There are comedy duos who gently rib each other during press tours, and then there’s Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, two men who have spent decades perfecting the art of genuinely annoying one another for our entertainment. Their latest collaboration, Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu, isn’t a sketch show or a Netflix special—it’s a documentary about two middle-aged comedians attempting one of the world’s most grueling hikes while reflecting on their mortality, their friendship, and presumably which one of them will complain more about the altitude.
The first image from the film has arrived, and it looks exactly like you’d expect: two comedy legends standing in front of ancient Incan ruins looking simultaneously triumphant and deeply uncomfortable. The Tribeca Festival, where the film is set to premiere, describes the project as a “high-altitude, coca-fueled meditation” on the pair’s relationship, which is probably the only film synopsis in history to mention both altitude sickness and intentional drug references in the same breath.
For those who don’t remember the golden age of alternative comedy, Odenkirk and Cross were the masterminds behind Mr. Show with Bob and David, the HBO sketch series that ran from 1995 to 1998 and influenced basically every funny person who came after them. Their chemistry was never warm—it was combative, competitive, and built on the kind of mutual irritation that only true friends can sustain. Watching them attempt a multi-day hike through the Andes together is either the best idea ever or a recipe for one of them to be pushed off a cliff.
David Cross has already begun promoting the film during his late-night appearances, discussing the physical demands of the trek with the kind of grudging respect usually reserved for root canals. He admits that sleeping in cars during his early Los Angeles days didn’t exactly prepare him for hiking at 13,000 feet, but he’s doing it anyway because that’s what you do when your comedy partner suggests something absurd.
The Machu Picchu trek is no joke. The Inca Trail covers roughly 26 miles of steep ascents, Incan ruins, and oxygen-deprived passes that have sent many an enthusiastic tourist back to Cusco in a helicopter. For two men in their sixties—Odenkirk is 63, Cross is 61—to attempt this while cameras capture every wheezing complaint is either incredibly brave or a symptom of the same poor judgment that made Mr. Show’s sketches so brilliantly unhinged.
What makes this project fascinating is that it isn’t scripted. These aren’t characters they’re playing; it’s just Bob and David being themselves in an environment hostile to both egos and cardiovascular systems. The “coca-fueled” descriptor suggests they embraced local remedies for altitude sickness, which means we might get footage of two Jewish comedians from the American suburbs chewing coca leaves and hallucinating slightly while discussing the merits of various sketch formats.
The film represents a reunion that fans have been hoping for since Netflix briefly revived their partnership with W/ Bob and David in 2015. That series reminded everyone that their comedic timing remains razor-sharp even as their hairlines recede. Now, instead of performing in front of audiences, they’re performing for each other on a mountain, which is either the purest form of their art or a midlife crisis with better cinematography.
Tribeca is billing this as a meditation, but anyone familiar with their work knows it’s going to be closer to a roast. Odenkirk, who survived a heart attack in 2023 and came back to film more Better Call Saul, has nothing left to prove physically but seems determined to prove it anyway. Cross, who has spent recent years doing stand-up specials with increasingly apocalyptic titles, approaches the hike with the enthusiasm of a man who has accepted that suffering is inevitable and might as well be televised.
By the time they reach the Sun Gate and catch that first glimpse of Machu Picchu proper, audiences will have witnessed either the strengthening of a thirty-year friendship or its spectacular collapse under the weight of blisters and sleep deprivation. Either outcome is worth the price of admission. Comedy this raw doesn’t require a writers’ room—just a mountain, some coca leaves, and two men who can’t stop making fun of each other.
Catch the premiere at Tribeca 2026 and witness Bob Odenkirk and David Cross conquer the Andes—or at least complain about them beautifully.
Also Read: Oz HBO Changed Everything