State of the Unions
are a vestige of a time that's long gone.
Like, before technology,
you needed the president to come and do that.
Now we don't need it.
Like, what's the president gonna come and tell you?
"Inflation is high." Yeah, we know.
We know. Back in the day though, you needed the president
to come and be like, "Guys, so there's a new disease.
"It's called tuberculosis. This shit is coming for you guys
and..." And then you're like, "Tuberc... (coughs)
What's that?" "Uh, too late for you, my man."
"All right, uh, next State of the Union."
You know what I mean? Like, it was, like, a thing.
Now the president just comes to tell you stuff.
It seems like the president is reading, like, Twitter
but, like-like, a year late.
And the president's like, "Aw,
you know, we saw people in the streets protesting."
"Uh, my man, we-we-we've-- we already saw that."
It's like, "Sorry, guys, I-I print all my tweets,
and then I read them a year later."
"The state of the union is strong."
One year, just one year,
the president should see people aren't listening, be like,
"Guys, yo, this shit is...
"this shit is crazy.
"I-I mean, I-I-- Like, I hope we get stronger,
but this shit is crazy, man."
At the State of the Union.
"Eh! Eh!
"Eh!
"Eh! Have you guys seen the price of gas?
"Eh! Have you seen what's happening in Russia?
"Eh! Eh, I don't know, man.
"I don't know. (stammers) State of the Union.
"We'll get by. Okay?
"We'll get by. I just want to be honest with you guys.
"We're a country, right?
"We don't have to lie about these things, yeah?
Yeah? You guys want to go get a drink after this?"
(laughs)
-♪ ♪ -ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from the heart of Times Square,
in New York City,
the only city in America,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight, the world boycotts Russia,
Black State of the Union,
and Bob Odenkirk.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Hey! What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Trevor Noah.
We are now on day six of Russia invading Ukraine
for no particular reason.
So let's jump straight into the latest news
in our ongoing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
♪ ♪
As we all know,
Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine last week.
And if you didn't know that,
well, then that opening graphics thing
must have been a really weird way for you to find out.
But, anyway, when Russia first launched this invasion,
what seems more and more plausible
is that they thought Ukrainians would just be like,
"Eh, Russia, Ukraine-- what's the difference? Come on in."
But quite the opposite has happened.
Ukrainians have stood strong.
They've united in their defense.
And because of that,
Russia has really ramped up their attacks.
NEWSMAN: This morning, Russia escalating its attacks,
striking civilian targets
in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv.
An administrative building targeted with a massive strike.
Multiple social media videos from the scene showing
the attack by Kharkiv's Freedom Square.
Human Rights Watch pointing to this video online,
accusing the Russians of using cluster bombs on the city.
If verified, an attack on civilian areas
would be a war crime.
NEWSMAN 2: Now the capital itself
may be in a crosshairs of an all-out battle.
New satellite images show
a massive 40-mile Russian military convoy
on the move from the north.
Russia's advance is leaving a trail of destruction
in its path,
wrecking villages and suburbs on the way.
Holy shit.
That looks terrifying.
You see the bombs dropping on the parking lot.
The building-- Yo, they just blew it up.
Everything. Everything blown to smither--
And this, by the way, is before,
before the 40-mile-long convoy gets there,
the one that's heading to Kyiv.
Think about that for a second.
Like, this is-- this is so unfair.
And d-- I mean, we've always known that Russia is unfair.
We know that. They don't play fair.
I mean, they sent an actual steroid
to compete in the Olympics.
But this is beyond unfair.
This is a war crime.
And, if anything, it's exposed Russia's lies
about why they're coming to Ukraine.
"Oh, we're coming to liberate the Ukrainian people."
From what? From what, having a place to stay?
It's no wonder that the entire world no longer wants anything
to do with Russia, and the more Putin escalates,
the more the world backs away.
NEWSMAN: Backlash against Russia
from the business sector and beyond.
Local and national businesses,
sports and even the arts are pushing back.
NEIL CAVUTO: Just seconds ago we got word
that Apple is now officially banning all product sales
in Russia.
NEWSMAN 3: Meanwhile, ice skating's world governing body
has suspended Russian and Belarusian skaters
from participating in international competition
effective immediately.
