Financial Friend-Fiction?

June 23, 2014 12:23 PM

How much do Belchers of "Bob's Burgers" actually pay in rent?
posted by The Whelk (67 comments total)

Yeah, but it's next to a funeral home and a generally-vacant building. That can't be helping the property values.
posted by Etrigan at 12:27 PM on June 23, 2014 [9 favorites]

(also Ocean City is dry and Bob sells beer but given how Ocean City is pretty well-off I just assumed they where closer to Wildwood /NJpedant)
posted by The Whelk at 12:31 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

I love this show so hard.
At first it bugged me to hear Sterling Archer's voice coming out of Bob's mouth, but then I found out who does Linda and I pretty much accepted my fate.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 12:32 PM on June 23, 2014 [7 favorites]

I went on vacation to Wildwood last year (specifically because it was much cheaper than many other beaches) and the place I stayed in made me feel like I was hiding out from the police. I could see that being Bob's town.
posted by codacorolla at 12:32 PM on June 23, 2014

26 burgers a day. Hell, there's 10 sitting on the tray dieing in the window behind him in the last photo! No wonder he's got problems.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:32 PM on June 23, 2014

As we saw in "Bed & Breakfast," there area a ton of upstairs bedrooms

No. Wrong. Watch it again.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:35 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

I love that there are important questions like these being answered/discussed on the Internet.

(Totally serious about that.)

I would also like to see if we could get "Louise Belcher" as an official unit of measurement for all things.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:37 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

No. Wrong. Watch it again.

The count in the article is accurate from what I can tell: they have three full bedrooms (Bob+Linda, Gene, Tina) and a bedroom that's a converted closet (Louise.)
posted by griphus at 12:38 PM on June 23, 2014

At first it bugged me to hear Sterling Archer's voice coming out of Bob's mouth

If you've seen the crossover Archer episode, it really hammers home how they're the same voice except that they're totally not. H. Jon is amazing in how different he can make them with tiny changes.
posted by Etrigan at 12:40 PM on June 23, 2014 [11 favorites]

The count in the article is accurate from what I can tell: they have three full bedrooms (Bob+Linda, Gene, Tina) and a bedroom that's a converted closet (Louise.)


Exactly. Where I come from, three is not "a ton."

Also: "Architecture from San Francisco, CA"? There are way, way, way more Victorians on the east coast.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:42 PM on June 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Yes it's amazing how much Bob doesn't sound like Archer.
posted by 2bucksplus at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Exactly. Where I come from, three is not "a ton."

Tell me of the bedrooms of your homeworld, Usul.
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on June 23, 2014 [19 favorites]

At first it bugged me to hear Sterling Archer's voice coming out of Bob's mouth

Personally, I was just glad to see that Ben Katz grew up, found some direction in life, and created a lovely family for himself.
posted by phunniemee at 12:46 PM on June 23, 2014 [20 favorites]

Tell me of the bedrooms of your homeworld, Usul.

Ahhh, New Yorkers.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:46 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

Bob probably pays less than that, because he signed a long term lease years ago. There was an episode where Mr. Fischoeder was speculating how much more he could make with another tenant - but he never just throws them out on the street, probably because he can't.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:49 PM on June 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

If you've seen the crossover Archer episode, it really hammers home how they're the same voice except that they're totally not. H. Jon is amazing in how different he can make them with tiny changes.


Yeah I've said this before but it's really amazing how 1) they don't sound alike despite the fact that 2) It's basically just a shift in infection.

Like Bob always sounds like he just woke up and barely dealing with the stuff around him and Archer has that snide, bratty "oh my GOD you PEOPLE" sting in his voice that makes them somehow completely different voices.
posted by The Whelk at 12:50 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

Also, 275 square feet seems like a serious lowball for the restaurant footprint. I could buy 400 square feet.
posted by dry white toast at 12:50 PM on June 23, 2014

If you've seen the crossover Archer episode, it really hammers home how they're the same voice except that they're totally not. H. Jon is amazing in how different he can make them with tiny changes.

Agreed. It doesn't bother me at all now, but back in S01e01, it was jarring, because Benjamin's voice is so distinctive.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 12:50 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

...but he never just throws them out on the street, probably because he can't.

Considering the shape both the restaurant and the Belchers' home is in, I suspect the amount of money Fischoeder would have to put down to be able to rent the space for anything except another fast-food restaurant is prohibitive enough that the Belchers' rent being paid on time is a surer bet.
posted by griphus at 12:53 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I actually had the hardest time adjusting to Benjamin in Archer because Ben Katz and Coach McGuirk are both such laid-back fuckups that having this cocky asshole was really weird. Bob Belcher makes a lot more sense.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:53 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

prohibitive enough that the Belchers' rent being paid on time is a surer bet.

