Bob Belcher

**Robert "Bob" Belcher Jr.** is a third-generation restaurateur, and the main protagonist of the Fox animated series, *Bob's Burgers*. Bob runs Bob's Burgers with the help of his wife, Linda Belcher, and their three kids, Tina Belcher, Louise Belcher, and Gene Belcher.

While poor with business management and cursed with an unlucky streak, his experience and skill in homemade cuisine has helped his restaurant stay afloat, in spite of seemingly constant financial uncertainty, providing for his family all the while. He‘s voiced by H. Jon Benjamin.

## Profile

### Appearance

Bob has tan skin and black hair like the rest of the family, as well as brown eyes like his son. He has a paunch and is fairly tall, standing 6' tall. He has a great deal of body hair, which he seems to have inherited from his father and passed down to his eldest daughter. He has receding black thinning 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 in his boxers.

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 Bob's face on a horse's butt, instead of the 'official' Equesticle tattoo Bob consented to. [1]

In his youth, Bob had a thick head of hair. Once after Louise was born and Tina was leaving toddlerhood, Bob's hair started balding and thinning.

### 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, since 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. He 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.) In another episode ("Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street"), when Teddy calls out another handyman as handsome and Bob questions it, Teddy asks, "You don't?" to which Bob replies, "I don't know, I didn't... I mean he's not really my type. He's got a good body, though."

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

## Story

Bob was born in 1967 to an unnamed mother and Big Bob. His father had a drinking problem and ran a restaurant called Big Bob's Diner. Sometime in Bob's childhood, his mother passed away.

As a child, Bob was forced to work in his father's restaurant and would rarely have time for himself. His father never smiled as he grew. Bob made himself "toys" out of restaurant supplies, such as a spatula, a scrubbing pad, and a piece of soap. He became attached to these, but was rarely allowed to play with them either. He envied children that were allowed to have fun ("Bob Fires the Kids").

At 14 years of age in 1984, Bob manned the grill while his father got his prostate checked. He makes a special burger for his father's customers. Though when they are about to eat it, his father returns home and becomes angry, tossing it out ("Father of the Bob").

Until Bob's 24th Christmas that was in 1994, Bob continued to work for his father. As a gift, Bob Sr. changed the name of his restaurant to "Bob and Son's." Bob refuses this, to his father's surprise, and says that it is impossible to work for him. Bob Sr. kicks his son out for embarrassing him ("Father of the Bob").

He first met Linda in a bar after she accidentally hit him in the face with her engagement ring from her then-fiancé, Hugo, getting it stuck in his mustache.

On September 3, 1998 Bob and Linda got married at city hall. On their wedding night, they worked because they couldn't afford not to ("Human Flesh"). They went on to have three children: Tina, Gene, and Louise Belcher.

### Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burgers is Bob's eponymous restaurant that he owns and runs with his family. The restaurant is shown to be in a perpetual state of "almost failing," making enough money to stay in business (albeit barely), but never enough to provide any kind of stability to the Belchers.

However, the food is shown to be made from good, quality ingredients and quite delicious. It is implied that the reason for the financial struggles is Bob's lack of talent in promotion, his families wackiness that causes his plans to fail (failing to pass out promotional items, annoying customers, being distracted at work) and bad spending habits (though usually done for the good of his family, such as using money to send his horse-obsessed daughter to a horse camp instead of using the money to fix the restaurant's deep fryer).

### Season One

Bob's Burgers celebrates its grand re-re-re-opening. He rallies his family to bring in business, forgetting that it is his and Linda's wedding anniversary. He and Linda go downstairs to grind meat, she becomes angry and scolds him. She thinks that Bob is trying to surprise her, but he assures her that he isn't.

When Bob returns upstairs, he finds that Hugo Habercore is investing a claim that his burgers are made of human flesh. When Linda too returns, the two reveal that Hugo and Linda were engaged. Hugo forces him to hang a sign that says that the food may contain human flesh.

Linda tells Bob that she invited Hugo over to get the sign taken down. Bob becomes jealous and wonders why she liked him in the first place. She reveals that he's a good kisser, unlike Bob, which upsets him further.