NEWSMAN 3: As for entertainment, Warner Brothers
has halted the release of The Batman in Russia.
Disney and Sony also announced
that they would pause film releases in Russia.
Finally, Netflix will not plan
to add Russian state TV channels to its service,
despite a new law in the country
that requires that they to do so.
Yup, in addition to cutting off Russia's banking
and its travel, the world is now cutting off its access
to technology and entertainment.
And honestly, as much as I agree
with movie companies cutting off the Russians,
I don't think they've gone far enough.
Like, if you really want to punish Russia,
you shouldn't just block new movies.
They should rerelease old movies,
but without any of the good parts, you know?
Yeah. It should just be like,
"Now showing in Moscow theaters, it's Star Wars,
"but just Jar Jar Binks.
"The Matrix, but Neo never leaves the office.
And M. Night Shyamalan's Old."
They don't have to change anything for that one.
They just leave it the way it is and send it to Russia.
But between getting kicked out of international sports
and losing access to Western products,
Russians are going to start noticing
that the life that they're used to has changed
because of Vladimir Putin's decision.
Although, Putin is trying to fill that void himself.
MAN (with Russian accent): Are you worried
about movie not playing in Russia?
Well, do not worry, or we throw you in jail.
Now Russia have many great TV and movie to watch,
thanks to new streaming service-- Nyetflix.
Like new hit show-- Putin Big Table Talk,
number one show about Putin talking at big table.
So what if Russia banned from World Cup?
We don't care. You watch more exciting sport.
Putin play hockey.
He's best hockey player in the world.
-If you no think that, he throw you in jail. -(jail door slams)
And who need Western Batman when we have Russian Batman--
Vladimir Putin?
You watch him practicing judo. He's same as Batman.
Sign up for Nyetflix today, or else you can watch in jail.
(jail door slams)
Now, despite all of the destruction
that Russia's inflicting on Ukraine,
the president of Ukraine is still standing strong.
Today he delivered a speech via satellite to the European Union
where he vowed
that Ukraine would never surrender its freedom.
And he received a standing ovation for the speech.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Russia gave a speech
to the United Nations Human Rights Council,
and most of the diplomats stood up
and walked out of the speech in protest.
Which I mean, to be fair, nobody wants to hear a speech
about respecting human rights
from someone who's currently bombing civilians.
It's like the guys from Jackass giving a lecture
about testicle safety.
In fact, the way things are going these days,
there's a decent chance that any speech
by Russia is just gonna end with,
"And so, in conclusion,
"lock the doors and release the poison.
Thank you for attending my talk."
Now, as for the people of Ukraine,
everyone around the world has been inspired
by the resistance that they've put up so far.
You know, and their ability to tell Russia
to go (bleep) itself in so many different ways.
NEWSOMAN: We've seen powerful images posted to social media
showcasing the courage of ordinary Ukrainian people.
NEWSMAN 2: We see Ukrainians coming out, manning checkpoints,
taking their hunting rifles, shotguns,
standing next to Ukrainian troops.
They are cutting down road signs by the roadside
in an attempt to confuse advancing Russian troops.
NEWSWOMAN: It's a popular sentiment on the streets.
This man's sign is too vulgar to translate.
Smatko is a grandmother and a retired economist.
These are the only weapons she has,
but she says she's ready to fight.
"Let those Russian shits come here," she says,
"We're ready to greet them."
NEWSMAN: This shows what is purported to be
a Ukrainian farmer attempting to tow a Russian tank
off his land with his tractor.
[people speaking indistinctly]
Do you have a message for President Putin?
[Woman speaking foreign language]
Putin [extended beep]...
You know what I love about the "bleep" sound? It's that
no matter what language you speak around the world,
you always know what it means.
Yeah, because if I tell you to [extended beep] river,
you can safely assume that I wasn't
wishing you a happy birthday.
And yo, that shit was crazy. Did you see that?
This is the middle of a war.
That farmer towed a Russian tank away with his tractor.
That is... the most gangsta thing on the farmer's side,
and it's the most embarrassing thing for the Russian soldier.
I mean, especially the way-- like, he's chasing after them
like the cops just towed his car.
"Oh, come on, I was about to feed the meter!"
And despite the overwhelming odds,
you have to respect the fight, man.
