Trivia / Bob's Burgers

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: In "Mazel-Tina", there's a brief joke in which Tammy's father mentions being wearing a "bisexual" cologne and he is corrected about it being "unisex". While an old term, the term bisexual was used interchangeably with the term unisex during the late 20th century, before the word bisexual became exclusively used to describe the sexuality.
• Acting for Two:
  • H. Jon Benjamin voices Jimmy Jr. and several background characters (from Speedo Guy to Peter Pescadero) in addition to Bob.
  • John Roberts voices both Linda and Jocelyn.
  • David Herman voices both Phillip Frond and Mr. Branca. Due to both being Wagstaff faculty members, the two interact a fair amount
  • In the Thundergirls episodes, Rachel Dratch plays Tina's fellow Thundergirl Jodi and rival scout-leader Bethany.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: Many of the one-off guest characters are voiced by well-known actors/celebrities, such as Paul Rudd as Tina's imaginary horse Jericho or Jordan Peele as Felix Fischoeder's girlfriend Fanny. Among recurring characters there's Calvin and Felix Fischoeder, being voiced by Kevin Kline and Zach Galifianakis respectively.
• Channel Hop: For syndication, [adult swim] had held cable rights to the series since June 2013, and has shared them with sister network TBS since 2016. For season 9 onward, Disney-owned channel FXX took over syndication duties. Adult Swim and TBS are set to lose rights to previous seasons in 2023.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Loren Bouchard admitted that he found the "Child Molester" burger, as well as some of the other audacious jokes from the first episode, to be in poor taste.
  • In this AV Club retrospective of season 3, Bouchard admitted he did not like "Family Fracas" because he felt the episode could have been written better and wished the show went with the original ending of the Belchers dumping silly foam on Jimmy Pesto's car, which he won by cheating, though he also added that the original ending would have made fans complain that the Belchers were being petty, meaning that there would have been irate fans no matter which ending was used.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: About 95% of the female characters on this show are voiced by men (John Roberts (Actor) as Linda and Jocelyn, Dan Mintz as Tina^note though Tina was originally a boy named Daniel—Mintz's role simply wasn't recast when the character became female, David Herman as Marshmallow^note though this one is justified, as Marshmallow is a trans woman, etc). Only a handful of female characters are actually voiced by women (Louise^note Kristen Schaal, Gayle^note Megan Mullally and Tammy^note Jenny Slate are notable examples of female characters voiced by women). Meanwhile, male characters Ollie and Andy Pesto are voiced by Sarah and Laura Silverman. This is also enforced in most foreign dubs, except Brazilian Portuguese.
  • Played straight in the early episodes with minor female characters being voiced by the show's male cast due to the show's stable of voice actors being much smaller (much like Bouchard's earlier series Home Movies). Averted in the later seasons when they started to employ more female actors such as Brooke Dillman and Jillian Bell.
• The Danza:
  • Gene Belcher is voiced by Eugene Mirman.
  • In the original proof of concept, Tina Belcher was originally a boy named Daniel, after Dan Mintz (who was cast as both Daniel and Tina).
  • Health inspector Ron is voiced by Ronald Lynch.
  • Tina's Spear Counterpart Nathan from "Beefsquatch" is voiced by Nathan Fielder.
• Defictionalization:
  • To promote the show, several Fatburger restaurants were re-branded as "Bob's Burgers".
  • A fan of the show, one Cole Bowden, dedicated himself to making and documenting and recreating every burger special featured on the show's chalkboard ^note including the Child Molester burger from the first episode — but not without a warning stating that child sexual abuse isn't funny and the sandwich isn't meant to condone or glamorize it, something acknowledged by the show's writers on their own blog. This eventually resulted in Bowden and Loren Bouchard collaborating on an official recipe book.
  • womaninflatesaballoonandsitsonitandpopsit.com
  • Rudy's website from the short "My Butt Has a Fever", https://www.lawofthejuggle.com/
  • An indirect example, but a Working Girl musical adaptation was announced two years after "Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl" aired. Someone apparently thought it was Crazy Enough to Work.
