene Garofolo too, it seemed everyone was a bit in love with her. I like the cheeky bit on their "extreme method acting" for Larry Sanders, heheheh ;)

[Blue Jam]

The event in LA with Jack Black has been (legally) uploaded to YouTube in its entirety:

Main bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugjTduceEFY

Q&A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ehm4YrM1Qw

[Blue Jam]

Book's coming out in paperback soon and The Bob is coming back to the UK and Ireland for some 2023 dates. Tickets go on sale at 10am today- apols for the late notice, just heard this morning:

https://www.fane.co.uk/bob-odenkirk

Usher Hall Embra! YESSS!

[Blue Jam]

Cor, these are selling bastard fast. Just a heads-up... and I've got my tickets for Embra!

^{Oh fuck this might actually make me die.}

[Oosp]

FUCK YES!!! Dublin, baby

[MigraineBoy]

He had 'famouses' interview him last time, save for Liverpool where it was a lecturer from the uni. 
The new Liverpool date is the one being streamed so perhaps it'll be different this time around.

[Blue Jam]

Anyone

FUCK YES!!! Dublin, baby

Just saw that the interviewer was Aisling Bea. How was it?

Interviewer for Birmingham was David Baddiel. Hope we get someone better for Embra. Oh please be Limmy...

[Oosp]

Anyone
Just saw that interviewer was Aisling Bea. How was it?

Interviewer for Birmingham was David Baddiel. Hope we get someone better for Embra. Oh please be Limmy...

It was excellent. Aisling is a great MC, just give her a stage and you're set. Turns out she's a super interviewer, too. And Bob was Bob. Thoughtful responses, funny anecdotes, plenty of nerd stuff for the writers. Audience Q+A (in the 2nd half) was via a QR code that led to an online form. No Mr. Show questions were picked - mostly Saul stuff, some about Nobody and a couple of general ones. All answers were really interesting  regardless.

He had to run off afterwards for a string of interviews + no book signing - not sure if that goes for all dates but Biden's staffers were staying in the hotel across the road so feds/cops everywhere. It was a weird day. You could buy the book in the lobby.

Loving the book.

PS did Baddiel kill the vibe in the end?

[Blue Jam]

Dunno because I wasn't at that one- we're getting Frankie Boyle!

https://www.fane.co.uk/bob-odenkirk

Aisling Bea in Dublin, Ellen E Jones in Liverpool, Sue Perkins in Brighton, Martin Freeman in London, Frankie Boyle in Edinburgh and Mel Giedroyc in Newcastle.

[Snrub]

PS did Baddiel kill the vibe in the end?

Posted in another thread that I heard second hand, Baddiel said - apparently not as a joke - he didn't want anyone asking questions about the final season of Saul as he hadn't seen it yet.

[Blue Jam]

Jeez, I know he was in Run Ronnie Run but still... I wonder if Baddiel has seen any of Bob and David's various sketches about Judaism (and he knows Bob's the Catholic one, right?)

Would love to see David Stubbs as the interviewer, he'd be as well-informed as Alan Sepinwall. Not a comedian and probably not famous enough though.

Pretty chuffed with the choice of Frankie Boyle for Embra though, that's a nice bonus.

[Blue Jam]

Anyone off to the Embra date tonight? We've thought of some questions that aren't about Breaking Bad and will report on any sightings of Tall Grey Ponytail Man (spotted him at the Garth Marenghi show last month).

[neveragain]

Got a ticket going for tomorrow night in Newcastle. 7.30pm, Tyne Theatre. £41 or nearest etc. Give me a PM if interested.

[neveragain]

Anyone at all?!

[Blue Jam]

Bumping this for you, @neveragain. Meh, I'd buy it off you in a heartbeat if I could make it.

Will write more later but it was a cracking night out. And TGPTM was present and correct.

[neveragain]

Thanks Blue Jam, but my partner - who had been bought a ticket but wasn't too fussed, having only seen some bits of Mr Show - has decided to come along anyway. So a happy ending.

[Blue Jam]

Yaaaaay have a wonderful time, and please report back!