You have to respect the fight that the Ukrainian people
are putting up. Civilians are grabbing shotguns.
Farmers are towing tanks.
Like, one thing we are learning from this war is
if you're gonna invade a country,
maybe don't pick the one where the grandmas know how to
turn their knitting into a fire bomb.
"Oh, you look thirsty. How about a drink!"
But, as brave as these people are, everyone is still terrified
about the potential outcome of this war.
And that's mainly because the madman who has launched it
is really, really, really unpredictable.
Growing fears about the mental stability of Vladimir Putin
as Russia pushes ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.
One American familiar with the intelligence telling CNN,
"Putin has been completely isolated, partly because of
"COVID. He is now just basically by himself,
"completely cut off from most of his advisers,
"isolated geographically... the only people talking to him are
sycophants who are just feeding his resentment."
NEWSMAN: We saw new images that show the lengths Putin has gone
in recent weeks to isolate and socially distance himself
from others, even his closest advisers and cabinet members.
We're seeing him sitting at the end of a very long table.
Those long tables have become his trademark,
and his aides are clustered all together on one end,
he sits by himself on the other.
U.S. intelligence has learned that Putin
has exploded in anger at people in his inner circle,
expressing frustration over the state of the military campaign
in Ukraine and the worldwide condemnation of his actions.
That's unusual, they say,
because, as a former intelligence officer,
Putin usually keeps his emotions in check.
Yeah, apparently, Putin is really pissed off
because this invasion is not going how he planned.
And this is a big deal, because usually
Vladimir Putin doesn't show any emotions.
Like, if you've ever seen him, he's always got this
weird combination of being super calm
and also super dangerous.
Like a cobra that took too many edibles.
You know, it's just like...
(hisses weakly)
You do a cobra on weed.
And, you know, it actually makes sense. It makes sense
that people haven't seen Putin show his emotions before,
because, remember, Vladimir Putin is a trained spy.
Spies have to keep their emotions in check.
Like, even if a spy goes to a party and at that party
they're serving pigs in a blanket, you can't freak out
and get all excited like normal people. You can't be like,
"Oh shit, they got pigs in a blanket!"
No, you can't do that. You got to be like,
(Russian accent): "Yeah, pigs in blanket. It's okay, I guess.
Yeah, give me, like, seven."
(normal accent): But, you know, it does make sense.
It makes complete sense that he's lashing out now.
Remember this, Putin doesn't know what it's like to lose.
He "wins" every reelection without campaigning.
He "wins" judo matches against world champions.
Now, suddenly, he's having trouble
beating a country that's a fraction of the size of his?
No wonder he's mad.
And by the way, this war shows you the big difference
between a guy like Trump and a man like Putin.
'Cause, like, as bad as Trump was,
he never had the vision and the focus that Putin has.
You know? Putin's dream is to reunite the Soviet Union
and turn Russia back into the super power that it was.
The only dream Trump ever had
was to combine a-a Big Mac with a bucket of KFC. Yeah.
That's probably what he made Area 51 work on.
"Forget the alien autopsies, this is more important.
"We need to get the chicken inside the meat.
Deep in it, tender."
The point is this, the point is that anyone in the world
can be a madman.
But once you add power and vision--
that's where shit gets real.
But please, please, I beg you,
don't confuse Putin with Russia.
Because although he's in charge, there are a lot of people
in Russia who don't like their president or his war,
and they have also been displaying
some extraordinary courage.
Resistance to Russia's attack on Ukraine is growing,
and not just around the world, but also within its own borders.
NEWSMAN: Anti-war protesters risking their safety
here in St. Petersburg. It's one of many protests
across the country, as Russian authorities
have detained nearly 6,000 people--
grandmothers, teenagers, women, you name it.
NEWSWOMAN: Some saying they'd would rather risk arrest
than live with guilt.
"I want the whole world to see that we don't want it,"
this woman says.
Powerful signals of an awakening to aggression and injustice.
NEWSWOMAN 2: "No war, please."
This is what a number of athletes
and celebrities are advocating for.
Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev asking for peace
after his win Friday.
NEWSMAN 2: Hundreds of journalists signing a petition.
Uh, the director of the Bolshoi Ballet
signing a petition. Even the children of oligarchs
and of Kremlin officials speaking out on social media
against the war.
