Characters / Bob's Burgers - Belcher Family Friends

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The Belcher Family (Bob Belcher | Linda Belcher | Tina Belcher | Louise Belcher) | Belcher Family Friends | The Pesto Family | Wagstaff School | The Fischoeder Family | Antagonists | Others | One Shot Characters

Recurring Characters

Regular Customers

Teddy

Teddy

"Don't feed a guy a sponge, Bobby!"

Voiced by: Larry Murphy
"Why do men have to ruin everything? What's with us?"

Bob's best friend and loyal customer. He works as a contractor and enjoys telling stories. He remains the closest ally the Belchers have and is also an Honorary Uncle to the kids.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To the Belchers (primarily Bob and Linda), in many ways.
  • He likes the Belcher family and their establishment a bit too much, especially Bob as he considers him his best friend. Bob still seems to appreciate the gestures of friendship though, even if he does go a bit too far.
  • He is especially thrilled when he's given the chance to become a waiter there but does a really bad job at it.
  • Occasionally reveals his attraction to Bob's wife Linda. She seems aware of it and tries to let him down gently.
  • He gets extremely possessive whenever the Belchers hold a close friendship with someone that isn't him, or even if they merely think of having other friends.
• Abusive Parents: It's implied his father wasn't a good parent, if Teddy's reaction to the "Daddy" song that Tommy sings (about Tommy's own abusive father) is any indication.
• Accidental Misnaming: Is utterly convinced Bob's last name (And the Belcher family name in general) is actually 'Burger'.
• All Take and No Give: Played with. He's easily the most supportive friend the Belchers have, but he's emotionally draining to be around and largely insensitive towards others. For as much as he claims himself to be Bob's best friend, he ignores Bob's boundaries and wishes while constantly demanding his attention.
• Ambiguously Bi: Despite having been married to a woman and having a clear crush on Linda, it's also suggested that he has a crush on Bob, and even a few other men.
  • When he learns Bob is especially thrilled to make an impression on an archaeologist coming to eat dinner with the family instead of Teddy, Teddy does a really poor job trying to hide how insulted he is about Bob's fixation for the guy.
  • In "Nightmare On Ocean Avenue," he calls Glenn, his handyman rival, a "handsome bastard," then has a conversation with Bob about how Glenn has a great body.
  • In "Romancing the Beef" Teddy tries to help Bob and Linda with their lists of what they love about each other. He has lists himself for the both of them.
  • In "Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang" and "Frigate Me Knot" Teddy tries to get Bob and Linda to hold his hands, first by describing a dream of his in the former and outright asking by insinuation in the latter.
• Ascended Extra: Teddy did not debut until the second episode and was at first referred to as "Teddy the contractor"; he didn't even appear within the restaurant itself. Soon after, his business is rarely mentioned and usually appears as a regular in the restaurant, so much that he is the Belchers' best customer. In Season 3, Teddy began appearing in the credits as part of the main cast. He has since evolved as one of Bob's only friends and the Belchers treat him like a member of the family. In earlier seasons, Teddy was absent from several episodes, but now it's increasingly rare to see an episode without him.
• Attention Whore: Specifically, he's desperate for attention from Bob and Linda but mostly Bob. He's only gotten worse over the seasons, to the point he'll get very nasty if the Belchers ever hint at having friends besides him. Even his attempts at being generous to the Belchers can be exhausting and time-consuming. In "A-Sprout A Boy" after Linda has spent a lot of time waiting for an order of expensive salmon Teddy ordered and had shipped to the restaurant while he was away, she almost breaks down as he reveals he ordered ribs and vinegar to marinate them in as a thank you and she'll now have to wait even longer for their delivery.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: As heard in the end credits of "Sea Me Now," Teddy can really carry a tune.
• Berserk Button: He has quite a few:
  • He doesn't take it well when Bob is forced to cut him off from his burgers in "Friends With Burger-fits".
  • He also doesn't handle change very well. He nearly has a psychotic breakdown when Bob stopped posting his Burger of the Day in "Sexy Dance Healing". He snaps at an already enraged Bob in "The Gene Mile" when he suggests changing his phone, even though it's very old and never charges past 23%.
  • Also, in "The Millie-churian Candidate", he snaps when Bob calls his favorite hammer "stupid".
  • He doesn't like the idea of Bob and Linda having friends besides him, especially if they became friends through the restaurant (even though that's how he became their friend). In "Land of the Loft" he's openly hostile against Maya and Becket while passive-aggressively stating the idea of the Belchers going to their loft that night is a horrible idea (he turns out to be right, but still). In later seasons, Mort's mere presence often sets him off.