• Descended Creator:
  • Series creator Loren Bouchard voiced Mickey in "Beach, Please" when Bill Hader, Mickey's usual voice actor, was unavailable.^note Bouchard's voice was only heard in the initial airing of the episode (judging by his subpar work, it was most likely audio that was carried over from the animatics stage due to time constraints). John Kubin can now be heard in reruns and streaming versions of this episode.
  • Wendy Molyneux, one of the show's writers, has a recurring role as Jen the babysitter.
• Development Gag: The original pitch had the Belchers as cannibals who served ground human meat in their burgers. That got thrown out, but the pilot is still about the Belchers being suspected cannibals who serve human burgers.
• Died During Production:
  • Character designer Dave Creek died in a skydiving accident over New Year's weekend in 2021.
  • Dale Baer, who was working on the show's movie, passed away as it was in post-production.
• Distanced from Current Events: The episode "Flu-ouise", whose A-plot involves Louise getting flu, was pulled from Adult Swim's rerun rotation in 2020, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In October of that year, however, the episode returned to the regular rerun rotation.
• Edited for Syndication: The already short intro for Bob's Burgers was shortened to barely 5 seconds when it airs on free TV syndication.
• Fandom Life Cycle: Reached a Stage 5 at its peak in the 2010s, with its popularity among millennials being referenced by Family Guy. The series was also featured in a The Simpsons Couch Gag. While remaining hugely successful, the fandom behind the series has settled to a stable point around Stage 6a, with the movie performing below expectations despite positive reviews from critics and fans.
• Friday Night Death Slot: From Season 5-8, Fox gave it the 7:30 PM Sunday time slot which meant it would be pre-empted if Sunday Night Football games ran long.
• Ink-Suit Actor:
  • Gene bears some resemblance to Eugene Mirman. Both have similar hairdos, builds and even complexion. And names.
  • As well, Tina looks sort of like a gender-flipped version of Dan Mintz, including the same shape of their glasses.
  • Larry Murphy resembles Teddy, albeit having more hair in real life.
• No Export for You: Despite the fact that it's avaliable on Disney+ and digital platforms there, the UK never got a DVD release for the show at all.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Bob's father Big Bob has had three voice actors across his four appearances. In "Bob Fires the Kids", where only his voice is heard, he's voiced by H. Jon Benjamin. For his in-person debut in "Father of the Bob", he's voiced by Bill Hader (who already does voice work on the show as Mickey the bank robber). In "Interview with a Pop-pop-pire", he's voiced by Eric Bauza, who reprises the role in "Wharf, Me Worry?".
  • Linda's father Al was voiced by H. Jon Benjamin in "Crawl Space", but from "It Snakes a Village" onwards Al was voiced by Sam Seder (Hugo's voice actor). This in turn makes Gene the only male Belcher relative not to have been voiced by H. Jon Benjamin at one point.
  • Josh's friend Douglas was voiced by Gabe Liedman in "Two for Tina" but replaced by Daveed Diggs in "Tappy Tappy Tappy Tap Tap Tap."
  • Series creator Loren Bouchard announced on Twitter that David Herman and Katie Crown will no longer play the black characters, the transgender sex worker Marshmallow and the student Harley in the future after replying to a tweet about recasting Marshmallow and Harley with "Yes. On it." Harley was voiced by Ashley Nicole Black in The Bob's Burgers Movie; Marshmallow was recast with model and activist Jari Jones.
  • While not specifically mentioned, two additional black characters (Ms. Jacobson and Olsen Benner) were recast (the former from Melissa Bardin Galsky to Ashley Nicole Black; the latter from Pamela Adlon to Nicole Byer), likely for similar reasons.
  • Gene's Best Friend Alex Papasian was played by Thomas Middleditch in Seasons 8 and 9, but starting in Season 12's "Seven-tween Again", he is voiced by Paul Rust (who previously played Milo in "Full Bars" and Jonas in "Uncle Teddy" and "Adventures in Chinchilla-Sitting", and also has a starring role as Ham Tobin on sister series The Great North). While not confirmed, the recast was likely due to sexual harassment allegations regarding Middleditch.