[Blue Jam]

There was some discussion in the BCS thread about the rumours that The Bob was being considered for the role of Wonder Man's agent in the upcoming Marvel series, but just found this interview about the book tour and think it belongs here:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/bob-odenkirk-interview-better-call-saul-lucky-hank-b2313169.html

while he may feel like a sure-fire contender for Marvel's next fan-favourite character, don't expect to see Odenkirk in spandex any time soon. "I always like to keep things grounded, relatable and smaller. I don't think I'm built for that world," he suggests, bringing things nicely back to the traits that made his comedy, along with Better Call Saul and Lucky Hank, work so well. "I'm built for characters that make you feel like that guy could live next door."

Last night he talked about having a reputation for turning down roles before accepting the role of Saul Goodman. Turning down Marvel money sounds a bit daft, but on the other hand I can see why playing yet another charismatic sleazy agent may not have held that much appeal for him.

[neveragain]

Yaaaaay have a wonderful time, and please report back!

Here you go.

It was a wonderful night, a really fantastic evening that flew by. Bob is effortlessly funny and charmingly goofy. He entered through a trap door (which I don't think is a spoiler because not every venue will have one). Our host, surprisingly, was Katy Wix! Which was great. She seemed a bit nervous at first, I'm guessing the advertised Mel Giedroyc had dropped out late on, and it took a while for her and Bob to get a rapport.

I'll go into more detail about the show in spoiler tags.

Spoiler alert

After impishly appearing through the trap door, Bob read a piece called 'Letter From America' which I believe is from 'A Load of Hooey', his book of random articles and sketches. This cheesy patriotic song was playing in the background far too loudly, leading Bob frantically wave to try and get it down but to no avail.

He chatted to the audience for a while before bringing on Katy. He mentioned how he's never tried fish and chips because the photos outside the shops look disgusting, and I can see what he means. He also didn't know what the 'upon' in Newcastle upon Tyne meant and said it was "quite rude", thinking Tyne was an old city we had built Newcastle on top of. Katy mentioned that it was a river but Bob was adamant it didn't work and should be called Newcastle over Tyne, or Newcastle by Tyne. Much fun was had by all. He also said he had walked around and could tell it was a "town of strong, working people who just get on with it", reminding him of Chicago. So there you go.

"Of course you've got no guns here. Tell me, how do you kill people? Oh yes, I remember. Sausage rolls.... How does that work in a drive-by?"

Talked about the book. Better Call Saul got a lot of discussion, as did Monty Python happily. He went on about them for ages, which of course I didn't mind at all. Americans don't know what the word 'whinge' means.

Audience questions after the interval. Funny story about the snake wranglers working on BCS (who searched the area and removed any slitherers, taking them home funnily enough). When shooting in the desert with 'Mike', the wranglers couldn't find any, apparently because "it was just too hot for snakes". I forget a lot of the conversation, if anything interesting pops up, I'll let you know.

He gave a nice answer about trying a bit of everything (in the dramatic field) if you want to make it as an actor. Also, spoke about Jimmy McGill's character journey towards self-awareness. And how he feels Breaking Bad is top of the two shows, for having a more relatable central premise, e.g. mid-life crisis, as he put it.

He told the story about trying to smile in the Spielberg movie. Mentioned his showbiz friends are David Spade and Adam Sandler.

Katy jokingly asked if he had ever done a Christian Bale on-set (it made sense in context). He looked a bit cold and said "No, I would never do that ... He's an intense guy."

Got three people up at the end to read out funny rambling questions he had pre-written, leading to him giving answers about his heart attack, the fighting for Nobody (for which there's a sequel coming) and his love of The Royle Family. His joy for the show is really endearing, and for any comedy he talks about. Oh, that reminds me of a great bit where he talked about Bob Hope making innuendos ("Here's Gloria and her two beautiful friends"), adding, "Even aged seven, I thought You want to fuck her. Just tell her. Just say I want to fuck you. Don't involve me in this weirdness."

He ended with a gloriously stupid bit of semi-improvised silly Shakespeare then ran around the stage to the Benny Hill music, stopping to pat Katy on the head a few times, then two stomps like a pony on top of the trapdoor and he was away back under. A really fun night.

