Bob Odenkirk Tells Conan What He’s Learned Post-Heart Attack
In 2021, Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack while filming the sixth season of Better Call Saul. While he’s spoken about the incident before, he recently shared more details of what happened on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. In the episode, Odenkirk revealed the exact medical intervention that occurred when he had the so-called “Widowmaker.”
“Someone came into the room, and they said Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack. And I mean, I’m always hearing about people I know tangentially through this business who’ve fallen sick or something,” O’Brien said of first hearing the news. “But I had a real response of ‘I know Bob. This is really upsetting and horrifying.’ … It turned out that you were completely out.”
Odenkirk said that the heart attack happened during a break. "It was during COVID shooting, so we were separate from the crew," Odenkirk explained. "And luckily, I didn’t go to my trailer. If I’d gone to my trailer, I wouldn’t be here, because they don’t bother you. They wait for up to an hour.”
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Odenkirk described how he immediately turned gray, and that the crew started shouting. The medical officer on set, Rosa Estrada, came over and did CPR, which resulted in the breaking of Odenkirk’s ribs. (When CPR is done properly, it often results in the breaking of ribs, according to the National Institute of Health.) Then a breathing mask was put on, but an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) wasn’t brought for 15 minutes. And when it did arrive, it didn’t work right away.
“It took three hits for the AED to work, which is a lot,” Odenkirk said. “It’s kind of super scary. And that’s where some of the fear and the real — well everything about it was really scary. It was the three AED hits that super freaked people out because that AED device does a thing. It talks. It says no heartbeat detected.”
There’s countdown from 10, and then it administers the electric currents, causing your body to convulse off the ground. During that period of time, no one else can touch you or they will get shocked. It’s an extreme medical procedure to witness — especially more than once. “The fact that that had to be done three times made everyone feel that this thing was maybe not working,” Odenkirk continued.
It then took 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
“I’m super lucky, Conan,” Odenkirk continued. His survival of the heart attack was also credited to the training he’d been doing for the film Nobody, which meant that the rest of his heart was strong enough to keep pumping blood to his brain. The other major piece of luck? The only reason there was an AED in the vicinity that day was because Estrada had one in the trunk of her car that she meant to return to a friend. Odenkirk said that after his heart attack, an AED is now in every studio.
You can watch the full interview here.
