Bob Odenkirk Recounts His 2021 Heart Attack In Emotional ‘Drew Barrymore Show’ Interview: “It Was A Doozy”

When Drew Barrymore brings out the couch on her self-titled daytime talk show, you know things are about to get deep.

On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the beloved host welcomed actor Bob Odenkirk and his daughter Erin to chat about their new book, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes.

As Barrymore sat criss-crossed on the couch next to the father-daughter duo, she inquired about the major heart attack Odenkirk suffered while filming the final season of Better Call Saul back in 2021. While opening up to Barrymore, the 60-year-old actor described the experience as a “doozy” and a “real, full-on situation.”

“I’ve reflected a lot on that since then and it’s really influenced my life since then,” he explained. “I’ve just thought a lot about the time you need in your day — if you can get it — and in your life to enjoy and take in the people around you, the relationships you’re lucky to have, the good things in your life. Everything. Even the bad things.”

He added, “You need a little space in your life to feel that. You just aren’t experiencing life if you don’t find that space.”

Odenkirk — who played Saul Goodman in the Breaking Bad prequel and spinoff — had the near-fatal heart attack while filming scenes for Better Call Saul Season 6. While he said he has no recollection of the incident, it was reported that his heart stopped beating for 18 minutes.

“We watched him die. I’d never seen anything like it, except for in a movie,” the show’s co-creator Vince Gilligan previously said on an episode of the Better Call Saul Insider podcast. “When we got back on set with Bob, it was just happiness, it was just thankfulness, it was just gratitude.”

According to Odenkirk, the heart attack made it “easier” for him to be in the moment when he returned to filming five weeks later.

“It was easier for me to do with this kind of weird, new-found POV on the world,” he told NPR in July. “I really want to stay in touch with what happened there because it really was a great reconnection to being alive. And so I’d love to ruminate on it every day and try to reconnect.”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.