It’s always fascinating when we find out just how small Hollywood can be sometimes. Not only is half of Hollywood married to or related to a Baldwin, a Masterson, or a Phillips, but if you’re in the comedy world, you’re probably somehow connected to Bob Odenkirk, either through Saturday Night Live (where he was a writer), Mr. Show, The Ben Stiller Show, or because Bob Odenkirk’s wife is your manager.
In a profile in Playboy magazine this month, they explored the marriage of Bob and Naomi Odenkirk (pictured above, next to Bob). First of all, it’s fascinating to think of Saul Goodman as a real guy with a real family, and believe it or not, his now wife pretty much stalked him for a year and a half before he even noticed her. They’ve got two kids now, and back in the day, Kristen Wiig used to babysit for them. Wiig is now a client of Naomi Odenkirk, along with several other big names in comedy.
In addition to Wiig, Odenkirk represents Bill Hader, Jenna Fischer from The Office, Casey Wilson, and Derek Waters from Comedy Central’s Drunk History, as well as Bob Odenkirk himself. Naomi’s very first client? Stephanie Courtney, who we best know as Flo from the Progressive Auto Insurance commercials, who also used to babysit Odenkirk’s kids along with Wiig.
Most importantly, it was Naomi Odenkirk who convinced her husband Bob to take the role of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad. From Playboy:
Not long after they learned how to handle professional business at home, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan called. He wanted Bob, who had never seen the AMC series before, to play Saul for the show’s second season. It was Naomi who pushed him to say yes. “He had to see himself through different eyes,” Naomi says. “On Breaking Bad, he just showed up as an actor. He didn’t write it; he didn’t create it. He had to come to terms with a paradigm shift of his career from a director and creator of comedy. It was interesting to see him embrace an opportunity like that and go with it.”
His Breaking Bad character became so beloved that he’s heading back to Albuquerque to film a spinoff series, Better Call Saul, which is slated to premiere in November. (It also begat other opportunities, like his role as Will Forte’s brother, Ross, in the Oscar-nominated film Nebraska.) The project, however, will take him away for five months from his wife and kids.
In other words, we basically have Naomi Odenkirk to thank for not only the careers of Bill Hader — who she discovered — and Kristen Wiig, but for the existence of Better Call Saul.
I think I may love her.
Source: Playboy
