Bob Odenkirk. (Photo: Sharon Alagna)

The Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, actor (and even New York Times bestselling author) Bob Odenkirk was named Thursday as the 2023 Man of the Year by The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, meaning Odenkirk is expected to be in town for a celebration Feb. 2. 

The organization’s Man and Woman of the Year Awards were established in 1967 and 1951, respectively, to honor notables in the world of entertainment – and draw them to Harvard Square – with past Man of the Year recipients including everyone from Clint Eastwood and Robert De Niro to Ryan Reynolds, Tom Hanks and last year’s winner, Jason Bateman. 

There will be a celebratory roast of Odenkirk and a presentation of the organization’s Pudding Pot at Farkas Hall, the Pudding’s home in Harvard Square since 1888. Odenkirk is then expected to attend a preview of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 174th production, “Cosmic Relief.”

Odenkirk is widely known for his leading role in television’s “Better Call Saul,” the prequel to the series “Breaking Bad,” and he has been in dramatic films such as “Nobody” and has an upcoming series on AMC, “Lucky Hank.”

His breakthrough was in comedy, as a writer on “Saturday Night Live” and in the influential, surreal “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” which ran on HBO from 1985 to 1989 and got a revival with David Cross in 2016, “With Bob and David.”

His third memoir, “Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama” was published in March and landed at No. 2 on the Times’ bestseller list. The same month, he launched an Audible podcast series called “Summer in Argyle,” co-written with his son Nate Odenkirk.

“When choosing our 2023 Man of the Year, I immediately knew we better call Bob Odenkirk,” producer Aidan Golub said in a press release. “We’re cooking up a lot of surprises to celebrate Mr. Odenkirk’s contributions to the world of comedy both in front of and behind the camera.”