NEWSMAN 3: And a Russian lawmaker, who voted
with President Putin just this week, now saying
"I didn't vote for Kyiv to be bombed."
Man, you got to give people credit
to people protesting this war, because
you know how brave it is to speak up against Russia
inside Russia?
Like, I'm not even in Russia,
and I'm gonna test my coffee for poison after the show.
Like, you know, it's-it's always funny how people in America
think the world has ended when they get banned from Twitter.
But think about it-- in Russia they don't delete your Twitter,
they delete your life.
And it's not just many Russian civilians
who are against the war. No.
One reason the invasion might not go as well as Russia
has hoped is that even some of its own soldiers
reportedly don't want to be there.
Many of them thought they were just doing military exercises,
and they weren't even told that they were being sent into war.
Just think about that.
I mean, I think we can all agree
that war is the worst kind of surprise there is.
I mean, well, that and the reveal on Love Is Blind.
"Oh, you have a face tattoo in the shape of a goatee.
I'm so happy."
So, even within Russia,
people are standing up and risking their lives
to stop a unjust war,
which is probably why Putin is resorting
to things like this.
NEWSMAN: Putin is ramping up efforts
to control the narrative at home,
banning media from characterizing
Russia's attack on Ukraine as an assault,
invasion or declaration of war.
Instead, state-run media propaganda
paints Ukraine as Nazi aggressors
and Putin as Russia's defender.
NEWSWOMAN: Russian state TV has not been showing
Russian forces attacking Kyiv or attacking Kharkiv.
Russians who watch TV don't really see
all the things that are going on in Ukraine.
NEWSMAN 2: We have seen crackdowns on social media
over the last couple of days.
Twitter has been operating at an absolutely sluggish pace.
The Russian government has said it will censor
parts of Facebook.
Wow. So, not only is Putin cracking down on dissent
but he's lying about what's actually happening.
Yeah. He's even banning the media
from calling it an assault, an invasion or a war.
All of the things that it is, by the way.
Which means Russian newscasters
must be, like, deep in their thesaurus.
How do you even describe this?
"Now to our ongoing coverage
"of the, uh, international bullet exchange
taking place in Ukraine right now?"
What's crazy about this whole thing
is how Russia isn't banning Twitter.
Did you see that? They said they're just slowing it down.
Like, really slowing it down.
Which I feel like is somehow worse.
You know? I mean, if you ban Twitter,
fine. You've banned it.
At least that way, people get, you know, time.
You'll be more productive. You know how productive
I would be if Twitter suddenly disappeared?
I'd have so much more time to watch TikTok.
So, look, people,
there's really no sugarcoating the situation right now.
Despite the bravery of Ukraine
and the efforts around the world to punish Russia,
this invasion might get a lot worse
before it gets better.
And if Putin is as crazy as he seems,
our only hope at this point
is that, like, some hero Ukrainian farmer
will come tow him and his giant-ass table away
as far as possible.
All right, we got to take a quick break,
but when we come back, we'll hear
Roy Wood Jr.'s address on the state of Black shit.
You don't want to miss it.
MAN: Then you need Tyranol.
This miracle pill can help you go from this...
It might be worth asking, "Why do I hate Putin so much?"
-Why do you care about people... -Why do I care what's going on
-in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? -Because...
And why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which I am.
MAN: ...to this.
Vladimir Putin started this war.
He is to blame for what we're seeing tonight in Ukraine.
MAN: Tyranol works by invading your sovereign mind
and attacking any previously held memories or beliefs.
Just listen to this satisfied customer.
Vladimir Putin is a very talented statesman.
I consider him a elegantly sophisticated counterpart.
We've seen a Russian dictator
now terrorize the Ukrainian people.
MAN: And if you've been praising Putin for years,
then try Tyranol extended-release.
Putin has done an amazing job.
Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama.
President Putin was extremely strong and powerful.
President Putin is sharp.
Here's a guy who's very savvy. I know him very well.
You have not only Putin.
You have other people that are stone-cold murderers
and thugs and dictators that are very dangerous.
MAN: Tyranol extended-release is not 100% effective.
Tyranol may cause side effects
including permanent resting constipation face
in some patients.
It's time to stop regretting and start forgetting.
