Bob Odenkirk Says Comedy Is About To Collapse
Bob Odenkirk knows comedy. He’s been a writer for Saturday Night Live, the Ben Stiller Show and the Dennis Miller Show. He created the sketch comedy classic “Mr. Show” with David Cross. He discovered Tim & Eric and produced their shows. His breakout character, Saul Goodman, on the AMC series “Breaking Bad” is getting a spin-off. Bob is also now an author with a new book of comedy essays available called “A Load of Hooey”. So when he tells young people that comedy is about to collapse, people are listening.
He was talking to Salon when he was asked about how to teach comedy writing. He answered – “I would say, get out of comedy, because it’s about to collapse.” There’s one style of comedy in particular, that he thinks is reaching the saturation point.
“I honestly think that in particular sketch comedy is having a heyday, which of course is wonderful. But also will end. So, what I would say to anybody is: What is the next thing that happens after sketch comedy has its heyday? And I don’t really know what that is, but it could be dramatic pieces, or it could be a different kind of… you see John Mulaney is trying to revive the smart-guy humor in an audience multi-camera sitcom. He got savaged in his reviews, but I think maybe people [could] go in that direction.”
He suggested that longer, more complex story telling could be the next big wave of comedy after sketch pieces. As for him, even though he’s predicted an end to it, he’s sticking with sketch writing. “Well, I can’t help myself. There’s something broken inside me. So I write sketch comedy, and I write these little comic pieces, and I will continue to do that because of the fault in my brain, whatever’s gone wrong up there.”
Maybe he’s just trying to keep the competition away. Good move Bob. Good move.
Bob Odenkirk’s new book, “A Load of Hooey” is available at Amazon and for information on Bob’s book signing tour, go to BobOdenkirk.com.
