The actor who plays crooked lawyer Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad looks back on a long career, recounting the highs and lows of a life in comedy and drama on the big and small screens.
Though Odenkirk, 59, has had plenty of successes, Comedy is largely a study in the sad-clown paradox, a story about moody tenacity in the face of either fear of failure or failure itself ... Comedy isn’t exactly intended to be ha-ha funny, though it sometimes is. More often, it seems that Odenkirk wants to fire off some warning flares to comics who might want to follow in his footsteps ... Perhaps inevitably, Comedy gets less interesting as Odenkirk becomes an actor who hears yes more often ... Underneath that placid surface, some sad-clown stuff lurks, despite Odenkirk’s efforts to compartmentalize it ... The dad stuff keeps popping up in the memoir like a jump scare ... Of course, a deep dive into daddy issues isn’t what readers want out of a comedian’s memoir. The sad-clown paradox demands you tamp down the sad part, even when your job is to talk about your inner life.
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama serves as a readable reminder why so many people last summer rooted for the recovery of its hugely talented author ... he is routinely generous about his collaborators. He writes at one point that 'to me, the best comedy has an anger in it,' and it is perhaps a lack of rage that explains why this memoir tends toward the droll rather than the hilarious. Still, for those seeking a firsthand account of the '90s alternative-comedy scene from one of its prime movers, it's hard to think of a better book upon which to call.
Odenkirk recounts fascinating and humorous behind-the-scenes stories from the many sets he's worked on, plus insights about big names in entertainment, including Chris Farley, Garry Shandling, and Janeane Garofalo, whom he credits as the founder of alternative comedy ... Odenkirk's account of triumph, struggle, and his firm belief that comedy is a unifying source of connection will inspire his fans and motivate aspiring entertainers.