Bob Odenkirk recently dropped by the Office Ladies podcast hosted by “The Office” actors Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, and discussed just how a-okay he is about not landing a role that earned Steve Carell as many Primetime Emmy wins as “Better Call Saul” did for him (that would be a grand total of zero). “I am, in a strange way, a very earnest person for a person in comedy,” said Odenkirk. “I am oddly earnest. It’s one of the reasons I think Steve Carell […] is the one who got the role.”
Odenkirk, who was briefly castmates with Carell on the way-ahead-of-its-time “The Dana Carvey Show,” added that this wasn’t the first time the two were in competition for a part. As he told Fischer and Kinsey:
“There were other parts that I think I was up for that Steve got, and it’s because he’s better at being genuinely fun. I think I bring with me a little bit too much earnest seriousness, and it’s just kinda there. And there’s nothing I can do about it except play other roles where it’s helpful to have that. And, you know, you just don’t believe me as a purely light character. You just are looking for the darkness, and that’s actually great in drama. That’s a plus, you know? But in comedy, it’s not a plus.”
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to live in the timeline where Odenkirk gets cast as Michael Scott, and thus never plays Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” Everyone –- Carell, Odenkirk and television viewers –- won big here. As for that proposed “The Office” spinoff from Greg Daniels, maybe let’s not press our luck.
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