Bob Odenkirk worked our funny bone long before becoming a small-screen icon.
Odenkirk teamed with comedian David Cross for "Mr. Show with Bob and David," a mid-90s cult hit. He also wrote for "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "The Ben Stiller Show."
That's a heckuva comic resume, one he set aside to become Saul Goodman on "Breaking Bad" and, later, "Better Call Saul." It's a skill set that shouldn't fade with time, and he shares a few darkly comic moments in the "Nobody" film franchise.
Now, Odenkirk is weighing in on "dude bro" comedy, and he sounds as clueless as a Teen Vogue editor riffing on John Wayne.
Can a funny bone break and never heal?
Odenkirk, 63, spoke to The New York Times' "Interview" podcast about select comedy strains, and he targeted "manosphere" performers like Matt Rife and Joe Rogan (although he didn't mention any by name).
"It’s definitely about low-hanging fruit — big time … It’s like literally on the ground. It’s fruit that’s on the ground rotting."
He wasn’t done.
"I don’t think it has a lot of depth to it … It’s a movement that I’m happy to see transforming into something else and disappearing or dissipating."
That’s a taste issue, of course. A 60-something gent might not appreciate, say, Howard Stern in his prime. Still, Odenkirk ignores a key reason for that brand of humor’s ascension.
The culture is attacking masculinity on multiple fronts. Think the “girlboss” Hollywood trope where female characters emasculate their male co-stars or physically overpower men twice their size. What about the very notion of “toxic masculinity,” where essential male traits are considered problematic, or worse.
It's one reason young men align themselves with uber-male grifters like Andrew Tate, sadly.
Plus, comedians were told male-centered topics were off limits for far too long. Has Odenkirk weighed in on woke mania or Cancel Culture run amok? Perhaps he was too busy cashing those AMC checks for his dramatic work.
Later, he shared his thoughts on comedians using their art to say something profound … or just profoundly silly.
If you want to say something honest, then you should get off a comedy stage … everything you say is of construct. Everything ... If you really want people to understand it directly, you should get off that comedy stage and say it somewhere else.
That ignores decades of thought-provoking comedy from satirists like George Carlin, Mort Sahl, Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks. These comedians used their craft to rile up audiences, share something profound or simply draw attention to societal ills. Comedy can often slice through our defenses and speak to essential truths.
Lenny Bruce paved the way for stand-up comedians to be bold and blunt, suffering for his art in the process.
Yes, comic legends constructed characters and scenarios to illustrate their points, but some of the most profound cultural statements have come from their sets. Just because Jimmy Kimmel and friends have turned political comedy into rank propaganda, comedic geniuses have been lighting our way for decades.
Let's hope they never stop.
Doesn’t Odenkirk understand that? Shouldn't he know more about that than most people?
