The Origins of 'Bob's Burgers' Revealed

[Brian Damage]

Bob's Burgers, the latest addition to Fox's Sunday night Animation Domination lineup, is as all-American as the food it serves up. That is to say, it's the result of a mixture of influences.

Bob Belcher (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) owns the titular burger joint where he employs his wife and three kids. Although they're living the American dream, they're struggling to stay afloat and attempt to lure in customers with a creatively named — and ethnically diverse -- Burger of the Day, such as the Chimichuri Bang Bang or the That's What Brie Said Burgers.

"We gave [Bob] the last name Belcher because it's sort of a French- or French Canadian-sounding name," creator Loren Bouchard said Tuesday at the Television Critics Association winter previews. "But we also did it sort of reluctantly because there's a rich history of a lot of ethnic groups owning and operating little family-run restaurants.

"As soon as we picked one, we wanted to give voice to another," he continued. "For better, for worse we gave them the name Belcher so at least one of Bob's parents hails from some French or French-Canadian lineage. But in a perfect world, we'd have the show about a sort of Greek-Armenian-Italian-Jewish-German polyglot."

Bouchard added that even though the show is produced and recorded in Burbank, Calif., the animation it created in Vancouver.

"And they're kind of American," joked cast member Kristen Schaal, who plays quirky daughter Louise.


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