CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Award-winning actor and bestselling author Bob Odenkirk will be feted Thursday as 2023 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
Odenkirk, best known as shady lawyer Saul Goodman on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” is scheduled to receive his Pudding Pot award at a celebratory roast after which he will attend a preview of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 174th production, “COSMIC RELIEF!”
“When choosing our 2023 Man of the Year, I immediately knew we better call Bob Odenkirk,” producer Aidan Golub said in a statement when the award was announced last month.
Hasty Pudding Theatricals, which dates to 1844 and calls itself the third-oldest theater group in the world, has handed out a Man of the Year Award since 1967. Last year’s recipient was Jason Bateman, and previous honorees include Bob Hope, Dustin Hoffman and Sean Connery.
The awards are given out to people who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment.
Actress Jennifer Coolidge has been named the group’s 2023 Woman of the Year. She will be honored at a separate event on Saturday.
Odenkirk reprised his “Breaking Bad” role of Saul Goodman, aka Jimmy McGill, in “Better Call Saul,” which earned him three Critics Choice TV awards and multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nominations.
He is also the star and executive producer of “Lucky Hank,” adapted from the novel “Straight Man” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, which is scheduled to premier on AMC and AMC+ on March 19.
Other acting credits include “Nobody,” “Mr. Show with Bob and David” and “Girlfriend’s Day.”
He received two Emmy Awards for his comedic writing for “Saturday Night Live” in 1989 and for “The Ben Stiller Show” in 1993.
In 2013 Odenkirk co-wrote The New York Times bestseller “Hollywood Said No!,” a collection of unproduced screenplays, and his third book released in March 2022, a memoir entitled “Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama,” went to No. 2 on The New York Times bestseller list.
