Bob Belcher

*This article uses material from the “Bob Belcher” article on the Bob's Burgers Wiki  at FANDOM is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.*

**Bob Belcher** is the main protagonist of the *Bob's Burgers* animated show.

Bob is the husband to Linda and father to Tina, Gene, and Louise. He is a third generation restaurateur and is 47 years old. Bob was born to an unnamed mother and Big Bob who ran a diner called "Big Bob's Diner". Bob had a relatively unhappy childhood as his mother died when he was young and his father was an alcoholic who forced Bob to constantly work. He is also known to never smile. Bob is the more sensible one of the bunch though he isn't afraid to get petty and is often stubborn and exasperated. Despite his somewhat pessimistic personality, he loves and cares for his family very much as well as his restaurant.

In the AWA fics, Bob is part of the AWA as one of it's many instructors.

## **Appearance**

Bob has tan skin and black hair like the rest of the family. He is fairly tall, standing 6,0", and slightly overweight, weighing 195 lbs. He has a great deal of body hair, which he seems to have inherited from his father. He has receding black hair and a visible bald spot. He compensates for this with his signature mustache, which ultimately won the affection of his wife. His ears are noticeably not visible despite his haircut not being sufficient to cover them.

He typically wears a white T-shirt, gray pants, and black shoes. While cooking and working at the restaurant, he wears a white apron, though he is oddly never seen with a hairnet. Alternatively, his nightwear consists of a white v-neck T-shirt, sky blue shorts, and brown slippers. He sometimes walks around naked.

Bob has a tattoo of a caricature of his own nose and mustache on his lower back. He got it by force when Bronconius attempts to tattoo a design of Bobs face on a horse's butt, instead of the 'official' Equesticle tattoo Bob consented to.

## **Personality**

Well-meaning and sensible, Bob tries to balance out his restaurant life and try to be a good father and husband. Although he regularly misses the due date for rent payments, struggles to make ends meet, and receives little respect from his children, he remains an adamant, hardworking, family man. A testament to his character, he maintains a sunny perspective and faces life's trials with enthusiasm and earnest.

His wife casts a seemingly incompatible contrast, while Bob is introverted, repressed, and sensible, Linda frequently displays a certain youthful exuberance, uninhibited by social standards, and occasionally comes across as harebrained. Proof that opposites do attract, Linda's unwavering support has helped Bob through countless struggles, despite his tendency to become jaded by her childlike enthusiasm.

He has shown a conspicuous capacity for patience, although this patience is so frequently tested by friends, family, neighbors, and rivals alike. He can be brusque with those who ignore his requests or make unreasonable demands of him; however he is typically only uncivil towards those who go out of their way to demean or harass him, namely his neighbor, rival, and fellow restaurateur Jimmy Pesto, owner of nearby Jimmy Pesto's Pizzeria.

Bob frequently tends to anthropomorphize things around him, typically because he feels lonely or neglected, a pattern that seems to have begun as a child, due to his unsatisfying relationships and busy work schedule. One example is in "An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal" where he names a turkey Lance, and develops a relationship with said turkey after becoming inebriated, due to the fact that he spent thanksgiving alone. His difficult childhood, ability to withstand perceived abandonment and unyielding patience for the behavior of his family shows Bob is very resilient and independent.

His greatest fear is failure, as revealed in "The Hauntening", he also had a fear of pigeons but conquered this in "House of 1000 Bounces."

Bob is extremely accepting towards people around him, including the LGBT+ community. Bob is also bisexual himself. This is hinted towards several times (like when he is cuddled by Tom Seleck in “Synchronized Swimming”) and confirmed in “Turkey in a Can” where he tells another man that he’s “mostly straight” before saying the man is out of his league, then telling him he'd call him as he walks off).

He is poor at remembering dates ("Human Flesh").

