Mr. Fischoeder challenges Bob to successfully prank him on April Fool's Day, or lose his lease.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Mr. Fischoeder still thinks Teddy's name is Freddy.
- April Fools' Day: The episode's plot revolves around it. Bob and Gene aren't as into it as the other Belchers are, which causes problems for the former when his lease depends on him pulling off a successful prank. Bob realizes halfway through the episode that Mr. Fischoeder has been pulling one long prank on him the entire time, and works to get payback. Meanwhile, Tina lands a date with Jimmy Jr. but is worried it's part of his plan to prank her—in reality, he didn't even know that April Fool's Day was April 1, and thought it was sometime in May.
- A Bloody Mess: Louise's prank on Tina is to pretend to cough up blood and then proceed to "put it back where it came from" by licking it. It's actually strawberry jelly mixed with ketchup to make it look like phlegmy blood.
- Disguised in Drag: One of Mr. Fischoeder's previous pranks on Bob was disguising himself as Linda.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: While Bob is attempting to clear his name of causing Mr. Fischoeder's injury, one of the background stores is fittingly called "You Were Framed!"
- The Gadfly: As part of her prank on Tina, Louise psyches her out by making her think Jimmy Jr. is plotting to prank her on their date.
- Gilligan Cut: After finally agreeing to prank Mr. Fischoeder, Bob plans to gather information on him, but insists he will not stoop to going through his trash. Cut to him going through Mr. Fischoeder’s trash.
- Morality Pet: Bob exploits the fact that he's the one thing Mr. Fischoeder cares about by making himself the subject of his prank on Mr. Fischoeder—first he has Teddy move a part of the scaffolding he's using to paint the main house right outside the treehouse balcony, then he uses Felix to lure Calvin to the treehouse, where Bob shows up to seemingly call Calvin out on his excessive pranking. Then he has his family show up, seemingly to prevent him from acting irrational, before he falls out a window. When the Belchers react as if he was hurt/killed, causing Mr. Fischoeder to react similarly, Bob reveals he was perfectly fine and his family was in on the entire thing, with their presence being so that their fake reactions to his fall would sell the bit.
- Mythology Gag: Part of Fischoeder's drag as Linda includes a button up top, which Linda herself wore from the start of the series through Bob's Burgers S5E17 "Itty Bitty Ditty Committee".
- Never My Fault: When it seems like Teddy accidentally cut Mr. Fischoeder's brake line, he immediately jumps to blaming Bob, causing the already-frazzled Bob to start losing it.
- Nice Guy:
- While Bob just doesn't see the point to April Fools' Day, Gene doesn't like the idea of inconveniencing people, especially his family. The one prank he tried to pull on Linda he immediately warns her about. This is also one of the ways Bob uses to sell the final part of his prank to Calvin: by taking Gene with him, he's making his ranting towards Calvin seem more genuine and Gene in turn does his best to not give the entire scheme away by concentrating on the cocoa the Fischoeders are drinking.
- Jimmy Jr. might not be the most sensitive to Tina's feelings, but he's not about to toy with her to a degree that he'd use a date as an excuse to prank her, and he takes her being late in stride after assuming it's her prank on him.
- Poke the Poodle: A few of the pranks fall on this category, such as Teddy sitting on the wrong stool, or a few of Gene's ideas for Bob's prank on Mr. Fischoeder, like moving all his clocks ahead a minute, which Tina thinks would just be helpful.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to "What a Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers.
- Potty Failure: Felix wasn't allowed to prank carnies alongside Calvin and the brothers' father because he had what was described as a sneaky bladder, which was especially problematic given they were riding in the same vehicle.
- Psychological Projection: Louise assuming Jimmy Jr. would use his date with Tina as an excuse to break into her room and rob it sounds a lot more like something Louise herself would do upon realizing Tina would be out of the house for the evening.
- Sanity Slippage: Bob loses it upon realizing Mr. Fischoeder's been pranking him the entire day, causing him to start distrusting even his own family, assuming they're just playing some part in the prank. He eventually cools off enough to rope them all in on a prank against Mr. Fischoeder.
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is "To Thrill a Mockingbird".
- The Exterminator Van is "Welcome Back, Swatter".
- The Burger of the Day is the "Swiss-ter Act 2 Burger".
- During the montage of Mr. Fischoeder's pranks on Bob, several past Burgers of the Day can be seen, including:
- The "Catsup With That? Burger"
- The "Pos-Onion Adventure Burger"
- The "Rye Wiiiife Burger"
- The Sociopath: Mr. Fischoeder is so devoid of feeling that he wants Bob's prank to make him feel "something" or else it doesn't count.
- Spotting the Thread: Bob first suspects something's up when he realizes one of the paramedics who loaded Mr. Fischoeder into an ambulance is the same person Mr. Fischoeder introduced as a prospective tenant with a career unrelated to healthcare. He then sees Felix driving around on a golf cart that his brother seemingly crashed on earlier that day, causing him to realize he's been the subject of a prank the entire time.
- Suicidal "Gotcha!": Bob's final prank on Mr. Fischoeder is to fall off the balcony of Felix's treehouse. However, he got Teddy to move the scaffolding so he would land safely on it; although he does almost die when the scaffolding collapses after he's climbed back up.
- This Is My Chair: Teddy's April Fools prank revolves around how he sits at one specific stool at the restaurant so often—specifically, his prank is just him sitting in a different stool. He interprets Bob completely ignoring it as the prank absolutely stunning him, which Bob just rolls with because it'd be easier than explaining the truth.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The scene where Bob starts snapping and accusing everyone but Gene of being in on Mr. Fischoeder's prank is immediately followed by him arriving at the Fischoeder mansion supposedly still in that frame of mind; only after the prank succeeds is it explained that in between the two scenes Bob had calmed down enough to think a bit more rationally, have an epiphany on what Fischoeder would want in a prank, and put together the plan.
