Biography
Clean-cut and perpetually dressed in tailored suits, comedian Bob Odenkirk was born in Illinois. He worked as a standup comic in Chicago before moving to New York and writing some of the best television comedy of his generation. From 1987-1991, he worked as a writer on
Saturday Night Live and earned his first Emmy nomination. Odenkirk then wrote for
The Ben Stiller Show and won his first Emmy award. He also wrote for
Get a Life,
The Larry Sanders Show,
Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and
Tenacious D. In addition, he played Stevie Grant on several episodes of
The Larry Sanders Show. During this period, he met up with comedian
David Cross and they became the team behind Mr. Show, an exceptional sketch comedy program that aired 1995-1998 on HBO. Along with Cross, Odenkirk was a host, writer, producer, and cast member. Although nominated for numerous awards, Mr. Show never won any. As an actor, Odenkirk appeared in small roles in such comedy features as
The Cable Guy,
Waiting for Guffman, and
Can't Stop Dancing. On television, he provided voices to a few cartoons and tried his hand at directing with the HBO series
The Near Future. After starring as Terry Twillstein in the unfortunate Run Ronnie Run!, he directed and starred in
Melvin Goes to Dinner in 2003. The talky comedy feature was based on a play by Michael Blieden and the poster features lovely drawings by Adrian Tomine; it won several awards at festivals. As a writer/director, Odenkirk went on to make some videos and TV shows. As an actor, he later starred in The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke and
My Big Fat Independent Movie. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide