Bob Odenkirk shares how doctors at the scene reacted when he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 2021.

On April 12, the actor (61 years old) appeared on a TV show. multiple speaking women On the podcast, he revealed some surprisingly funny moments involving health anxiety. Odenkirk recalled that during filming the film his heart “almost stopped” and his pace slowed to the point that he “turned blue and stopped breathing.” Better Call Saul.

“A medic came around the corner and froze in place. That was his first day,” he joked. “And he said, ‘Oh, no.'” And he didn’t move. ”

Odenkirk said he didn’t remember the incident, but a few weeks later the medic actually apologized to him.

“A few weeks later, when I came back, he said, ‘I’m so sorry about the first day, I was a firefighter’ — he had retired — ‘I didn’t do CPR. I’ve never done it before. I’ve only met other people. ‘Try it,'” he said with a laugh.

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Odenkirk suffered a heart attack on July 27, 2021, while filming scenes for the ninth episode in New Mexico. Better Call Saul‘s sixth season, “Point and Shoot.”

he said new york times A health and safety supervisor at the scene and the series’ assistant director performed CPR and administered three electric shocks with an automatic defibrillator to restart his heart before he was taken to hospital. Shortly after, his representative told PEOPLE that Odenkirk was in stable condition.

“I went to a Cubs game, got on my training bike, and just went down. Leah said I immediately started turning blue-gray,” he said. times. Odenkirk learned in 2018 that he had plaque buildup on his heart, but said he received conflicting medical advice about treating it. The 2021 cardiac event occurred when “part of the plaque ruptured.”

Since the heart attack, Odenkirk has been vocal about how the health scare has changed his life. In January 2023, the actor spoke about how he had a “clean slate” upon returning to his job after five weeks.

“Whatever growth comes from the heart attack, I’m still in the middle of it,” he explained during AMC+’s Television Critics Association presentation. “I had to finish this season. saul, I did all these things I signed up for, but there was a strange kind of blank slate quality to the experience. I literally couldn’t remember anything and had a hard time forming memories for weeks afterwards. ”

“Some people say it’s like a mechanism, a self-defense thing the body does, but everyone’s experience with that kind of thing is different,” Odenkirk continued. “For me, I think that still resonates in my life.”

The Emmy Award winner said he felt “strangely high” and euphoric for a long time after his heart attack.

“I think it was a gift, but it was also weird for the people around me. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘I’m fine! Let’s go to work!’ ‘Okay, calm down.’ 59 “When I was a year old, I felt like a strange baby bird,” he said at the time.

Odenkirk asserted that his focus now is finding a healthy work-life balance.

“We can’t go on forever, so we have to do a better job. We just can’t do it,” he added. “If you want to feel like you’re making the most of the time you have left in this life to do what you love, you have to make the right choices.”