  • Mickey has been played by Bill Hader since his debut episode, but in "Beach, Please," he was voiced by Loren Bouchard; certain re-airings of the episode recast him again with John Kubin, who also voiced Mickey in The Bob's Burgers Movie. Bouchard would confirm on Twitter a day after "Beach, Please" aired that Hader was meant to reprise his role as Mickey, but was unavailable to record, and Mickey couldn't be scrapped from the episode due to his scenes already being animated. Bouchard also confirmed that the recast is not intended as permanent, and that Hader is planned to return to the show.
  • After Jay Johnston was discovered to have partaken in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, it was announced that he has been barred from returning as Jimmy Pesto Sr.^note allegations of Johnston's involvement have been around since winter/spring 2021, with many of his colleagues confirming them, but it wasn't until December 2021 that the showrunners' response became known. This resulted in Jimmy Pesto's absence for the entirety of Seasons 12 through 13 and remaining completely silent throughout the movie, not returning until Eric Bauza took up the role starting with Season 14's "Bully-ieve It or Not".
• Out of Order: Several episodes differ from production order and airdate order. For the most part, this has basically no impact on the plot due to the show's relative lack of continuity. There are some exceptions, however.
  • "Burger Wars" serves as the formal debut of the Pesto twins, with both of them getting properly established, and in production order it was the first to chronologically feature them. However, the episode aired after "Art Crawl", which featured the Pesto twins in significant roles. This resulted in the twins suddenly debuting in the series with little context, then getting introduced in their second appearance.^note Another Pesto-prominent episode, "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?", also aired before "Burger Wars" despite being produced after, but it avoids a similar scenario by properly introducing Jimmy Sr. and Jimmy Jr. and establishing their dynamics with the Belchers.
  • "Gayle Makin' Bob Sled" aired before "The Cook, the Steve, the Gayle, & Her Lover", but takes place in the middle of a plotline first introduced in the latter episode (specifically Gayle's relationship with Mr. Frond).
  • "Die Card or Card Trying", explicitly set eight days after Christmas (on January 2), airs an episode after "Romancing the Beef", which is Season 11's Valentine's Day Episode.
• Playing Against Type: Gayle is a whole different kind of crazy than Megan Mullally usually plays.
• Promoted Fanboy: Welsh animator Simon Chong made a Bob's Burgers/Archer crossover video using audio clips from the two shows. In addition to garnering the approval of several Archer cast members, it attracted the interest of Loren Bouchard himself and eventually got Chong a job on ''Bob's Burgers'' as a storyboard artist, with Chong later becoming the show's supervising director.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • In "Turkey in a Can", the openly gay butcher who flirts with Bob is voiced by the openly gay Tuc Watkins.
  • Dalton Crespin, a semi-recurring character in Season 8, is voiced by the openly gay John Early.
  • Ambiguously Bi Linda Belcher is voiced by the openly gay John Roberts.
• Real-Life Relative: Real-life sisters Sarah and Laura Silverman voice the Pesto twins (Laura as Andy; Sarah as Ollie).
  • In the French dub, Linda is voiced by Maïté Monceau, while Louise is voiced by her daughter Jessica.
• Recast as a Regular: Zach Galifianakis voices the one-off character Chet in the season 3 episode "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle Mannequins". At the tail-end of Season 4, he would return to the show as the voice actor for Felix Fischoeder.
• Recycled Script:
  • The plot of the Season 5 episode "Best Burger" is extremely similar to that of the Season 3 episode "Family Fracas" in that they both involve Bob and Jimmy Pesto competing against each other in a competition run by Chuck Charles, which Bob ultimately loses. However, "Best Burger" differs from "Family Fracas" by ending on a much better note for Bob; while "Family Fracas" had a full-on Downer Ending involving the Belchers being cheated off the show with neither the Pestos nor the producers facing any consequences for doing so, "Best Burger" has Bob just barely lose to a Nice Guy who won fair and square, Jimmy gets dead last in a humiliating fashion, and Bob's restaurant gets more business by the end so he doesn't leave empty-handed.
