Bob Odenkirk, star of "Better Call Saul," narrates Ari Emanuel's upcoming memoir audiobook but isn't mentioned in the book itself despite being one of Emanuel's original clients and a significant part of his career success. Friends of Odenkirk are surprised by this omission, considering him foundational to Emanuel's client roster, while insiders claim the choice of narrator was carefully considered due to Odenkirk’s ability to capture Emanuel’s voice accurately. Odenkirk himself is reportedly not upset about the exclusion and appreciates the book and his long-standing relationship with Emanuel.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-19,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Bob Odenkirk, star of "Better Call Saul" and longtime client of superagent Ari Emanuel, narrates the audiobook version of Emanuel's upcoming memoir but is notably absent from the book itself. Friends of Odenkirk are surprised by his omission, given his foundational role in Emanuel’s career success, including his work on "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul." An insider explains that Emanuel carefully chose Odenkirk for the audiobook due to his ability to capture Emanuel's voice and personality effectively. Despite this, other high-profile figures like Quentin Tarantino, Denzel Washington, Martin Scorsese, and Oprah Winfrey are mentioned in the book. The decision highlights the complex dynamics between agents and their clients in Hollywood.
Written for “Odenkirk Snubbed By Emanuel” on 2026-10-04,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Bob Odenkirk narrates the audiobook version of superagent Ari Emanuel‘s upcoming memoir — but friends of the “Better Call Saul” star and longtime Emanuel client are aghast that he’s not mentioned in the tome that drops more names than a West Side mohel.
asserted
that → narrate → mohel
An insider explains that Emanuel put a great deal of thought into the decision for Odenkirk to be his voice.
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Odenkirk → explain → decision
Why pick Odenkirk, arguably the most beloved man toiling in television, to voice Hollywood’s most ruthless shark?
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Odenkirk → pick → shark
For one, Odenkirk is one of Emanuel’s original clients, whose successes on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” are entwined with Emanuel’s arc from mere agent to mogul.
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successes → entwine → mogul
And, as a fellow Chicagoan, Odenkirk has the right accent (Mark Wahlberg is way too Boston, while Larry David screams Brooklyn.)
“Ari is a voracious audiobook listener, so the choice of narrator was a highly considered process,” the insider says.
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insider → have → narrator
“The most important thing was finding someone who could capture his voice and personality.
uncertain
who → find → voice
Bob did so perfectly.”
asserted
Bob → do → ?
But an Odenkirk friend was “surprised” that the actor doesn’t appear in the Knopf book, while Quentin Tarantino, Denzel Washington, Martin Scorsese and Oprah Winfrey all made the cut.
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Tarantino → surprise → cut
Billie Eilish, who has been a WME client since just 2023, isn’t merely name-checked.
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who → check → 2023
She made the jacket copy.
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She → make → copy
“Bob wasn’t mentioned?!” says the friend, who felt it was a glaring omission.
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it → mention → ?
“He’s a foundational client.”
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He → ’ → ?
Another source close to the actor says Odenkirk didn’t feel slighted at all.
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Odenkirk → say → actor
“Bob loved the book and learning more about Ari and how he focused his way through the business,” the source tells Page Six Hollywood.
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source → love → Page
“He is certainly not upset about not being included.
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He → include → ?
If anything, he feels that Ari got to save something about Bob for book No. 2.”
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Ari → feel → .
Odenkirk certainly appeared to be plenty enthused by the time he recorded the audio.
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he → appear → audio
Emanuel sat nearby in the studio to watch the actor narrate the final pages.
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actor → sit → pages
“We both got choked up, because we’ve known each other forever, and because: Life!
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we → choke → Life
Ari’s been my agent, my friend, since the days of ‘Mr. Show,’ and he’s always been a character, but I didn’t realize how much until I read his whole crazy story
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I → realize → story
,” Odenkirk wrote in an Instagram post.
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Odenkirk → write → post
“It’s really the perfect book for this moment in which we find ourselves, because it shows how you have to be a little crazy to survive this crazy world.
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you → ’ → world
But you know what?
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you → know → what
You can say Ari was out of his mind to make 300 calls a day, fighting for his clients and building his empire, or you can say that was his genius.
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that → say → empire
Odenkirk then suggested “Better Call Ari” as his preferred title to “Roll the Calls.”
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Odenkirk → suggest → Calls
Perhaps if the book ever becomes a film, TV series or documentary, Emanuel can pivot.
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Emanuel → become → ?
We hear that WME is representing screen adaptation rights for the book.
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WME → hear → book
Another actor might have seemed like a more obvious choice for the narrator role: Onscreen, Jeremy Piven is the thespian most closely associated with Emanuel.
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Piven → seem → Emanuel
Piven played Emanuel stand-in Ari Gold over eight seasons on the HBO comedy “Entourage.”
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Piven → play → comedy
(And he even three-peated as an Emmy winner from 2006 to 2008 as the utterly relentless superagent.)
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he → peate → superagent
But when it came time for Emanuel to find the perfect performer to narrate “Roll the Calls,” Piven was no longer a go-to avatar.
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Piven → come → Calls
The actor had faced a string of sexual misconduct allegations in 2017 and 2018 that put a damper on his red-hot career.
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that → face → career
(He denied the allegations and, in dramatic fashion, took a polygraph test and passed.)
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He → deny → test
Baggage is baggage, and Emanuel instead tapped a different Emmy winner to narrate his life story.
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Emanuel → tap → story
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