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Joe Biden has just finished
his State of the Union speech tonight,
and we didn't see it because I couldn't find the remote
until after it was over,
so we'll just have to cover it tomorrow.
But, as always, when the president talks
about the State of the Union,
we at The Daily Show offer our annual response,
where we cover the issues that are of special importance
to Black America.
So please rise your ass off the couch
as Roy Wood Jr. delivers the Daily Show's annual
State of Black Shit address.
♪ ♪
-(applause) -Good evening, Black people,
African Americans,
and the new and improved Brown M&M!
I'm coming to you from one of the Blackest locations
in America, on top of one of those houses
from the Super Bowl halftime show.
As I speak to you,
Snoop Dogg is 12 feet below me,
high as hell, no idea
that the Super Bowl ended two, three weeks ago.
But, tonight, Black people,
we are gathered to once again ask ourselves the question,
where we is?
The past year has been an interesting one
for our community. Mm-hmm.
Black people got a lot of what we've been fighting for,
just not in the way we had hoped.
New York City's got a Black mayor,
but he's a cop.
Black athletes made history,
but it was at the Winter Olympics.
I don't know how to do none of that shit.
Black people got out of prison,
but one of 'em was Bill Cosby.
It's the last time Black folks make a wish
with an evil genie coming out of a bottle of vodka.
Lesson learned.
Now, of course, 2020 was the year of Black progress,
which meant 2021 was the year
of white people freaking out about Black progress.
White people spent the last year furious at the idea
that their children might have to learn that racism exists,
and voting rights are disappearing around the country,
and they're not going to be easy to restore.
We may need to get whoever brought back LeBron's hair
to lead the fight.
But Black folks have also seen our fair share
of triumphs over the past year.
Obama's white friend turned Juneteenth
into a national holiday. That's right.
No more faking sick to celebrate Juneteenth.
You walk in that job and you look your white supervisor in
the face and you say, "Slavery!" and you hit the door.
From now on, faking sick is just for the days that I'm hungover.
So, for that, we say thank you, President Biden.
And also Vice President Harris... if we can find her.
She's kind of doing a Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar "lay low"
thing, where we only hear from her once or twice a year.
Respect, Queen.
2021 also saw Black folk make progress in
non-traditional Black spaces, like spelling bees.
Over the summer, Zaila Avant-garde became the first
African-American to ever win the Spelling Bee,
which I think is g-r-a-t-e.
Black people also took time to get our minds right this year,
because being Black can be taxing on your mental health.
You've constantly got to be thinking about racism,
or whether or not they're gonna reboot Martin.
That's why Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles made headlines
when they took a step back from their sports
to take care of their mental health.
Black athletes appreciated Osaka and Biles
setting an example for them, and the white athletes
who were competing against Osaka and Biles
appreciated the chance to win for a change.
But enough about the past.
Because we are here
to talk about the future.
And the future looks bright for Black America.
-(brief applause) -In the entertainment world,
we're gonna get a new Jordan Peele movie,
a Black Panther sequel, and a Beyoncé album is slated.
I can't think of a better way to pass the time
in a eight-hour voting line at midterms.
In politics, a Black woman is likely to become
a Supreme Court justice for the first time in history,
making her the most powerful Black judge in the nation,
right behind Judge Mathis and Lauren Lake.
And there's a whole new generation
of Black excellence on its way.
Meghan Markle had a baby.
Lil Nas X's Lil Nas X is due any day now.
And Rihanna is pregnant.
The only way this could be better is if Rihanna's baby
is born holding her new album.
So, Black people, when you ask the question,
"Where we is?," I say to you,
we're on our way to a year of success,
excellence and reaching our full potential as a people.
(applause)
-Unless-- hang on-- unless... -(applause stops)
unless there's a new COVID variant.
In that case, stay your ass inside
and watch the new season of Atlanta.
God bless you, God bless Black people
and God bless Nicki Minaj's cousin's swollen balls.
-I say good evening! -(applause)
Play me out, Dre.
♪ ♪
Thank you for that, Roy. All right, when we come back,
the star of Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk,
will be joining me on the show, so don't go away.
Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight
is actor, director, and writer Bob Odenkirk.
He's here to talk about his new memoir,
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama.
Bob Odenkirk, welcome to The Daily Show.
