On Friday, two days before the show’s second season premiere on Fox, the cast of “Bob’s Burgers,” including Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, and H. Jon Benjamin, appeared at Brooklyn’s Bell House for a live comedy show. The bizarrely endearing animated sitcom, about a family led by Benjamin’s Bob Belcher that works together at a beach-town restaurant, had become one of the funniest shows on TV by the end of its freshman year. It was reminiscent of “The Simpsons” in its early seasons, which is something Fox so badly needs on a night otherwise dominated by bad Seth MacFarlane shows (with the exception of the fantastic “American Dad”), “Napoleon Dynamite,” and, sigh, current-era “Simpsons.” I strongly recommend checking it out.
At the premiere event, the three comedians listed above, as well as other “Bob’s Burgers” regulars, performed stand-up sets, punctuated by Schaal dressing up as an old mattress and Benjamin making someone show a testicle to the audience. Clips from the new season were shown, too, but mostly: BALLS. After the jump, some photos, compliments of Nadia Chaudhury, and commentary.
Plastered with posters, dimly lit, looks like someone smeared poop everywhere — this is what most walls in Brooklyn look like.
Schaal, Benjamin, and Mirman pose in front of a giant “Bob’s Burgers” poster. At one point, Mirman grabbed and rubbed H. Jon’s head. It was adorable.
The very, very funny Kurt Braunohler reading from a Chat Pack, a.k.a. conversation starters for idiots.
“Does Rick Santorum hate Ricky Martin?” read the headline of an article Mirman printed out and read from. Sample quote from said article (I’m not going to link to it, because fu*k them): “So, no, Rick Santorum may not hate Ricky Martin. No more than he hates other gay people. But he sure hates the things Ricky Martin supports.” That’s even crappier journalism than a photo essay slideshow about a TV show.
Larry Murphy (who voices Teddy, and isn’t the notorious rapist/serial killer) had a good bit, where he pretended to be a nervous comedian doing his first stand-up show. He grabbed his joke notebook, and read something about the size of his Asian penis. The notebook’s wasn’t his, obviously, but he continued to read it from, continually sweaty and awkward until he did a spot-on Christopher Walken impression. Here he is “working the crowd.”
Kristen Schaal is very funny and very cute. If you look closely, you’ll see the word “taint.”
An awkward way for someone in a dress to sit. She was pretending to be the kind of teacher who goes, “Hey man, let’s rap. Just you and me.”
Here’s Schaal as an old, dirty mattress that has seen and soaked in some terrible things. The phrase “penis tears” may have been used.
STERLING ARCHER! BOB BELCHER! COACH MCGUIRK! ETC.!
Earlier in the day, Benjamin went to Subway for lunch. He was the only customer in the restaurant, and while he was making his way through his tasteless sandwich, “Adagio for Strings,” a classical music piece best known for scoring William DaFoe’s death in Platoon (spoiler?), began playing. In the photo above, he’s reenacting the scene, and honestly, did a wonderful job. He really understood the misery of eating a crappy sub while a soaring, gorgeous piece of music plays all around you.
Out of nowhere, Benjamin asked the crowd if anyone wanted the massive Edible Arrangement he has in his left hand. Multiple arms shot into the air, and he asked what they were willing to do to claim it. Someone yelled out, “My friend only has one ball!” or something to that degree. Benjamin responded: “Prove it.” So, he did…
Under Archer’s face is a ball. He deserved the basket of various cheeses and fruits.
This could use some explaining. Benjamin originally claimed that he found this poster in his son’s bedroom, before he deserted his original bit, to discuss what it’s like to buy a “God Hates Fags” poster in New York’s West Village, home of the Stonewall Inn. He put in the order with a teenage girl, who understood it was for a comedy piece (or just didn’t care), but he later got a call from the manager of the print store, who was gay and had been a part of Stonewall riots. The manager explained his life story to Benjamin for five minutes, and Benjamin “just didn’t give a sh*t.” Not because the guy was gay, but because he didn’t care.
Benjamin’s revised poster. Not quite as effective.