  • In general, Bob trying to stop Teddy from doing any activity that he forces on the Belchers that becomes a real nuisance.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's normally docile, but do not piss him off.
  • In "Full Bars", he gets very angry when his guinea pig is accidentally killed by Bob.
  • In "Uncle Teddy", he gets so pissed at a teen who manipulated Tina that he loses it and throws the teen's moped off a cliff and into the ocean.
• Best Friend: Although Bob is reluctant to admit it at first, "Friends With Burger-fits" emphasizes that he may very well be Bob's best friend.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Zigzagged. On the one hand, Teddy is a genuinely neat guy. On the other hand, he has a particular nasty side that can show up from time to time (such as in "Full Bars").
• Big Eater: He especially loves Bob's burgers, to the point where his cholesterol is dangerously high, and Bob spends a whole episode encouraging him to mix his diet up with the healthier options in the restaurant.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: Despite being repulsed at first, Teddy starts obsessively craving the horse meat burgers Bob unknowingly gave him in "They Serve Horses, Don't They?" and is mildly upset when Bob stops serving them. And of course, there's that time he ate a sponge.
• Boomerang Bigot: His quote above suggests he doesn't think too highly of men.
• The Bore: Likes telling long-winded stories about mundane things. None of the Belchers have much patience for these tales.
• Centipede's Dilemma: Teddy is very prone to these. Attempting to give him any instructions for a task will lead him to overcomplicate or outright fail at it, only to point out how simple it was when he finally does figure it out.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: To Bob, regularly showing envy when Bob even suggests interest in a friend/acquaintance that isn't him. Examples include Mort, an archaeologist named Steve, two other customers named Becket and Maya, and a guy named Cliff he met at a back-to-school event.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Like much of the cast, Teddy is very skilled at his job but falls short in all other areas.
• The Ditz: Maaaany examples, to the point that Teddy is easily a top contender for the show's least intelligent character.
  • One time, his whole vendetta against a mechanical shark from a movie he used to be in was completely uncalled for when an accident occurred on the set which caused Teddy to really let himself go, since Bob wondered why he didn't blame the prankster shark operator instead. Even after contemplating being wrong, Teddy still chose to blame the shark anyway.
  • "Sea Me Now" when he tries wooing his ex-wife back. All his acts to do so are desperate, hasty, poorly planned attempts by showing off his new boat to her.
  • While he is thrilled to fill in for Linda as a waiter at the restaurant during rush hour, he is so inept at it that he didn't take note of table numbers or anything that might help, instead trusting his vague memory of the customers' appearances. To Bob's chagrin, Teddy's system amounts to remembering descriptions like "the guy with dark glasses" which don't help narrow down where the orders are meant to go.
• Does Not Like Spam: Shockingly enough for a guy who's eaten a sponge and horse meat, there are a few foods he doesn't like.
  • He spits out a veggie burger when he's tricked into eating it, though it largely comes from the change in recipe from his usual burgers.
  • He's not very fond of sushi, and not even Linda's constant attempts at getting him to like it are able to change his mind.
• Domestic Abuse: Was a victim of the emotional kind when he was married to Denise.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Deconstructed; in "Sea Me Now," it's revealed that Teddy's ex-wife Denise was horribly abusive to him, demeaning and humiliating him on multiple occasions while cheating on him whenever she could. Teddy blames himself for all of this and tries to play off Denise's behavior as no big deal, but the Belcher family are quick to note how awful this behavior is and ultimately help Teddy understand that what happened to him was completely unacceptable.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Double-Dip", which he got from his time in the Navy when he fell off a frigate twice in one night (once randomly, then a second time while trying to explain how the first time happened). Even decades later, his former crewmates don't call him anything else, though they later reveal that it's an Affectionate Nickname (apparently) because they were younger than him but he proved them age wasn't necessary to make anyone a great sailor.
• Enemy to All Living Things: He owned a pet guinea pig named Frances, and it's indicated that Teddy did not make good decisions regarding her health (such as spray painting her). Even though Teddy wasn't responsible for her death, it's made clear that his poor care for her would've done the deed eventually.
• Enmity with an Object: He's spent years hating an animatronic shark for ruining a relationship, even after Bob pointed out he should've been angry with the shark operator. Teddy rationalizes the shark drove him to it.
• Entitled Bastard: At his worst, he is far too possessive of Bob and Linda (especially Bob) and frequently makes demands of Bob's time with projects that Teddy could've done on his own if he hadn't overthought things. He also tends to shoot down Bob's advice despite asking for it, making it seem like he doesn't actually want Bob's input he just wants him to keep all his attention on Teddy.