After another incident with a dead body, a mob gathers outside the restaurant to protest. He goes outside to confront Hugo. He finds that there is a lab in the health inspector van, but he still refuses to help. Bob addresses the crowd, though he is unsuccessful. Mort comes over as well, helping him. He's unsuccessful and the crowd causes his window to break.

He berates himself while looking at his reflection. His family tries to get him to return by apologizing. They manage to cheer him up. An adventurous eaters club appears and he overcharges him. Ron gives him clearance to take down the sign, but he shushes him and profits from the group's business.

The same night, Bob and Linda discuss their success and kiss on top of the Ferris wheel.

## Relationships

### Relatives

Although Bob's children seem to view him as somewhat of a buffoon, they also care very deeply for Bob, especially his youngest daughter, Louise. His wife, Linda, is very supportive of Bob, helping him get through tough times when he needs it the most. In most episodes, Bob's children either try to take advantage of or demean him, but alternatively, they show how much they care for their father, such as "Bob Day Afternoon."

Little is known about Bob's mother. It is revealed in "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" that she has passed away. She had a brother called Ernest Lombard who ran 'Lombard's' department store before the mall opened and put it out of business.

In "Uncle Teddy" it is mentioned that Bob has a cousin called Vanessa who is in a cult, it is not made clear whether she is a niece of his mother or his father.

#### Linda Belcher

Linda Belcher is Bob's wife. They share a loving relationship. She admires him for his dream of owning a restaurant. She dislikes the way he kisses, though he worked on in improving They are shown to complement each other very well; Bob helps Linda stay in reality while Linda encourages Bob to loosen up and have fun.

While Bob often acts as Linda's voice of reason he rarely if ever intervenes in her shenanigans, recognizing that doing so is pointless and Linda will do what she wants. However, he will always make it known to her when he thinks she is making a bad decision and warn her impending consequences of her actions.

As both Bob and Linda are highly competitive, competition finds its way into their daily activities in many episodes, notably Stand by Gene, The Unnatural, and Eggs for Days. At the end of Li'l Hard Dad, Bob begrudgingly tells Linda "you win best parent of the week," which seems to be a reference to a running competition they have between themselves.

#### Tina Belcher

Tina Belcher is Bob and Linda's oldest child. Similarly to his other children, Bob and Tina share a loving relationship. Out of all of his children, Tina appears to be the most supportive of Bob and they appear to be very close. He is shown to recognize her budding sexuality and supports her, acknowledging that it is a normal part of growing up and only intervening when her actions or words become inappropriate.

In "Tina-rannosarus Wrecks," Bob and Tina are running an errand together, stumble upon an empty parking lot and he lets her take the wheel to practice driving. In "Two for Tina," Tina tells Bob, "Dad, if you believe you're beautiful, you will be. I did." Bob may not always be comfortable with Tina's uninhibited expression of her sexual feelings but he never silences her or encourages her to stop expressing herself. In "The Equestranauts," Tina is tricked into giving away her very rare *Equestranauts* horse figurine "Chariot." She enlists Bob's help to get her horse back, which includes Bob studiously reviewing every *Equestranauts* episode and book to ensure his complete knowledge of the series. Bob even goes so far in his quest to get Chariot back by getting a tattoo. In "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?, Bob picks up a second job working at night as a taxi driver so that the family can afford to throw Tina a thirteenth birthday party. Lastly, in "Mother Daughter Laser Razor," Bob takes Tina to get her legs waxed but Tina gets scared at the last minute and asks Bob to get his legs waxed too. Bob ends up getting his legs waxed in solidarity with Tina.

#### Gene Belcher

Gene Belcher is Bob and Linda's second child and only son. Gene tends to annoy Bob with his sound effects from his megaphone, keyboard, and often inappropriate comments. In "Torpedo, "Gene is unable to name the restaurant he works at, thinking of it as "Dad's Burgers."