For some variation of "on time."
posted by Lemurrhea at 12:55 PM on June 23, 2014

I'm just proud to live in a country where a can of vegetables can one day become a restaurateur.
posted by phunniemee at 12:56 PM on June 23, 2014 [9 favorites]

Also guess who took an embarrassingly long time to recognize Mr. Fischoeder 's voice actor?
posted by The Whelk at 12:56 PM on June 23, 2014

Oh ho! I was wrong about the lease. In the episode Burger Wars Bob can't make the rent, and Mr. Fischoeder tells him the lease won't be renewed. But after trying a Meatsiah Fischoeder changes his mind and lets them re-up, subject to some conditions that give him the right to get rid of the restaurant at any time.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:02 PM on June 23, 2014

For some variation of "on time."

“I'm just here for the monthly rent! I say 'monthly' because I think there might be some confusion about that.”
posted by griphus at 1:05 PM on June 23, 2014 [12 favorites]

Reminded me of these guys.
posted by Wretch729 at 1:07 PM on June 23, 2014

Etrigan: "Yeah, but it's next to a funeral home and a generally-vacant building. That can't be helping the property values."

That's probably offset by being across the street from the wildly popular Jimmy Pesto's.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:13 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

See, Jimmy Pesto's sells mixed drinks. That's where the money is.
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:18 PM on June 23, 2014 [4 favorites]

> Personally, I was just glad to see that Ben Katz grew up, found some direction in life, and created a lovely family for himself.

I watched a bit of Dr. Katz the other day. Boy does H. Jon Benjamin sound young. Of course Dr. Katz was made nearly two decades ago, but still. watch & listen to the first scene of the first episode of Dr. Katz with Benjamin as the son, Ben Katz. For those who click on that link, you can keep watching and see Dr. Katz's receptionist Laura (Laura Silverman) who does the voice for Andy on Bob's Burgers.
posted by bjrn at 1:19 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

One neat trick: if you end up watching an entire season of Archer and then Bobs Burgers back-to-back (who would ever do a silly thing like that?) everything you read will be in H Jon Benjamin's voice.
posted by littlesq at 1:29 PM on June 23, 2014 [9 favorites]

My personal headcannon is that Sterling Archer is just Coach McGuirk's fantasy vision of himself, and all of Archer is in McGuirk's imagination.
posted by AmandaA at 1:32 PM on June 23, 2014 [20 favorites]

Jon Benjamin has said that the main difference between how he does Archer and Bob's voices is that he slouches when he does Bob. Everything else follows from that.
posted by Space Coyote at 1:45 PM on June 23, 2014 [11 favorites]

Speaking of Home Movies, I had my own personal voice actor omgwtf moment just yesterday:

Brendon Small usually just sounds like Brendon Small; there have been many cartoons (Frisky Dingo, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, et al.) where I've gone Hey, that's Brendon Small! So it was a bit of a surprise to realize that he's on The Venture Bros., a show I am not the least bit unfamiliar with, as one of my favourite characters, Sgt. Hatred.

Frankly, I'm still a bit incredulous.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:53 PM on June 23, 2014

I want someone who knows the restaurant biz to come into the thread and talk about his food costs and other expenses so we can figure out exactly how many tables he is turning a night. He's got like $0 payroll, so that's some big savings right there.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:54 PM on June 23, 2014

It's basically just a shift in infection.

I think I can guess where Archer's is.
posted by ODiV at 1:57 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

Even though they make modern references in the show I always feel like the soul of the setting is some time in the 80s. Bob seems to have grown up with classic rock and not grunge, Linda seems like a classic 70s girl, no one is continuously glued to a smart phone, and the cars and TVs and such all seem very non-modern. It turns out there's a trope for this, Two Decades Behind
posted by Space Coyote at 2:09 PM on June 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

It's basically just a shift in infection.

I think I can guess where Archer's is.

You can't tourniquet the taint!
posted by Ufez Jones at 2:14 PM on June 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

My favourite Bob lines are his repeated quiet deadpan "No's", as his family continues to suggest crazier and dumber ideas, drowning out his realism with volume and excitement. You can just hear his pain and his acknowledgement that he is powerless to stop them.
posted by CaseyB at 2:23 PM on June 23, 2014 [14 favorites]

I want someone who knows the restaurant biz to come into the thread and talk about his food costs and other expenses so we can figure out exactly how many tables he is turning a night. He's got like $0 payroll, so that's some big savings right there.

Well someone on the AV Club mentioned that Bob has almost zero payroll but he's the sole breadwinner ( Linda works at the store, covering when the kids are in school.) but he also goes after local, artisanal ingredients and is a frustrated Artist In Beef which could hurt his bottom line. On the upside he does charge extra for fries and that's a huge mark-up item.

As for feeling like its set in the mid 80s, I have an aunt who grew up in the 70s near Ocean Vity, NJ. She IS Linda. The voice, the hair the glasses, the dinner theatre, the wine, even the NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND THE GENDER RATIO. I gotta record her saying some of Linda's lines, it's downright spooky.
posted by The Whelk at 2:24 PM on June 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

One neat trick: if you end up watching an entire season of Archer and then Bobs Burgers back-to-back (who would ever do a silly thing like that?) everything you read will be in H Jon Benjamin's voice.