## **Trivia**

* Bob and Linda's wedding anniversary is September 3rd, 1991 which is the same day Loren Bouchard and his wife got married.
* Linda told Bob she was pregnant with Louise at the top of the ferris wheel at Wonder Wharf, which led him to scream at the top of his lungs for a long period of time.
* He was 44 presumably for the first five seasons, turned probably 45 in The Laser-inth, and probably 46 in Are You There Bob? It's Me, Birthday where Linda and the kids forget his birthday.
* Bob is shown to be forgetful, forgetting his wife's birthday, his 40th birthday, and one of his children's birth (though no specified in Human Flesh which Belcher it is, many believe that it is Gene).
* In an alternate reality, Bob is depicted as the alter-ego of super-spy Sterling Archer, a character from another animated television series who is also voiced by H. Jon Benjamin. In this alternate reality, Archer is suffering from retrograde amnesia. He believes his name is Bob and becomes married to Linda (Bobs' wife on Bobs Burgers) and stepfather to Tina, Gene and Louise (Bobs' children on Bob's Burgers). This is canon only to the Archer universe and does not reflect the relationships in the Bob's Burgers series.
* Bob considers himself 'mostly straight.' ("Turkey in a Can")
* Every day at 4:30pm, Bob has a "Business Meeting" in the bathroom. ("Sexy Dance Fighting")
* Bob suffers hemophobia and passes out at the sight of his own blood. Also, his blood doesn't clot easily, causing him to bleed more than normal. ("The Kids Run the Restaurant")
* Bob has an allergy to lobster and cat fur.
* Bob's bald spot is shaped like an upside down burger.
* His bald spot is the exact same size as the lid of a mayonnaise jar.
* Posts as BurgerBob on the North Atlantic Burger Lovers forum. ("Uncle Teddy")
* Bob potty-trained all three of his children, due to Linda's weak stomach. ("Turkey in a Can")
* Once tried wind surfing. ("Sacred Couch")
* Most of his family and friends are convinced that his full name is Bob Burger.
* Bob was called "Daddy" by Louise until she was eight.
* He watched Gene eat a fern when he was a baby, and feared he would die.
* He and Linda used to build forts out of the couch cushions with Louise when she was a baby.
* He once let Tina watch "Night of the Living Dead" when she was eight (Crawl Space).
* He brought Tina to the carousel in Wonder Wharf ever since she was a baby.
* Bob would build gingerbread houses with his mother before she died. ("The Last Gingerbread House on the Left")
* Bob has demonstrated a considerable lack of business knowledge or a strong sense of morals, for stopping Gene, Louise, & Tina from selling marijuana and blueberries for the pot farmers Cooper & Beverly. If they had continued to be paid $70 weekly, they could have potentially earned $3,640 each per year, and a combined total of $10,920 annually, which could have easily alleviated their financial worries, though it makes sense why Bob and Linda stopped them. ("Bob Fires The Kids")
* Though awkward at times, Bob can also be brutally honest, like when he told his kids that they are terrible at their jobs, and how he'd fire all of them if he could.

* One of his fears is for his kids to go to summer school because that means he would have to do the work by himself.

* Bob doesn't like to sign birthday cards, which we learn during a nightmare where Bob is asked to sign a coworker's birthday card, He wakes up very distraught.
* What is more, Bob doesn't like to sign the kids' birthday cards as well, so Linda forges his signature.
* Had to switch schools because of a childhood nickname (Bobby Belch-bottoms). ("Go Tina on the Mountain").
* Bob has some similarities to Hank Hill from King of the Hill:
	+ Both have a preteen son they care about. Gene Belcher for Bob and Bobby Hill for Hank.
	+ Both are passionate about what they sell for a living. Burgers for Bob and Propane/Propane accessories for Hank.
	+ Both are from the New York-New Jersey area. Bob is from New Jersey and Hank is from New York.
	+ Both are friends with someone has been divorced. Bob is friends with Teddy and Hank is friends with Bill.
	+ Both have a strong dislike for soccer.
	+ Both have been a substitute teacher but got fired for violating school rules.

* Bob has some similarities to Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:
	+ Both are the primary main protagonist of the series.
	+ Both are passionate about what they sell for a living. Burgers for Bob and Books for Twilight.
	+ Both are very close to someone special. Tina is Bob's eldest daughter and Spike is Twilight's #1 assistant.
	+ Both are called another name in place of their real name.
	+ Both are friends with many neighbors. Bob is friends with Teddy and Twilight is friends with Spike and five other ponies.