Many episodes of the show focus on the differences between Bob and his son. As Linda mentions plainly in "Spaghetti Western and Meatballs" and is shown more plainly in "The Unnatural," the two struggle to bond over "father-son stuff;" and their strongly different personalities clash in "Beefsquatch." They find common ground in the Banjo movie series in "Spaghetti Western and Meatballs," and the 80's rock band Zentipede in "The Laser-inth.'

Despite their many diametric differences, Bob and Gene love each other very much and often learn from each other in unexpected ways. Gene helps Bob learn to let things go in Li'l Hard Dad, Bob helps Gene feel safe enough to face a tough challenge in The Laser-inth, and they both learn to trust each other above all else on a valentine's date gone wrong in "V for Valentine-detta."

#### Louise Belcher

Louise Belcher is Bob and Linda's youngest child.

Louise loves to start rumors about her family and her dad's business, often getting him into trouble. In "Human Flesh," she brings one of her dad's burgers into school for Show and Tell, and states that it comes from human flesh. This rumor spreads through town and reaches the health inspector, who temporarily shuts them down while investigating.

But Louise seems to share some of Bob's personality traits, such as talking to inanimate objects and wanting to take over the family restaurant when she is older.

Louise appears to care very deeply for her father, even more so than her siblings. Their close relationship can be seen in "Hawk & Chick", as Louise becomes distraught over the possibility of losing touch with her father as she ages, or in "Late Afternoon in the Garden of Bob & Louise", when Louise becomes jealous of the attention Bob pays to his plants and Logan.

#### Big Bob

Bob Sr. is Bob's father. They are shown to have a difficult, strained relationship as Bob Sr. is extremely controlling, critical and unsupportive of his son. This is highlighted in the episode "Father of the Bob" when Big Bob, ridiculed and refused to let Bob serve his custom made "Baby You Can Chive My Car" to his regular, Henry.

Their relationship hit a boiling point when Bob embarrassed his father by rejecting his father's gift of making him a partner in his diner in front of their customers.

Bob learned how to work at a restaurant when he was young working at his father Big Bob's restaurant Big Bob's Diner. Bob was forced to work constantly in his father's restaurant to the point where he missed out on his childhood and was even not allowed to have one in some respects, having to make his own toys out of things lying around the restaurant as he was not allowed any. However, it isn't until "Bob Fires the Kids" that he realizes that he actually hated working in his father's restaurant, having initially remembered it as a positive experience.

Their relationship softens a bit in "Father of the Bob" where they clear the air. Bob realizes that his father does love and supports him in his own way while Bob Sr. admits that he recognizes that he is a difficult person to deal with, and that he understands why Bob left.

#### Gloria

“*I don't hate them. Just Grandma. Or- I don't hate her, just the sounds she makes. And her voice. And the things she says.* ” —"Crawl Space"
Gloria is Bob's mother-in-law. Bob dislikes her and becomes angry when he finds that she's going to visit. He talks badly about her and tries to avoid seeing her if possible ("Crawl Space"). He strongly dislikes his mother-in-law, Gloria, primarily her voice and the noises she makes. In "Crawl Space," he hides in a wall for 3 days to avoid her.

#### Gayle

Gayle is Bob's sister-in-law.

Bob isn't fond of Linda's sister, Gayle, either. He mentions how he dislikes many of her choices, such as hanging up her animal anus paintings in the restaurant. ("Art Crawl") In "Dr. Yap", Bob hallucinates from the medicine and accidentally kisses Gayle, mistaking her for his wife, Linda. As a result, Gayle falls for Bob as he tries to clear the accident.

### Enemies

#### Hugo Habercore

Hugo Habercore is the health inspector who tries to put Bob's Burgers out of business in *Human Flesh*.

#### Jimmy Pesto

Jimmy Pesto is the owner of Jimmy Pesto's Pizzeria and is Bob's primary business rival. Jimmy often picks on Bob for not having a very successful restaurant like he, which annoys Bob. Rarely though, they will collaborate to accomplish to stop something that has been bothering them (The Oeder Games) and (A Few 'Gurt Men).