[close]

Afterwards, there was some sort of kerfuffle. Has Bob normally been signing anything? Me and my gang were waiting patiently at the stage door, with quite a few others, when we heard that Bob had came out through the front way. This was possibly to avoid us, which is fine, such things are an extra and I don't automatically expect performers to autograph a load of shit. Apparently though, a few people had approached Bob at the front and it would seem pushed Bob's wife Naomi (who has been travelling with him) out of the way to get closer for autographs. Or 'blocked her' as someone said. Due to this, Bob reportedly 'kicked off' quite rightly and was out of there. An odd ending to the night.

The thing he wouldn't have known though is the Tyne Theatre has a very small entrance and it would have been much easier to escape out the back. Unless he really wanted to avoid us rabid, clamouring fans.

[Blue Jam]

After impishly appearing through the trap door, Bob read a piece called 'Letter From America' which I believe is from 'A Load of Hooey', his book of random articles and sketches. This cheesy patriotic song was playing in the background far too loudly, leading Bob frantically wave to try and get it down but to no avail.

That would be the godawful God Bless The USA by Lee Greenwood, famously the song Donald Trump would use as walk-on music at his rallies, which I assumed was why Bob chose it. I also assumed that piece was written more recently, not read his earlier book and thought he'd just written something topical...

He also said he had walked around and could tell [Newcastle] was a "town of strong, working people who just get on with it", reminding him of Chicago.

Sorry to disappoint you but he said something very similar about Edinburgh: "It reminds me of Chicago- and that's a compliment by the way..."

Spoiler alert

"Of course you've got no guns here. Tell me, how do you kill people? Oh yes, I remember. Sausage rolls.... How does that work in a drive-by?"

[close]

Oh yes, he did that bit here too. Was a thrill to hear him do a bit of stand-up.

He gave a nice answer about trying a bit of everything (in the dramatic field) if you want to make it as an actor.

He got a few questions about acting from the Embra audience too, but one of the best was from Frankie Boyle himself, talking about how he'd been in a Beckett play and after every performance he could think "What could I have done better?" and improved on it the next night, while with TV and film there's no going back, I'd never thought considered that before.

Got three people up at the end to read out funny rambling questions he had pre-written, leading to him giving answers about his heart attack, the fighting for Nobody (for which there's a sequel coming) and his love of The Royle Family.

My question wasn't approved and I was mildly annoyed at that, but then I realised that it was because my question was pretty much "What does an American relate to with the Royle Family?" and he already had a very similar question and answer prepared :)

Afterwards, there was some sort of kerfuffle. Has Bob normally been signing anything? Me and my gang were waiting patiently at the stage door, with quite a few others, when we heard that Bob had came out through the front way. This was possibly to avoid us, which is fine, such things are an extra and I don't automatically expect performers to autograph a load of shit. Apparently though, a few people had approached Bob at the front and it would seem pushed Bob's wife Naomi (who has been travelling with him) out of the way to get closer for autographs. Or 'blocked her' as someone said. Due to this, Bob reportedly 'kicked off' quite rightly and was out of there. An odd ending to the night.

Ah, that's not on, Naomi is a GBOL- she wrote the Mr. Show book GODAMMIT! What Bob wrote about her in his book is very sweet, she comes across as his biggest supporter :)

I didn't give any thought to a spot of Bob-bothering, but one of the last times I was at The Usher Hall was for my PhD graduation, which was also attended by Princess Anne, Prince Albert of Monaco, and several men in black with earpieces ready to whisk them away in SUVs with tinted windows, so it seems like an ideal venue to escape fans and dash to the next stop on the tour. Meh, got a signed hardback anyway, and I probably would have just wet myself ;)

Glad you had fun!

[Blue Jam]

Oh, and this has already been posted in the thread for The Bear, but in case anyone missed it, SQUEEEEEE:

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/bob-odenkirk-the-bear-season-2-1235595584/

The Bear was already the best thing I'd watched in ages, this is the icing on the cake.