Most people know Dan Mintz as fan favorite Tina Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. But prior to becoming arguably the most identifiable animated teenage girl ever, Mintz had an illustrious career as a stand up comedian and comedy writer — writing for series such as Human Giant, Nathan For You, Lucky Louie, and Jon Benjamin Has a Van, the latter of which helped him land his Bob’s Burgers gig.
Yesterday wasn’t Dan Mintz’s first Reddit AMA, as he did one earlier this year with Bob’s Burgers costar John Roberts (Linda Belcher) as well as series creator Loren Bouchard. But much like Tina, Dan Mintz is a delicate flower who tends to get overshadowed, so I wanted to highlight the best of this new all-Dan Mintz AMA. Here goes.
I love you as Tina! She is my favorite character on the show. I’m curious about the show – some of the bits sound super natural and funny – are any of these ad-libbed or improvised?
Actually there’s a ton of improv – mostly by the other actors though, I’m not as good at it. Most of the time, the script is already perfect though, so it’s not that the improvised lines are funnier, but Loren thinks it sounds better and more natural if the actor thinks of it right as they say it.
I want to know about Tina’s groan sound. Is that just you, or did you figure it out specifically for the character, or what? Do you do it in everyday life now? Because I do.
I remember Loren asking me to make a nervous sound for an episode and I guess that’s what I did. Don’t remember why I thought of that one in particular, but now I do it all the time when I’m nervous without realizing it.
what have you learned about teenage girls from your time as Tina?
that it’s not easy being a teenage girl
Have you ever used your Tina voice during sex?
Yes because it’s my own voice
What will Tina’s voice be like after puberty?
That’s a great question. I hope they don’t ask me to do that because I can’t make my voice any lower.
Hi Dan, really love your stand up, and your voice acting as well! I notice you use your regular voice as the voice of Tina. Do you know if they picked you for Tina because of your voice? Or because of your delivery? Or maybe both?
Thanks! They originally picked me to play a boy – Gene and Louise’s brother – but then changed the character to a girl after I was already cast. I was very skeptical but when they showed me an animation with my voice it somehow actually really worked with that character
What’s your favorite quote from Tina?
Girls have uteruses, boys have duderuses
how does it feel to work with jon benjamin and just listen to him switch effortlessly on the regular between his classic bob, archer, and mcguirk characters?
haha I make fun of him about how all his characters sound the same, but of course I do fewer voices than he does
Has your appreciation for butts increased since voicing Tina?
It’s stayed about the same
How frequently do people mistake you and Nathan Fielder for each other?
People tell me they love my show Nathan for You a lot
Whats your favorite burger of the day?
Mission A-Corn-Plished Burger
Hey Dan, I have been a fan of yours since your Comedy Central Special (I was psyched to hear the new album), and your delivery style has definitely influenced my sense of humor since then… Your style is very reliant on the jokes themselves, much like Stephen Wright and Mitch Hedberg; how difficult is it to write a “pure” joke versus ones that are reliant on the performance?
Thanks so much! For me it’s much easier if you don’t have to rely on the performance. A more conversational comedian has to come across as confident and at ease the whole time, which would be hard for me to fake onstage
Note: If you’ve never seen Dan Mintz’s stand up, I encourage you to do so at this time. Hearing Tina’s voice coming out of a man’s face is never not weird, especially given the similarities to his character.
