‘That’s just a reason to be doing this’

Bob Odenkirk took on his action-packed role in 2021’s Nobody in part to show his former Saturday Night Live colleagues a new side of him.

Stopping by the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, Odenkirk told his longtime pal O’Brien some of the reasons why he decided to delve into the action world. For starters, he said he was interested in getting free gym sessions.

He was also motivated by the thought of O’Brien, “[Robert] Smigel and [Adam] Sandler and everybody I knew from comedy” seeing his performance in Nobody.

“I thought of you guys often when I was exercising and thinking that’s just a reason to be doing this is if I could pull it off,” he said. “That would blow my friends’ minds.”

Nobody follows Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk), an assassin turned mild-mannered family man, who has to save his family after they become targets of a vengeful crime lord.

The Better Call Saul star said he kept picturing David Spade watching and reacting to the movie.

“I kept thinking about Spade, I don’t know why,” he joked. “He would go see it and go like, ‘What the f—?'”

O’Brien recalled Odenkirk telling him about Nobody before it premiered. The former Tonight Show host admitted that he didn’t think much of it until he saw the film.

“When it came out, I was just, ‘Oh, he’s so good at this,'” O’Brien said.

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In fact, O’Brien enjoyed the film so much that he asked the Breaking Bad actor for a cameo in the upcoming sequel. While Nobody 2 comes out on Aug. 15, it doesn’t appear that the comedian got his wish. He requested a third installment be made so he could join the cast.

“I just want to be beaten,” he said. “I want someone to beat the s— out of me.”

Listen to the full episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend with Bob Odenkirk below.

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