We Get the Secret Recipe of ‘Bob’s Burgers’ success straight from the cooks!

If you didn’t already know, Bob’s Burgers just began its fourth season on FOX, and has already been renewed for a fifth; quite the feat, given the number of shows over the years that have lived and died in the 8:30 time slot that follows The Simpsons. But FOX knew what they wanted for that space, and Bob’s Burgers fit the mold. As series creator Loren Bouchard explained, Bob’s was a show made to do exactly what it’s doing now.

“The idea was to do a family show for FOX. They invited me to pitch for them,” Bouchard said. “We didn’t go into it with this Rock’n’Roll-fuck-this attitude, like we’ll just do our own thing – we really wanted to make a show that fit after The Simpsons.” They liked his idea for a cartoon sitcom set in a family-owned burger joint, and Bob’s Burgers was born.

“Having a show in a restaurant lets you get to do a workplace comedy and a family show in one package,” he explained. “And it’s not a stretch. It’s not weird, like, ‘They’re a family…and they live in a lighthouse,’ or whatever.”

As for the casting, Bouchard let us in on his secret. “I have a formula that never fails, and I highly recommend it to anybody who ever wants to do this kind of thing: cast first. Decide who you want to work with – who you think would be good with each other – and then think of a character that would be appropriate for them,” he said.

The lead was an easy choice for Bouchard. “I’ve never done a show without Jon Benjamin, so I knew he should be the dad; the guy that should carry the series on his shoulders,” he said. “And then I saw John Roberts doing his mom impression on YouTube – and I said that voice is perfect. Same for Kristen Schaal [voice of Louise], same with Eugene Mirman [voice of Gene], and same for Dan Mintz [voice of Tina].”

When asked about his voice being in various cartoons, Jon Benjamin (who’s first act upon beginning the interview was to take a sip out of one of the writer’s flasks, which contained New Hampshire bourbon, and to scream, “Live free or die!” and “Nobody better give me any pills”) said there are actually differences between the characters.

“I’m often told to not be Archer all the time,” he said. “Archer is kind of one note; a good note, but just one. Bob has a lot of range in what he does. Though Archer is the only show I’ve done where I blew my voice out halfway through recording an episode.”

 

John Roberts, the voice of Linda, explained that there’s some necessary prep work for him to get into character. “I put cotton in the corners of my mouth, and tape up my penis,” Roberts joked, saying it’s actually a voice that comes naturally to him, as it’s in essence an impression of his mother, who happened to be present in the press room. “I’ve been imitating my mom forever, so it’s the easiest job for me. I can do it any time,” he said.

Although Dan Mintz has a unique voice perfect for the show, the character had to be tweaked a bit from its initial inception. “Tina was originally a boy,” Bouchard said, “and FOX had a concern that the older boy character wasn’t popping, or wasn’t differentiated enough. They were walking up to the edge of this very scary moment, thinking we’d have to recast, but instead we said, ‘what if Dan plays a girl?’ So we sent them a little picture of Tina and a video of Dan Mintz’s stand-up act.”

Mintz explained that he was initially worried. “I was really surprised when Loren told me they were changing from a boy to a girl. I thought they were re-casting,” he said, adding that he believes it was the right call. “I think it makes the character so much more interesting. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I can’t do other voices, so it had to work.”

How has having a famous voice affected his stand-up career? “It worked out really well,” Mintz said, “because now if there are fans in the audience, I get a laugh on my first set-up. It’s like a head start.”

Of course, I had to ask him about Tina’s awkward groan noise. “Loren said we want you to figure out a sound for Tina to make when she’s nervous,” Mintz said, “and we somehow came up with that. I noticed that I do it now in my life, and I don’t know if I was doing it before and didn’t realize it, or if I started.”

In addition to being John Roberts’s first ever TV role, it’s also Dan Mintz’s first TV role as an actor, having previously written for several shows, including Crank Yankers, The Andy Milonakis Show, and Lucky Louie. On working with comic legend Louis C.K., Mintz said, “It was so fun. Every day was like an eight hour Louis C.K. stand-up special.”

If the chemistry between the Belcher family members seems to mesh especially well, there’s a reason for it. As Dan Mintz explained, “We always record together, at the same time. A lot of cartoons record one at a time.” Even though “together” really means a video link from New York to Los Angeles, the hilariousness of the cast chemistry isn’t compromised. Just ask Larry Murphy, the voice of Teddy on the show: “I have a really bad track record of laughing during scenes.”

This is due to both the genius of the script, and the improvisation of the talented voice actors. “It’s 80 percent scripted, 20 percent improvised,” Jon Benjamin said.

It takes about seven hours to record an episode, according to John Roberts. “We record everything in three takes, so on the third take you can really go off the tracks and explore,” Roberts said.

The unique animation style also adds to the show’s quirky humor. It’s not something everyone thinks about, but Loren Bouchard got into details about it when prodded by some Nerd Nerdingtons who were present in the press room.

“We started with this great original design by Jay Howell,” he said. “They had these wonderful dick noses that hang down right in front of their mouths, and these big goofy smiles and floppy muppet faces with no teeth.” They then proceeded to go into the artsy details as my eyes glazed over and I temporarily blacked out.

How about some random fan boy questions to spice things up?

Who is Bob’s Favorite Child? Jon Benjamin said he “used to say Gene, because he’s a boy, so it’s father-son. But Gene is so disappointing in that regard, I think. So it’s not him anymore. I think it’s Tina, because Louise is a real wild card, and she must be a real handful for a guy like Bob. Tina is really down-to-earth. She has her eccentricities, but I think Bob likes her best.

How do girls react to Dan Mintz being the voice of a teenage girl? “I get a lot of emails,” he said. “Adults, as much as kids, really love Tina.”

And my question: How do they come up with all the different Burgers of the Day, and did they know what they were getting into when they started this running gag?  Bouchard answered, “We try to custom fit the Burgers [to each episode]. We committed to it. We decided every day he has to have a new Burger of the Day, and we can never repeat. And then you realize if you have an episode that’s four days…

“I think some day we want to make a cookbook of all the Burgers,” he added. ChefRich of course volunteered at this point.

But enough of all that, let’s get some plot hints for Season 4.

“In a future episode, Linda’s old high school band, The Ta-tas, get back together,” John Roberts informed us. “So we go and play the reunion and there’s some Prince-inspired stuff in there.”

Roberts also talked about some of the voice talent lending their skills to the series. “We have great guests coming up too,” he said. “In the next episode that airs, Will Forte teaches Linda how to fly a plane. Will Forte is awesome.” He also mentioned Kevin Kline and Zach Galifianakis appearing together in a future episode.

Larry Murphy added some info too, saying, “At the end of this season there’s a two-part episode that’s a musical. And there’s an Uncle Teddy episode coming up.”

When pressed about an Archer appearance on Bob’s (since Bob had a cameo on Archer) Bouchard stated that it’ll eventually happen. “There’s some Bob’s Burgers/Archer crossover we need to do, but I want to do it right.”

Clearly the man is an expert at doing things right, as his series has already been signed for a fifth season, but Bouchard isn’t getting too comfy just yet.

“I take nothing for granted. I didn’t expect to survive and thrive on FOX,” he said, pausing to smirk, “but obviously that was the plan.”

 

@Gonzo_Green