  • The plot of the Season 9 episode "If You Love It So Much, Why Don't You Marionette?" is strikingly similar to Season 3's "Carpe Museum", featuring Louise as she sneaks off during a boring field trip and discovers a closed-off area of the building that features something she finds much more fun, also showcasing an adult who helps her. It also features aspects of Season 5's "Hawk & Chick", with Louise wondering if growing up means losing who she is after meeting a female performer who changed for the worse with age. The key differences come from how the episodes use their plotlines—both "Carpe Museum" and "Hawk & Chick" used their respective plots to highlight Louise's close bond with Bob; meanwhile, "If You Love It So Much, Why Don't You Marionette?" doesn't really explore any character dynamics, since the primary people involved in Louise's plotline are all one-off characters.
  • Fitting for a Milestone Celebration, the general plot of the Season 11 episode "Bob Belcher and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kids" is a Call-Back to "Human Flesh", the very first episode of the series: both episodes revolve around the restaurant being in danger of getting shut down due to a combination of the Belcher kids' antics and Hugo's Jerkass attitude, Bob gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the kids at one point and Ron gets Hugo to help reopen the restaurant again by the end.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: In December 2021, Jay Johnston (Jimmy Pesto) was fired from the show after it was reported that he participated in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January of that year.
• Rule 34 – Creator Reactions: There's a video showing the cast and crew's reactions to hearing about the Bob's Burgers porno spoof, "Bob's Boners" here. Highlights include John Roberts befriending the actress playing Linda on Twitter and Larry Murphy wishing the producers asked him to reprise his role as Teddy.
• Same Voice Their Entire Life: The flashbacks of the Belchers in their younger years (teenage Bob, baby Louise and Tina) have them still played by their usual voice actors. Perhaps most jarringly, episodes like "Turkey in a Can", "Hamburger Dinner Theater", and "The Trouble with Doubles" show that Tina had a deep voice even as a toddler (while H. Jon Benjamin and Kristen Schaal at least make an attempt to make their voices sound higher-pitched, Dan Mintz keeps his usual low monotone).
• Screwed by the Network: During season 5 and until season 9, Fox moved the show from 8:30 PM to 7:30 so they can try out new shows in that timeslot. This meant that during fall, the show was usually pre-empted by football.
• Spin-Off Cookbook: The show has a cookery book The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers.
• Throw It In!:
  • Many of the songs, especially Linda's, are improvised by the actors, then handed off to the show's composers to be arranged into real-sounding songs.
  • Many of the show's lines are improvised (in Season 1, one can even slightly hear voice actors corpsing in the background), allowing the humor and conversation to feel much more natural. The second half of Season 11 had to largely forego this due to several voice actors recording from home as a result of the pandemic.
• Trans Character, Cis Actor: Marshmallow and the prostitutes in "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" are all trans women, but they're voiced by cisgender men. However, Marshmallow was later recast by the transgender actress Jari Jones.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the original pitch of the show, Bob and his family were cannibals who served ground-up human meat to unwitting customers, while trying to keep the authorities off their trail. Naturally, something that disgusting got rejected as a series premise for network TV (it'd be a different story if it were on cable — either basic or pay-premium, or in a hit stage musical for that matter), but it didn't stop the first episode from alluding to it.
  • Tina was also supposed to be a boy named Daniel, which explains why Dan Mintz (a boy) is voicing a girl.
  • John Roberts originally auditioned to be a cast member for Saturday Night Live during the 2008-2009 season (when Amy Poehler left to have her baby and do other projects, so Lorne Michaels hired Bobby Moynihan, Abby Elliott, and Michaela Watkins). Had he been chosen, not only would John Roberts be the second male homosexual cast member (and the first one hired since 1985), but he wouldn't have been the voice for Linda.
  • Louise changing Bob's chalkboard and writing her own burger of the day was going to be a Running Gag, but the writers soon realized that coming up with one punny burger recipe per episode was hard enough and that Louise was already so troublesome that to give her another naughty thing to do seemed like overkill.
  • According to the show's panel at Comic-Con@Home 2020, Gene was originally named Leo, but this was changed because of the abundance of "L" names in the Belcher family.
• Written by Cast Member:
  • Dan Mintz wrote "The Equestranauts".
  • H. Jon Benjamin co-wrote "The Land Ship", "Secret Admiral-irer," and "Cheer Up, Sleepy Gene."
  • And now John Roberts is writing an episode as well.

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