• Epic Fail: Some of his shortcomings are so baffling that one has to wonder how he was able to mess up.
• Expy: An obese bald loser who had an Awful Wedded Life with an ex he still has some lingerings feelings for, adores the main family to an excessive degree, can act like a needy Jerkass to the patriarch of said family while bragging how he's his best friend, is a Thrill Seeker who doesn't think things through, has had some attraction to the patriarch's wife, and has an awful diet? He's an expy to Bill Dauterive from King of the Hill.
• Extreme Omnivore: He's the sort of person who'll eat anything in front of him. He denies it, but Bob is able to trick him into eating a piece of sponge to prove otherwise. Not only that, but Teddy doesn't even think to ask Bob what it was until after it's in his stomach.
• Flanderization: As the show goes on, he's gotten increasingly clingy, obnoxious and overbearing towards Bob to the point where it's hard to imagine why they're even friends.
• Foil: Serves as one to Gayle, primarily in terms of their relationships with others. It's reached a point that, after he Took a Level in Jerkass, he's essentially a higher functioning, male version of her.
  • Teddy and Gayle are both emotionally nervous wrecks desperate for love and affection, but Teddy manages to make and hold onto friends a lot easier than Gayle does to the point her only companions are three cats that can't stand her.
  • Teddy's love and admiration of Bob and his family can get a bit creepy at times, but the Belchers genuinely view him as a close friend and a surrogate family member and he's their most ardent supporter in and out of the restaurant. Gayle shows little to no loyalty towards her sister's family, even acting sexually aggressive towards Bob on different occasions and then her nieces and nephew have almost no decent opinions of her in the slightest with even Linda thinking of her as her good friend and sister at best and an aggravating inconvenience at worst.
  • Teddy is shown as being able to land dates even if they don't last; Gayle has also gone on dates... that the other person didn't know about.
  • Teddy's financially independent and a genuinely competent contractor living on his own while Gayle burns through multiple jobs she usually quits within a day, regularly "borrows" money from Linda with no intention or ability to pay her back, and can barely live on her own even without the money factor in the equation.
    • Teddy's contracting skills can also be contrasted with Gayle's artistic abilities, with his competency juxtaposed to Gayle's lack of creativity despite her belief she's an amazing artist.
  • Teddy tried to mediate between his squabbling parents as a kid and as an adult he seems far closer to his mom than his father, to the point of accompanying her to a silent retreat and a couples' cruise. That said, his relationship with his mom is leagues better than Gayle's relationship with Gloria with her deluding herself about being Gloria and Al's favorite even though it seems neither parent cares about her that much.
  • Teddy's father was implied to be abusive to him, such as forcing him through toilet training from the ages of 7 to 14. As an adult Teddy hasn't mentioned ever doing anything with his dad the way he interacts with his mom. Meanwhile, Gayle frequently clashes with her mother and is openly hostile towards her (which makes sense considering how similarly grating the two are).
  • Bob, while often getting worn out by Teddy's rambling and neediness, still appreciates his support and company and does view him as a friend. In contrast, Bob can't stand Gayle at all because she's such a self-centered, apathetic, neurotic mess, and if she weren't Linda's sister it's clear Bob would sever all ties to her.
  • The Belcher kids view Teddy as an Honorary Uncle and he's shown to be a fun, capable babysitter when looking after them (even to the point of going Papa Wolf on a kid who used Tina) and frequently gets involved in their projects. Aside from one or two moments of clarity and empathy (like treating Tina and Louise to expensive concert tickets and helping Louise make it through a cavity filling), Gayle's generally someone the Belcher kids have no interest being around despite being their aunt, with Gene and Louise both thinking she needs to be in a mental hospital and Tina only tolerating her because that's the kind of person Tina is.
  • The Belchers as a whole often express genuine sympathy and support for Teddy, especially when it concerns how his family issues, divorce and his abusive ex-wife and pretty much the whole family encourages Teddy to let go of his hoarding habits and to let Denise go and they act as emotional pillars for him to lean on, showing that they care enough about him to be supportive of him in these moments; Gayle really only gets support from Linda and Tina (when she turned hostile towards Frond after he cheated on her) but even then it's because only Linda and Tina pity Gayle enough because of how pathetic and sad her life is, but Gene and Louise openly admit that she should be a mental patient and Bob especially has no concern about Gayle (because of how often she detriments and inconveniences the family) and tries to get Linda to stop being so overly supportive since it leads to Linda just enabling her, but she ignores him.
