In anticipation of their Netflix series premiering this fall, Vanity Fair sat down for an interview with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross to talk about the history of Mr. Show and what we can expect from their new sketch series With Bob and David when it makes its debut on the streaming network. While the series is only four episodes, Odenkirk offered a ray of hope that this batch of episodes will not be the last:
A week into production, he is already talking about doing another four or six episodes in a year or two. Or sooner. “We could,†Odenkirk says. “We certainly put this together pretty fast.†The main thing is he wants to do more. “It’s just a fun thing to do, and we laugh our asses off.â€
The interview also includes a few spoilers about what kinds of topics the With Bob and David sketches will cover, including “red meat, popcorn, acid indigestion, the Pope, eyeballs, time travel, skiing, greed, folly, delusions, the afterlife, the 20th century,†and a take on AOL’s “Digital Prophet†Shingy:
They decided David would take on the role of a “digital soothsayer†named James Shangwell, who goes by Shangy, and who has two brothers who fill in for him when he can’t fit a personal appearance into his busy schedule. David is also Shangy Two, Rick Shangwell, an oncologist at Sloan Kettering who was working on a non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer before realizing that impersonating his younger brother was much easier and far more lucrative, so he mostly does that now. Bob, sporting a feathered mullet wig, severely broken nose, and blue squeaking clown shoes, plays the oldest brother (Shangy Three), George, a dim-witted former roofer with a speech impediment from falling off a roof a couple of times and biting his tongue (hence the slurring). Playing his brother is a pretty sweet deal for George because all he has to do is say the word “digital†a few times and he’s golden. In a pre-tape already shot, Shangy Three fills in at a conference in Russia. After being introduced to a large crowd by Vladimir Putin, he says “digital†enough times and then takes a sledgehammer to a watermelon, sending hunks flying at the movers and shakers sitting up front, much to their delight.
Read the rest over at Vanity Fair.