-Hello, Trevor. Great to see you. -Um...
-Good to see you. -Great to be here.
-Good to-- Yeah, good to be in the space. -At the round table.
Thank you so much for-for joining me,
especially to talk about a book that--
I mean, it's, like, part memoir, but, really, it's...
I feel like this is a how-to guide
for anybody who wants to just work and grind through life.
I hope so. That would be great if it had more than one use.
(laughing)
No, I feel like that's one of the biggest uses.
-That's what... -It'll hold the door open, too.
-Stick it under the door jamb. -We-- Oh, please, Bob.
-Um, but, uh... -Like, it's-it's a really good book
-about your life. -Thank you.
-It's about my career in comedy. -But I'd love to know why you...
-Yeah. -It's about showbiz.
It's about hanging in there.
It's about a lot of dead ends,
which, uh...
I-I only included about,
I'm gonna say, a third of the dead ends.
Because it's very hard to write about shows and things
that no one's ever gonna see or can see.
I-I...
I wrote the book for a number of reasons.
-One, you know, pop culture moves so fast these days. -Yeah.
And a lot of the things I did are smaller, cultish things.
I'm still very proud of them. Mr. Show.
-I was part of Get a Life. -Mm-hmm.
Um, helping with Tenacious D and Tim and Eric.
And-and...
But these things are all gonna get covered over
-by lots more... gloppy comedy and stuff. -(laughs)
All of these feel like the stepping stones
that got you to the world that we see you in now,
-like, the person that we see today. -Yeah.
I-- Like, I fell in love with you, obviously,
-like many people, from Breaking Bad. -Yeah.
You know, that's where I went, like, "Who-- This guy is..."
-Yeah, that's where I was... -I've never loved a lawyer
-who's sleazy, who's... -Became known. Yeah.
-Yeah. -You know what I mean? I feel like you changed
-how we even see "lawyers" in that way. -Lawyers,
-for some reason, love this guy. -(laughs)
Guys, he's a bad guy.
Y-You think-- Wait, you think he's a bad guy?
No, no, I think he's a good guy, but his guise,
his choice to be Saul Goodman,
uh, to put on this front,
to, you know, embrace situational ethics...
-Yeah? -I think is a bad choice. I don't like it.
-I don't like people like that. -Yes, I think it's a bad choice.
But in the end, in the end...
'Cause I know the end now.
We finished two weeks ago tomorrow.
-We finished shooting. -This is long awaited.
In the end, I like where it goes.
-Okay, okay. -So we will see, you will see.
When you read this book... I...
I mean, the title says it all-- Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama.
-Yeah. -I don't know your story.
A lot of people don't know your story. They just see a person
on TV. They go like, "This person's amazing."
Then we see you somewhere else.
"This person's even more amazing."
-We assume life has always been amazing. -Yeah.
-Then we see the grind. -Mm-hmm.
We see... Like, you say this.
Failure, feature, failure, dead end, dead end, dead end,
dead end. Moment of success? No.
Failure, failure, dead end, dead end, moment again.
And it feels like, throughout your life,
like Saul Goodman, you've been just trying
to get that grip on this world and this career.
Are you happy with where your life has gotten to?
-Oh, very much so. -Is this, like, a celebration of that now?
Very much so. Yeah, I... And by the way, I mean,
look, I've had unbelievable success in the last few years
with, um, Better Call Saul and this film,
action film Nobody played really well around the world.
And, uh, of course that informs it,
but I'm very happy with where I'm at.
But I also am happy with all the variety of things
that I did and have gotten to do.
And I think that that's a great quality
-to show business... -Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
...is the different avenues you can go down over time.
'Cause this business loves people reinventing themselves.
-It does feed on the injured, you know. -(laughing)
If you're trailing blood, you will get eaten and spit out.
But if you can just regenerate yourself quickly
and go, "I'm back," the business is like,
"Oh, great. He's back." And that's pretty neat.
I was really touched by you sharing parts of your story
and how, you know, you grew up one of seven siblings? Right?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. -You know, and-and your dad was a--
was struggling with alcoholism... -Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Walked out on the family, etc. [stammers]
It feels like that really changed a lot of how you wanted
to be a dad. Like, in the book, there's this really beautiful
part where you go, "I don't want to do Better Call Saul.
because I want to be a better dad. I want to be at home."
