Bob Odenkirk Says Getting Hired On ‘SNL’ At 25 Was “Existentially Dangerous”

Bob Odenkirk recently opened up about his experience as a writer on Saturday Night Live, a gig he got when he was only 25.

“I was unsure of myself. It was hard,” he told comedian Tig Notaro on her podcast. “It was existentially dangerous. I had feelings of ‘I should erase myself.'”

The context of the conversation was advice the Better Call Saul star had recently given to his 24-year-old son, who also wants to be a comedy writer.

“I was too young when I got hired at SNL,” Odenkirk continued. “That was not a good thing. That could’ve gone wrong. That could’ve gone so wrong. It came this close so many times to going so wrong. You gotta believe me. And it’s hard for kids to believe you when you say, ‘I had no f***ing clue what I was doing and I was scared outta my wits for years.'”

His time from 1987-1991 on SNL wasn’t all post-teen angst, though. After writing the character “Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker,” for Chris Farley pre-SNL, the duo brought it to the show. In an episode of Hot Ones, Odenkirk said that his time working on Chris Farley’s Matt Foley sketches was “most fun I had in show business.”