Bob Odenkirk Has Opened Up About The Time He Was Robbed At Gunpoint In Chicago

Bob Odenkirk has spent over a decade living in the crime world as shady lawyer Saul Goodman (a.k.a. Jimmy McGill) in both Breaking Bad and its prequel series, Better Call Saul. However, the early part of his career saw him living in Chicago where he performed with the Second City improv group. He also endured a criminal encounter: being robbed at gunpoint.

During a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Odenkirk opened up about being held up by a guy with a zip gun while he was parked in a car with his girlfriend. “You know what a zip gun is” Odenkirk asked Shepard. “It’s kind of a made-up gun. You build it but it’s not made of plastic. It looks like a f*cked up gun but it’s a real gun.”

As Odenkirk explained, he was wiped out from performing earlier in the night, and not only that, he hadn’t even changed into his real clothes, which were in the trunk with his wallet. Odenkirk did his best to keep the situation from going south and talked the mugger into letting him get his wallet. The actor knew he had at least $300 cash in it, which should’ve made his assailant happy. It did not, and that’s when Odenkirk did something stupidly brave from the exhaustion. Via NME:

“So I give him the money and he goes, ‘Get your girlfriend out of the car. I want her jewelery.’ And – I want to credit this not to my bravado or courage but to how tired I was – I go, ‘What the f*ck’

“I go, ‘Look how much money you got, get the f*ck out of here. You should go!’ And he stands there right by the window of the car not sure what to do and I go, ‘Run! Go!’ And then he does. He leaves and we call the police.”

As Better Call Saul fans know, this isn’t Odenkirk’s only brush with death. The actor suffered a heart attack last year while filming the final season, and thanks to the quick reaction of the on-set medical crew and his co-stars, he survived that harrowing ordeal as well.