'Saul' brothers bond over 'Glengarry' stage work, shared comedy instincts

One antheral is the consummate professional, calm and seen-it-all experienced, acceptable to grip immoderate assignment. The different lacks each that but throws himself astir recklessly into the mix, relying connected charm and quick-on-his-feet wit arsenic helium strives for thing that feels conscionable beyond him.

I could easy beryllium describing Chuck and Jimmy McGill (a.k.a. Saul Goodman), the 2 brothers brilliantly portrayed by Michael McKean and Bob Odenkirk successful “Better Call Saul.”

But these days the statement fits McKean, 77, and Odenkirk, 62, successful existent beingness arsenic they instrumentality the stage, on with Kieran Culkin and Bill Burr, successful “Glengarry Glen Ross,” David Mamet’s profane play astir existent property salesmen whose souls are being crushed to particulate by the eternal pursuit for dollars.

McKean has regularly graced the signifier successful caller decades, appearing successful works by everyone from John Waters to Harold Pinter to William Shakespeare. “It’s arsenic overmuch amusive arsenic it looks,” helium says, adding that helium can’t truly springiness proposal to his erstwhile small-screen sibling astir treading the boards. “It conscionable seems truthful logical,” helium says.

Odenkirk’s signifier experience: 1 play successful Chicago for a period erstwhile helium was 21. “I don’t retrieve overmuch astir it,” helium says dryly during our lunch, adding that portion he’s work books astir Shakespeare he’s ne'er adjacent seen 1 of his plays.

After little than a week of previews for his Broadway debut, helium sounds a spot dazzled by the easiness with which McKean and Culkin, different experienced theatre actor, inhabit the stage: Odenkirk calls the brace Broadway actors portion describing himself arsenic a “nonsense actor.” He feels similar he’s getting a escaped acquisition successful theater.

“I inactive don’t recognize it,” helium admits. “I’m the lone 1 who’s a small off, but I’m going to get there.” (McKean encourages him by saying that the erstwhile nighttime helium was truthful emotionally caught up successful Odenkirk’s Shelley that helium astir missed a cue.)

Bob Odenkirk, right, confers with Donald Webber Jr. successful “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

(Emilio Madrid)

Odenkirk says manager Patrick Marber talked astir reaching that Zen portion wherever you’re not moving lines oregon motivations oregon physicalizations successful your head. “You’re conscionable existing and this play comes retired of you,” Odenkirk says. “I spot that connected the horizon, but I haven’t experienced it myself yet.

“I’m excited astir a play being a surviving happening that changes each time,” helium adds, “but I’m inactive thinking, ‘What if I commencement connected this foot?’ I’m inactive trying to technologist moments similar you tin successful TV wherever you person much control. But you ne'er get a people here. You conscionable bash it again tomorrow.”

Odenkirk quips that helium thought helium was “just doing a show, but it turns retired I’m ‘doing Broadway.’” And that, McKean points out, is simply a rarefied world.

“It’s amusive to beryllium a portion of once, but I’m an interloper arsenic I ever am, truthful it’s not easy,” Odenkirk says, explaining that helium doesn’t expect to instrumentality … unless, helium jokes, they bash a Broadway mentation of “Brian’s Song” with McKean successful the Billy Dee Williams role.

But Odenkirk is crippled for the signifier role, saying helium loved however “Better Call Saul” stretched his acting muscles — “that was truly bully for me” — and helium believes this volition too. One bonus: There’s immoderate of Saul successful his character, Shelley Levene.

Shelley is overeager and desperate; helium conscionable lacks Jimmy’s/Saul’s imaginativeness and gumption. “People cognize maine arsenic a striver, idiosyncratic who’s ever coming up with devious, clever ways astir things, who past gets punched successful the look by the satellite implicit and over,” Odenkirk says.

McKean, meanwhile, plays George Aaronow, a salesman helium describes arsenic “pathetic” adjacent compared to Shelley; evidently idiosyncratic precise antithetic from Chuck McGill. But McKean says helium consciously mixed up roles aboriginal successful his vocation to debar pigeonholing — from Lenny connected “Laverne & Shirley” to David St. Hubbins successful “This Is Spinal Tap” to Edna Turnblad (“Hairspray”) and J. Edgar Hoover (“All the Way”) connected Broadway.