I can attest to this.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 2:30 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
posted by boo_radley at 2:33 PM on June 23, 2014 [15 favorites]

guess which character is my favorite
posted by boo_radley at 2:35 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

You can watch just one season of Archer at once?
posted by bswinburn at 2:35 PM on June 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

bswinburn: "You can watch just one season of Archer at once?"

One hour with him is tiring enough. How could you spend an entire day on an endeavor like that?
posted by Malory Archer at 2:44 PM on June 23, 2014 [8 favorites]

My SO doesn't like Bob's Burgers cause it's just "a parade of annoying voices."

"No that's how everyone in my family talks."

"And how many times have I gone to your family's events?"
posted by The Whelk at 2:46 PM on June 23, 2014 [12 favorites]

How could you spend an entire day on an endeavor like that?

Uhhh - How can you not?
posted by nickmark at 3:16 PM on June 23, 2014 [10 favorites]

bswinburn: "You can watch just one season of Archer at once?"

This was when Season 4 just came up on Netflix. I may or may not of gone back later and rewatched the whole thing...
posted by littlesq at 3:46 PM on June 23, 2014

boo_radley talks like this

but doo_radley talks like this

*hair toss*
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:36 PM on June 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

I'm seriously considering finding some old Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant Impossible episodes where they do burger joints and talk about food costs and markups and whatnot so I can apply it to Bob's Burgers. Actually, they could probably do a great episode parodying those shows, now that I think of it. You know Pesto would manage to steal the spotlight somehow.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:38 PM on June 23, 2014

At first it bugged me to hear Sterling Archer's voice coming out of Bob's mouth, but then I found out who does Linda and I pretty much accepted my fate.

OMG, Louise Belcher is voiced by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
posted by XMLicious at 4:51 PM on June 23, 2014

You know Archer had an episode with a Kitchen Confidental type show and I see no reason why Bob's Burgers can't have one
posted by The Whelk at 4:53 PM on June 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Sys Rq: "Hey, that's Brendon Small! So it was a bit of a surprise to realize that he's on The Venture Bros., a show I am not the least bit unfamiliar with, as one of my favourite characters, Sgt. Hatred."

Actually, it was only Small-as-Hatred for his first appearance at the Monarch & Dr. Girlfriend's wedding. Every other time after that, (specifically when he became a regular in Season 4) Hatred is voiced by Jackson Publick. But Brendon Small still shows up from time to time as Action Jonny! /pedantry
posted by Strange Interlude at 4:58 PM on June 23, 2014

Oh. Well, chalk one up for incredulity, I guess.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:01 PM on June 23, 2014

Stephen Colbert stopped playing Professor Impossible, but I heard that it was because Publick and Hammer contacted his people to book him for the next season and were sniffily told that Colbert was "not interested in your project" or something like that- despite Colbert wanting to do it.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:15 PM on June 23, 2014

Oh he did actually want to do it? I'd heard the first part of that story, the super-douchey rejection, and I'd always hoped it was just his agent or whoever and not Colbert himself coming back with that response.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:22 PM on June 23, 2014

Yeah, the way I heard it, Colbert's agent or whatever never actually told Colbert about it, and he found out later and was unhappy. IIRC they have Bill Hader doing it now, and honestly I'd watch Bill Hader read the phonebook, so that's good, too.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:23 PM on June 23, 2014

Or rob a bank.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:25 PM on June 23, 2014

You know Archer had an episode with a Kitchen Confidental type show and I see no reason why Bob's Burgers can't have one

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:35 PM on June 23, 2014

Are we not doing "phrasing" anymore?

(Sorry there was like three or so opportunities after Archer was first mentioned and if I didn't say something, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:50 PM on June 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

Jackson Publick

I saw him on stage at the Welcome To Night Vale NYC show and my only thought was "WOW that is NOT how I pictured him." and "Dear god he can switch voices on the fly how does he do that oh god".

Also my date and I where the only people dressed properly for an evening in a Times Square theater, seriously fans at least half of you where older than 25, ditch the jeans. Have some self-respect.
posted by The Whelk at 9:15 PM on June 23, 2014

How well attired should one be to attend a podcast?
posted by boo_radley at 10:18 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

at least a tie I mean c'mon.
posted by The Whelk at 10:24 PM on June 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that's actually pretty reasonable.
posted by boo_radley at 10:29 PM on June 23, 2014

How well attired should one be to attend a podcast?

A tux, obviously. It's after six, what are we, farmers?
posted by aureliobuendia at 6:29 AM on June 24, 2014 [7 favorites]

aureliobuendia: "A tux, obviously. It's after six, what are we, farmers?"

Right?
posted by Malory Archer at 8:53 AM on June 24, 2014

Sys Rq: “Brendon Small usually just sounds like Brendon Small;”

Make sure you're sitting down when you read who does which voices on Metalocalypse.
posted by ob1quixote at 1:18 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Sorry for the derail, but just want to reiterate my hope that Archer does a crossover episode where Mayhem from Allstate is a villain (as Mayhem, replete with Allstate product placement).
posted by 99_ at 7:23 PM on June 24, 2014 [1 favorite]