And then it's your kids who say, "No, you gotta go do the show."
-Yeah. -Did your manager call the kids?
How did this happen?
[laughter]
I-I don't wonder too much about it,
but it does seem a little magical, because my kids
were 13 and 15 at the time... -Yeah.
And then-- When they first came to me and said,
-"We are gonna do-- We want to do Better Call Saul." -Mm-hmm.
It was a joke at first. The first scene I did
with Bryan Cranston on the set of Breaking Bad, in the office,
as soon as we were done with the take, one of the camera crew
-said, "Can I get a job on the sequel?" -I love that.
And everyone laughed.
And then it became this kind of running joke.
"There's got to be a sequel. They should do a show
about Saul." And then Vince Gilligan came to me--
more than once-- "You think there's a show in there?"
"About Saul? I think there is."
But when they said, you know, it's shot in Albuquerque,
I looked at my kids and I thought about our life,
and I, and I did think of all-- my own dad and...
he did not prioritize his family at all.
And I-I just said, "I can't do it. I can't leave yet."
-There's too much work here at the house. -Mm.
And, uh, the kids overheard that,
and I hung up the phone.
And my son was standing there across the room,
and he... he goes, uh, "So you're not gonna
do that show, huh?" And I go, "No, no.
It's not-it's not time."
And he goes, "Well, you're gonna disappoint a lot of people."
And, uh, and then we carried on talking, and he said,
"We'll help out at the house, Dad.
We'll make it work."
So I let it go, and then my daughter came to me,
and she had talked to my son.
And, uh, and my daughter was more like
a kid who grew up in Hollywood, with questions.
"Wha... What would it be like? Would it be hard to do?
Uh, do you think people would like it?"
And then she said, "If it's bad, how bad would it be?"
Real manager type.
-Yes, it sounds like it. Yes. -This is a 13-year-old.
And I go, "It wouldn't be bad.
"It would be an interesting experiment.
That's the worst it would be."
And she goes, "Well, you should do it."
-I love that. I love that. -And, so...
Before I let you go, how's your heart,
-by the way? You-you had a heart attack, right? -I'm great.
-I did. I did. -You didn't just have a heart...
-'Cause that's-not that's not the book. -On July 25.
You know, I finished the book long before
I had the heart attack. Um...
Uh, I did, I had a-a heart attack.
And I was very lucky to have it on the set,
and there were some pros around who immediately gave me CPR.
And, everybody listening, take a CPR class.
Brush up on it. They saved my life.
You-you don't remember any of this.
I don't remember any of it.
The next day after the surgery, I woke up.
My family was there. And I was like, "Hey. Uh..."
I was like, "I got to go back to work."
-(laughs) -And they were... I'm in a hospital gown.
And they go, um, "No, you don't.
You had a heart attack."
I'm like, "Well, no. No. What? No.
I was... I was at work."
And they go, "How did you get here?"
And I go...
And my brain did this all on its own.
"I dr... I drove here,
-and I parked on level two." -Wow.
"And then... 'Cause I knew you guys were here.
-And-and then I came in here." -Wow.
And my wife goes, "So, you came in here,
and you got in that bed, and you put that gown on?"
And I looked down, and I'm like...
"Yeah."
-Oh, man. -Yeah, like, my brain made up a little story
about how I'd gotten there. Totally weird.
-But I'm great. (laughs) -I'm glad, man.
I'm glad. I'm glad you're great.
I'm glad we get to celebrate the final season
-of Better Call Saul with you. -Better Call Saul.
I'm glad we cele... we get to celebrate the book with you.
-Um, congratulations to you. -Thanks, my friend.
-Congratulations on your life. -Thank you so much.
-And, um, say hi to the kids. -I will.
-Thank them for all of us as the fans. -I will.
We really do appreciate them.
-Thanks. -All right, people, Bob's book
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is available right now.
We're gonna take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Well, that's our show for tonight.
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to make your life easier,
you probably might want to think again.
Now here it is, Your Moment of Zen.
♪ ♪
For Russia to...
"Hey, we will be in Kyiv for one day."
(bleep) yourself. (chuckles)
(bleep) you, Lavrov.
It's... (speaks foreign language)