  • Teddy's sister has yet to be seen on screen except for a flashback silhouette in the "The Bleakening" (though her name is revealed to be Dana in "Thanks-Hoarding"), but from the little that's mentioned of her she seems to have a normal relationship with her brother even if they don't interact in person. They both show disapproval to their mom's dating habits and tend to call her boyfriends "boy toys." Gayle is essentially babied by Linda because she thinks Gayle's too fragile to handle things like criticism, and it's clear their relationship's toxic because of how much Linda sacrifices to keep Gayle happy.
  • Teddy tries too hard sometimes to help The Belchers at while sometimes he ends up making things worse, it's the effort that counts and at times proves genuinely competent and has even gotten The Belchers out of a jam at times. Gayle is pretty much incapable of helping her sister's family and is more than often a burden given how much of their financial support goes to her because of Linda, and usually if the Belchers do get in trouble, it's because of Gayle.
  • Teddy gets jealous quite easily of anyone who gets too close to Bob or Linda, but it's usually portrayed as harmless at best and pathetic at worst, and it almost never directly harms Bob (or the rest of the family) in any way other than annoying him; Gayle is jealous of Linda because she has a much more stable and fulfilled life, to the point where Linda has to go to great lengths to walk on eggshells around Gayle (whether it's blocking her family from giving Gayle any criticism on her art or even letting her pretend to have an affair with Bob just so Gayle can feel better about her lacking love life). While Linda herself isn't bothered by it, unlike Teddy Gayle's relationship with Linda is shown to be unhealthy and parasitic, negatively harming all five Belchers (especially poor Bob).
  • For the most part, Teddy can be told the honest truth, even when he's being criticized and whenever Bob in particular is being Brutally Honest with him Teddy can usually take it and reflect on himself; Linda outright forbids Bob from leveling with Gayle because Gayle is too fragile to handle the truth, with Gayle herself even saying that she hates criticism despite claiming that she likes hearing what people have to say about her artwork and yet will fly into a nervous breakdown should she ever receive honest criticism.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Teddy's insecurities and desperation to belong come from the abusive relationship he held with his ex-wife. For example, he wears a beanie on his head because his ex-wife insulted how he looked without it.
  • As explained in "Thanks-Hoarding", Teddy’s constant desire to fix things and not upset the status quo stems from him mediating fights between his parents when he was growing up.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: This is downplayed as The Belchers do genuinely like Teddy. He is a close friend of theirs and they even consider him a surrogate member of the family. The problem is that he can get far too clingy and obsessed to the point where there's a limit to how much they can take before they want him gone. Bob has even asked if they should just stop being friends with him, and Linda even briefly agreed before taking it back.
• Genius Ditz: Despite his stupidity and lack of social tact, Teddy is a genuinely skilled contractor and babysitter.
• Gentle Giant: Tall, and a very nice guy in general.
• Good Is Dumb: Oh, so very dumb. According to "O.T.: The Outside Toilet" and "All That Gene", he seriously, genuinely believes the Belchers' family name is actually "Burger" (citing the name of the restaurant as his logic). He also had to take notes on how to turn off an oven (apparently thinking that it was going to be a complicated "chef" thing rather than a garden-variety dial). Not to mention several times he knowingly eats something he's allergic to (or alternatively forgets he's allergic to, which isn't any better), with predictable results. But even at his dumbest, he's loyal to the end.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He will immediately become hostile and possessive if he gets the idea that Bob may want to spend time with someone besides him.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Though it takes a while for Bob to admit it, Teddy is the closest thing he has to a best friend; the two hang out almost every day (courtesy of Teddy's daily routine) and they have helped each other out on multiple occasions.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In spite of his sometimes spotty intellect, he was able to assemble a giant, functional Van de Graaff generator in high school (and later provides it for Louise's science fair project).
  • Though not without mistakes, Teddy is a fairly competent contractor and a surprisingly able babysitter. As long as his back doesn't act up, that is.
  • It's shown in "Frigate Me Knot" (and mentioned twice before then) that Teddy served in the Navy, something you wouldn't be able to guess just by looking at him.
• Honorary Uncle: He's the closest adult friend of the Belcher family and has even referred to the Belcher children as his temporary nieces and nephews in one episode. They return the affection, and like him. Bob and Linda even trust him to watch the kids while they go to a burger convention in "Uncle Teddy", where he bonds with all three kids: Gene and Louise after he extracts a large clump of hair from a sink drain and gives it to them to play with, and Tina after he gets her out of trouble with a park ranger after a boy she crushed on left her out to dry.
• Hypocrite:
  • He's desperate for companionship and tries hard to act like he's a part of the Belcher family, yet is very unfriendly to others who try to befriend them, as well as hostile to people like Mort who are his friends yet he's consistently abrasive to them.
