Bob Odenkirk Almost Bought the BCS Car

Bob Odenkirk closes out the show with a question that nobody in the studio saw coming.

He asks Rich, sincerely, is football real. Not the game, the whole thing. When he was a kid, he thought professional wrestling was fun but not real. He asks if football is the same. Guys in outfits throwing the ball, running around. Really. Rich confirms football is, in fact, real. Odenkirk says sometimes he watches and thinks, that is not happening. Rich allows that Bears seasons can feel that way, for sure.

From there it becomes a parade of Better Call Saul artifacts. A Better Call Saul mug, brought by producer Vince. A Hamlin Hamlin and McGill notebook, which Odenkirk calls his favorite thing. The Lawyer Up license plate. And then the payoff, the Suzuki Esteem he drove in the show. He almost bought one. The production had four of them because they kept falling apart. It is apparently a popular car in India.

Odenkirk calls the Esteem a super powered golf cart and admits he almost tipped it over. One of the joys of acting, he says, is stunt driving. Directors do not always let him do it, but when the camera is on his face enough, he has to drive the car himself. He loves it. The street is blocked off. All the cars are picture cars, meaning you can hit them if the script calls for it. Anyone driving around during the shot is a stunt driver. You can hit the gas, you can turn the wheel, you can slam the brakes as hard as you want. It is a safe space to go nuts, and Odenkirk does.

The production team told him to be cool in the Esteem. He went as hard as he could anyway. Where else, he asks, do you get to do that. Never. Every time Saul squeals a car to a stop or rips around a corner, that is Odenkirk at the wheel.

The specific memory is the parking lot. He pulled in, turned hard, was moving fast, and caught serious kudos from the stunt team because he stopped the Esteem on a dime. He says it again for emphasis. On a dime.

The bit ends where it started, with Odenkirk asking about the realness of football and Rich letting him go. It is the kind of closing segment the show does well. Big name guest, small question, unexpected confession about nearly flipping a Suzuki.