For each his deficiency of signifier experience, Odenkirk had “Glengarry” successful his sights for years. Two decades ago, helium wrote to Mamet asking support to bash a “purely comic mentation wherever alternatively of onshore income it would beryllium pots and pans” ; the formed would person besides featured his “Mr. Show” co-star David Cross and Fred Willard. Unsurprisingly, Mamet ne'er responded. More precocious helium tried again, without the pots and pans but with characters utilizing cellphones. He hoped to person Burr successful that cast. Mamet wrote backmost but said no.

So erstwhile Odenkirk was offered the relation successful this accumulation helium jumped astatine the accidental to measurement into the shoes worn by Jack Lemmon, Alan Alda and Al Pacino. Mamet’s play debuted connected Broadway successful 1984 aft premiering successful London the twelvemonth before; successful summation to a 1992 movie adaptation starring Lemmon arsenic Levene, determination person been 2 Broadway productions of the amusement successful the past 20 years. One crushed the amusement keeps coming backmost is that there’s plentifulness of scenery to chew for the top-flight actors — Alda’s co-stars successful the 2005 revival included Liev Schreiber and Jeffrey Tambor, portion Pacino was joined by Bobby Cannavale and John C. McGinley successful 2012.

But McKean says the play offers much than showy roles. “It’s astir toxic masculinity and what’s successful our nature,” helium says. “There’s the dilatory boil everyone is connected successful a crippled with precocious stakes wherever your occurrence says thing astir however overmuch of a antheral you are.”

These salesmen “love what they’re doing and it’s sidesplitting them,” Odenkirk says, calling the four-decade aged play much applicable than ever before.

“Now everyone is successful this cage lucifer of capitalism unbridled without a [functional] Justice Department and with each the watchdogs being fto go,” helium says. “It’s conscionable you guys bushed each different to shreds, and we’ll ticker and the wealth volition spell up the chain.”

This leads Odenkirk to inquire McKean if he’s ever seen the 1969 documentary “Salesman,” centered connected employees of the Mid-American Bible Co. pitching their wares doorway to door. “That movie invented a batch astir what we instrumentality for granted arsenic a large documentary,” the younger of the brace says. A digression ensues arsenic the brace chats astir thing and everything, from whose canine is cuter (a overmuch friendlier contention than the cutthroat “Glengarry”) to Monty Python, drama duo Bob and Ray, and Odenkirk’s adjacent movie, “Normal.” Also discussed: a long-ago Chicago play called “Bleacher Bums” and wherever they each lived portion moving connected “Saturday Night Live.”

Although they didn’t overlap connected “SNL,” they met portion McKean was there. A fewer years later, McKean made an quality connected “Mr. Show,” arsenic a condescending instrumentality professor, a forerunner of Chuck McGill, portion Odenkirk’s quality connected that occurrence has a interaction of Jimmy McGill’s DNA.

Odenkirk spends overmuch of our luncheon celebrating McKean, repeating doubly that his co-star, successful a country with Burr (a stand-up besides making his Broadway debut), is getting “Glengarry’s” biggest laughs. He besides brings up McKean’s aboriginal drama records, saying, “Wait, tin we conscionable speech astir the Credibility Gap?,” a troupe that included Harry Shearer and “Laverne & Shirley” compatriot David L. Lander. (McKean, meanwhile, tin inactive recite lines from his favourite “Mr. Show” skits, including “The Fad 3.”)

After our meal, McKean, casual and rumpled, tugs connected his aged Brooklyn Dodgers chapeau (“I went to my archetypal crippled astatine Ebbets Field,” helium had mentioned), is simply a antheral precise overmuch astatine home. We had, successful fact, met astatine a diner conscionable blocks from his apartment. Odenkirk, by contrast, is trim and acceptable and dressed sharply, with a black-and-red Chicago Cubs headdress atop his head.

Odenkirk stops successful a slope aft our repast due to the fact that he’d fixed his past fewer dollars to a mariachi successful the subway. He makes tiny speech astir shot with the security, but the ATM conscionable won’t springiness him cash. It turns retired his paper is inserted backward, fitting for a antheral who feels a small retired of spot here. Unlike his characters, Odenkirk is calm and gracious. When it’s clip to go, helium takes 1 past accidental to say: “Make definite the communicative talks astir however large Michael McKean is.”