Bob Odenkirk

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 990 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bob Odenkirk says he was never supposed to be an action hero, but he’s grateful for the way his career has turned out. Starting out as a sketch comedian, he never could have foreseen roles like Saul Goodman in “Better Call Saul” or Sheriff Ulysses in his newest film, “Normal.” He tells Rachel he takes none of it for granted, as he retraces his path from his humble Illinois roots.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a heads up, this episode does have some strong language.
0:04.2	When have you been in over your head?
0:06.9	Oh, many times, many, many times.
0:09.9	I don't want to look like an ass.
0:12.1	I don't want to do something that I can't do in front of everybody and then look terrible.
0:18.8	But I don't want to do that less than most people.
0:25.3	I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wild Card.
0:27.8	The show where cards control the conversation.
0:31.7	Each week, my guest answers questions about their life.
0:34.6	Questions pulled from a deck of cards.
0:36.6	They're allowed to skip one question and to flip one back on me.
0:40.1	My guest this week is Bob Odenkirk.
0:42.3	Bottom line, if I do it, and it's as embarrassing as I think it could be, who cares?
0:48.8	Who cares?
0:49.7	I was never supposed to be an action hero.
0:52.1	I'm a comedy writer.
0:53.5	I'll go write more comedy.
0:55.4	I'm pretty sure Bob Odenkirk is someone who enjoys breaking other people's expectations.
1:00.3	At his core, he's a sketch comedy guy.
1:02.5	Later, came a pivot to dramatic acting, with Breaking Bad and Benical Saul.
1:07.1	And now Bob Odenkirk is a bona fide action hero, and I'm here for all of it. His latest
1:13.9	contribution to the action genre is a movie called Normal. And I'm so happy to welcome Bob
	...

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