Happy Early 10 Year Anniversary to Bob Odenkirk's Amateur Hour! 🥳

HISTORY

Ten years ago on November 25, 2014, Bob Odenkirk’s Amateur Hour featuring Brandon Wardell was released. Two years later, I listened to it.

I had recently moved after breaking off an engagement with an abusive partner. I had also acquired what I would find out much later to be pelvic floor syndrome which was chronic pain where you expect it to be with that name. This also caused me to cancel a trip to Cuba with my best friend.

I wasn’t feeling my best at the time. My brain was seeking anything to keep me afloat and comedy was it.

I had always liked comedy. I grew up watching Seinfeld, Conan O’Brien, weird late night specials of Gallagher and Whoopi Goldberg and Howie Mandel, and the occasional PBS run of Andy Kaufman. I’d read Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up. I’d been obsessed with The Chris Gethard Show for a few years.

Needless-to-say, I was a fan of comedy.

But it was 2016 when I was truly hitting my comedy nerd era. Seeso was streaming. I was reading Splitsider and A.V. Club regularly. I was attending local open mics every week. And I was depressed.

I was familiar with Bob Odenkirk from Mr. Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, SNL writer, and the occasional guest. So when his album came across my screen, I was curious.

The whole thing was odd. It was called Amateur Hour. Brandon Wardell was featured at the beginning. Bob Odenkirk wasn’t known as a stand-up. The cover was low-key and cool. It looked more like an artsy indie band release than a comedy album.

I remember sitting down to listen. I was laughing from the start and didn’t stop. Even after I finished the album. The jokes were funny. Sure. But it was the whole of the album.

Everything about it felt like a gag.

SETS

Amateur hour was correct.

Brandon rushed right into it. Leaning into his boyish charm and youth. He addressed it immediately. Letting the audience know that he was self-aware. His observations were young. He didn’t have a lot of life experience but that was ok.

He talked about what he knew which was rap lyrics. I didn’t count, but I think it would be safe to say that 30-40% of his set was comprised of rap lyrics. I had never heard anything like it. I loved it.

Bob’s set started off similarly. He instead addressed the whole show. The low stakes of his performance. While other stand-ups may have lost something by admitting that, he simply added to the completeness of Amateur Hour. It was part of the bit.

The rest of the album played like punk rock. I could hear paper rustling as Odenkirk looked through his notes. There was no long form work. No narrative. It was one-liners packed together. Small themes loosely chunked with quick jokes that felt like one-liners. Between each chunk were quick transitions from one to the next. No bridge. Simply a statement that launched you into the next joke.

I loved the whole thing. The name of the album. The premise. The cover. All of it.

Yes, it was punk. But more interestingly, it was conceptual.

CONCEPT

Odenkirk knew he didn’t have hours in stand-up to record a special. At least one that would be on the level of professional stand-ups. I think he also felt that it could be insulting. I don’t think other comedians would have found it insulting. A few but most would have been curious. It’s clear, though, that Bob Odenkirk has a deep respect for comedy and performers. He would have been insulting the art form.

So what’s the logical thing to do? He built a study of comedy around it.

Pairing himself with a young comedian in one album under the title Amateur Hour, he created the perfect contrast in experience and skill.

While Odenkirk admits to only performing a handful a times a year over thirty years, he had the experience of writing comedy, watching comedy, and performing comedy to support his limitations. Brandon didn’t. Age alone wouldn’t allow it.

It is likely that Brandon had more hours of stand-up under his belt than Bob.

It’s just that years of writing and thinking about comedy changes your instincts. Odenkirk had those instincts.

Anyone else who performed stand-up so infrequently would have floundered.

RATING

Was it great? No. There are better albums out there. Was it good? Yes. Was it pretty good? I would say yes. He delivered the jokes. They landed. The form. The pacing. The delivery. It was all there. Rough but there.

You can listen to his set and hear how the jokes are constructed. That can be difficult with other comedians who have had years of experience to practice their delivery and hone their jokes to a razor’s edge.

Bob showed that he knew how to get from point A to point B as a comedian. He laid it out flat. You can even compare his set at the start, which I felt was good, with the end. You could see the construction at the start. However, towards the end, he was shuffling through jokes, dropping them. His ending was lackluster. There was no scaffolding anymore.

Compare that with Wardell’s set which also ended roughly, but I would argue started rough as well. While I understand the need to address his youth and inexperience. It should have started with something else and led into that first joke.

Odenkirk by contrast made a dad joke then a joke about being recorded then moved into the low stakes of the recording. It was a comedic shuffle. A warm-up to what’s to come.

If he had gone right into the low stakes, that would have cut the momentum out before he started. The quiet dad joke followed by the grocery list gave the audience something to hold onto before Odenkirk took a step back to address his own insecurities.

PUNK

While both comedians delivered a wonderfully amateur, punk set. Brandon Wardell’s felt like the kids in the garage cranking out something hard and fast. Young and aggressive. Bob Odenkirk’s was experimental though rough like an experienced band touring the country that still only played power chords on stage.

The last few tracks while labeled “Extra” were always a part of the album. Odenkirk had said on ID10T with Chris Hardwick, “So he does ten minutes, and I do forty minutes, and I’m like, that’s fifty minutes, and that’s not an hour. So I came up with this character.”

The character, based on Alfred Hitchcock’s voice, taught you how to be a comedian from outdated lessons. Another study of comedy.

Bob improvised the whole thing in ten minutes or so. Which is truly remarkable considering the specificity of the voice and language. While I don’t think it would hold up as a 1920’s accent or phrasing, it sounds like it.

Listening, I can see the sepia tone photographs of the man.

FINAL

While this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, if you have an interest in comedy as an artform then I recommend listening.

It plays beautifully with the idea of stand-up comedy. It shows what comedy experience even outside of stand-up looks like. It lays bare the essentials of stand-up. And it creates a wonderful contrast between young and old comedians with the equal footing of amateur.

For more information on the recording of the album, listen to ID10T with Chris Hardwick from October 27, 2014 entitled Bob Odenkirk Returns. The album conversation starts at 28:45. Before that is talk about The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and other stuff if you’re interested.

For comedy nerds, the conversation carries on for a while. Odenkirk discusses stand-up, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, and more. Really interesting stuff!