Bob Odenkirk Secretly Recorded Jeremy Irons Yelling At Him Over SNL Monologue
Bob Odenkirk reveals he once secretly recorded Jeremy Irons yelling at him over a bad SNL monologue. Odenkirk nowadays is an Emmy nominee for his lead role on the acclaimed AMC series Better Call Saul. He can also currently be seen doing a full-on action hero turn in the feature film Nobody.
But of course long before becoming thought of as a serious dramatic actor thanks to his roles on the hit Breaking Bad spinoff Saul as well as his bruising new movie Nobody, there was a time when Odenkirk was actually best known for comedy. In fact, Odenkirk’s big break in entertainment was on the HBO comedy series Mr. Show, which he co-created and starred in along with David Cross. Before that, Odenkirk toiled away as a writer on everything from Saturday Night Live to The Ben Stiller Show to Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
It was actually Odenkirk’s stint on Saturday Night Live in the early ‘90s that led to one of the actor’s more memorable encounters with another esteemed thespian. Appearing on Howard Stern, Odenkirk told about the time Oscar-winner Irons hosted SNL and flew into a rage over a bit written for him by Odenkirk and Rob Schneider. Odenkirk said, “Schneider and I had written this monologue, I think. And it wasn’t great. He was right. He was really mad. He was so mad.” Odenkirk then revealed that he actually made a recording of Irons’ tantrum over the monologue:
He was really mad, and Howard I taped it. I had a little recorder and I taped it. Cause I loved it so much. And he was right, God bless him. It wasn’t a great monologue. But he was a trooper. I’ve played [the tape] for many people, I don’t know where it is now. It’s at the bottom of a bin somewhere. But it exists.
Irons’ appearance on SNL came on March 23, 1991 when he was in the thick of his campaign to win an Oscar for his starring role in the film Reversal of Fortune. It’s unlikely that the terrible monologue he performed on the show helped him, but he did ultimately go on to win the Best Actor award just two days after hosting SNL. These days, Irons is probably best known for playing Alfred the Butler in various DCEU movies, including the recently released Justice League Snyder Cut.
Indeed Irons and Odenkirk are in very different places career-wise than they were in 1991 when they had their unfortunate encounter on SNL. Irons is still renowned for many of his earlier acting roles, but seldom finds himself in awards conversations these days. Odenkirk on the other hand has become a highly respected and award-nominated dramatic actor whose life as a comedy writer now seems very far in the past. It’s incredibly amusing in light of this to imagine Irons yelling at Odenkirk over a bad comedy bit, especially when you consider that now Odenkirk is without question the hotter name in acting. Of course, everyone wants Odenkirk to go ahead and release the recording he made of Irons on SNL all those years ago, though he’s probably too respectful to do such a thing.
Source: Howard Stern/YouTube