Better Call Saul had a rollercoaster ride of a final season, going to one dark place after another. Even throwing in another one of the funniest people on the planet only made it more bleak. No less than Carol Burnett, one of the all-time legends of comedy, swung by for four episodes to play Marion, the elderly mother of a cab driver who recognized Bob Odenkirk’s antihero when he’s passing himself off as Gene Takovic. Like Breaking Bad, Saul never pulled away from going there, but there was one thing that not even Odenkirk would do.
The Mr. Show alum was one of many high profile speakers at the birthday celebration Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love, which aired Wednesday night on NBC. Odenkirk told a story about how their final scene was supposed to play out, and how he helped change it.
“They rewrote this scene exactly how I wanted it, but not how your so-called good friend Better Call Saul executive producer Vince Gilligan had written it,” Odenkirk jokingly told Burnett and crowd.
“Carol, there’s something that you should know,” he explained. “Vince wanted my character to kill you in that scene. Look at him, he’s shaking his head. His exact words to me were, ‘Saul ends up killing Carol Burnett.’ And if I remember correctly, he didn’t say, ‘Kill Carol’s character,’ he said, ‘Kill Carol Burnett.’ But I refused, and I told him I’d walk.
“Carol,” he continued, “I was willing to risk my career and never working in this town again. Because I didn’t want little children who watched our show — and I hope many of them did — to see me on the street and say, ‘Mommy, that’s the man who killed Carol Burnett.’ That’s all I wanted to say. That I’m your real friend and Vince is not. And one more thing, Vince and I, and everybody on our show, we think you’re the greatest.”
Odenkirk has played characters who’ve done plenty of questionable things over his storied career, but he’s right: No one wants to be known for killing Carol freakin’ Burnett.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
