Bob Odenkirk appears in a new audiobook interview series, How to be Amazing, with Michael Ian Black (available free through Audible until March 8) where he talked a little bit about his time as a writer for Saturday Night Live. Odenkirk began his stint with SNL at the tender age of 25, working there from 1987 to 1991 and again in 1993 as well as in the 1994-95 season.
Those were some amazing years for SNL, and as we now know, Odenkirk was responsible for Chris Farley’s “Matt Foley” character. Yet, as he tells Michael Ian Black, the Better Call Saul star said that he didn’t fully appreciate the experience or his boss Lorne Michaels at the time.
A big part of the challenge I had at Saturday Night Live was my own immaturity. I brought a lot of challenge to the show just because I was a person who was confrontational and suspicious of the establishment.
When I was there, I treated Lorne like a boss, like the boss of some dumb job I had. Only after I left did I go: the guy’s a creative guy and he created that show and he oversees the creative side of it, and he does overall a pretty damn good job. But I was like, ‘Who the f— is this guy to tell me who’s funny? F— him.’ I was a dick.
Eh, I hope the guy doesn’t beat himself up. It seems like that’s kind of par for the course for anyone starting out in a career. Sure, we all can’t be as fortunate as having “not ready for prime time” as one of our early professional experiences, but who doesn’t graduate college, get some entry-level job and think to themselves, “F*ck this sh*t. I’m too good for this.” Let he who has never been an asshole 25-year-old cast the first stone.
