Bob Odenkirk's Reflections On Fatherhood Are Making Us Super Emotional
“I knew what I was doing when I had kids growing up. I was being a dad.”
Some things are just always a treat. Ice cream on a warm summer night. A long weekend. The first day of sweater weather. And some people are always a treat, including comedians Mike Birbiglia and Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk. So when the two got together on the former’s Working It Out podcast (another treat, PS), I knew it was going to be fun... but I didn’t expect to get teary listening to Bob Odenkirk talk about fatherhood.
Odenkirk joined Birbiglia to discuss comedy writing (before making a name for himself as a dramatic actor, Odenkirk was a revered writer on Saturday Night Live, Conan O’Brien, Mr. Show and more), acting, and how anger and comedy can meld together in a given piece. But it was when Birbiglia asked who Odenkirk was jealous of that things took a kind of bittersweet turn.
“Anybody who’s still got little kids at home growing up,” Odenkirk replied. “There’s no question: I knew what I was doing when I had kids growing up. I was being a dad. I mean, that was my job, and I didn’t have to ask myself ‘What am I doing here? How can I be a part of this world? How can I be meaningful today?’ I didn’t have to ask that question because the f*cking answer is ‘Pick up everything between here and the door and make sure they get to school and have a laugh with them.’ Life was-... I understood my purpose.”
Birbiglia, who has a 10 year old daughter, quietly praised this as the “best answer” and... yeah, we agree.
Odenkirk then noted that while performing in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway earlier this year, his costars Kieran Culkin and Bill Burr are both dads to children under the age of 10.
“I envy them,” he continued. “I envy them, as stressed as they are, because they have to do this job and it takes them away, [but] you know who you are when you leave here. You absolutely know who you are. You’re a dad.”
Excuse me... I think my allergies are kicking up. That’s why my eyes are watering. I’m not crying. Shut up.
Odenkirk has two adult children, Nate and Erin. In 2023, he and Erin published a children’s book — Zilot and Other Important Rhymes — which was inspired by the poems Odenkirk wrote for and with his kids when they were small. Erin, a graduate of the Pratt Institute, illustrated.
“About 25 of these poems were written after the kids were grown up, but I had written most of the poems with a little kid by my side, sitting in my lap, where the kid would write a line or the kid would suggest the poem,” Odenkirk told Romper in 2023. “And so [to write the new ones] I really needed to try to think back to what kids are thinking about and feeling and what’s in their day. ... In the end, it’s defined by those two kids, Nate and Erin, when they were 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, helping me to think about how they saw the world.”
Sounds like they did a good job coloring how he saw his world, too...
Watch the full interview below.
