Bob Odenkirk has canceled his Freedom 250 appearance, and David Cross says he is stepping into the spot — as Odenkirk. The swap surfaced in an interview published as the two longtime collaborators prepared for the Tribeca premiere of their new film, Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu.
The change matters because Freedom 250 had already been built around a particular lineup, with Odenkirk saying he was due to appear after Vanilla Ice and before Bret Michaels. When Michaels dropped out, he said, he was moved to perform before Vanilla Ice instead. Cross said he will now go in Odenkirk’s place and mock his old bit, “Milli Vanilli Ice.”
Cross, who has been talking for some time about wanting to do Freedom 250, said he immediately thought of Odenkirk as a hiking partner and that the whole decision took about 17 seconds. Odenkirk said the pairing still comes easily after years of friendship and work together as the comedy duo behind Mr. Show. “When Bob and I get together, we very effortlessly fall into this rhythm,” Cross said.
Odenkirk said he still gets the same satisfaction from making things with Cross that drew him to show business in the first place. “There’s no thing that I do that’s going to reward me as much as time spent doing this job with him,” he said. He also added, with a laugh, that canceling Freedom 250 was harder than signing up for it.
The friction is plain enough: one man is out, another is in, and nobody has explained why Odenkirk dropped the appearance in the first place. What is clear is that the replacement has already been settled, and Cross is expected to take Odenkirk’s slot at the event, keeping the lineup intact even as the names on it change.
The appearance switch also lands alongside a broader promotion push for Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu, a documentary directed by Michael LaHaie that follows the pair as they travel across Peru toward Machu Picchu. The project comes with extra weight for Odenkirk, who nearly died after a heart attack on the set of Better Call Saul in 2021. For now, though, the immediate story is simpler: Freedom 250 lost Bob Odenkirk and gained David Cross, almost in the time it takes to say the joke.