  • In "Driving Big Dummy", he insists Bob should be more social and interact with people... even though he's so possessive that he reacts poorly to anyone who befriends the Belchers, especially if it's Bob.
  • He tends to get extremely fired up around Bob, especially regarding things he's passionate about (to the point that he'll drag Bob into it). On the rare occasion Bob himself gets very fired up about something, Teddy tends to get weirded out or act like Bob is crazy.
  • He has low opinions of people who frequently visit Bob's Burgers (such as Mort, Beckett and Maya, and an agoraphobic lady who came by often), deeming them annoying and/or creepy, and yet he comes to the restaurant every single day, very often annoys Bob (and sometimes even Linda) and is very creepy about his own possessiveness towards the Belchers and their establishment.
  • Whenever he interacts with eccentric people, he never questions their bizarre logic and is happy to go with their flow as if it makes sense to him, yet whenever Bob is being his quirky self and applies some more sensible logic, it completely goes over Teddy's head and he has the nerve to insinuate that Bob is weird or even dumb.
• Hypocritical Humor: Indicates in "FOMO You Didn't" that he thinks he'll be in better shape than Bob when they're both elderly, and tells Bob that he has to exercise if he wants to keep up... all of which he says as he takes a large bite of his burger. To nail the point in, he asks for some more fries shortly after.
• I Just Want to Be You: A downplayed but rather creepy example; it's clear he not only wants to be Bob's friend but live Bob's life. In "Just the Trip" he's left in the restaurant by himself, and escalates to wearing Bob's apron while having imaginary conversations with Bob and Linda. They involve him marrying Linda and pretty much adopting Bob. By the time the Belchers return home, they find Teddy sleeping in Bob and Linda's bed.
• Innocently Insensitive: In "Driving Big Dummy", he doesn't intend to drive Bob (literally and figuratively) to his breaking point, but he fails to realize until Bob explodes on him that not everyone appreciates taking the time to talk to others like Teddy does, and even fewer will appreciate making frequent detours from something more important in order to do this.
• Insufferable Imbecile: Downplayed but in later seasons, Teddy becomes even dumber and more unpleasant towards Bob. While he still means well and genuinely loves the Belchers, at this point he's become much more insensitive and inconsiderate towards Bob while failing to see how his outrageous antics inconvenience everyone around him. Even Linda has become increasingly exasperated by some of his behavior. The only saving grace is that Teddy genuinely cannot see his own ignorance and still has his good points no matter how much he aggravates his friends.
• Irony: In the same vein as Gene; the man who will eat literally anything is one of the few characters who can't eat literally anything (he has known allergies to both peanuts and eggplant).
• I Ate WHAT?!: Is mortified in "They Serve Horses, Don't They?" when he learns he just ate a horse burger. He then starts eating it again and becomes disappointed at the end of the episode when he learns the horse meat is gone for good.
• It's All My Fault: Blames everything wrong with his former marriage on himself. It's a byproduct of his Domestic Abuse—everything he blames himself for can be pinned on his ex-wife Denise, who was a genuinely awful person. Becomes ironic when one sees that this is the only time where it isn't his fault that he believes it is.
• I Was Quite the Looker: He played "Handsome Lifeguard" in a Jaws Expy back in the eighties, and if not for that ever-recognizable face you'd have trouble connecting the dots. An incident with the mechanical shark smashed his self-esteem and he started binge eating, resulting in his current appearance.
• Jerkass Ball: He's prone to being rather abrasive to his friends. Not enough to outright qualify him as a jerkass or even a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but enough to make note of. Special mention to "Full Bars", after his pet guinea pig Frances is accidentally crushed and killed.
• Jerkass to One: In later seasons, likely due to his uncomfortable attachment to the Belchers and dislike of anyone else they interact with, he has become more impatient and prone to snapping when around Mort despite treating everyone else just fine. Most recently shown in "Gene's Christmas Break", where he loses it when Mort joins in on his Secret Santa idea (which he wanted to just be with him, Bob, and Linda). He gets even more pissed when he draws Mort's name instead of either Bob or Linda, and asks to switch names. That said, he does regret it at the end of the episode when he learns that Mort, who drew his name in return, gave him a genuinely thoughtful gift.
• Kavorka Man: It's indicated several times that Teddy isn't exactly a looker, but he nonetheless manages to get several dates throughout the series, and is currently in a relationship with Kathleen. Not to mention that Denise might've been absolutely awful to him, but at one point she actually agreed to marry him.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Teddy isn't very smart (he thinks Bob's last name is "Burger" despite knowing him for years) but he's a kind, loyal friend to the Belchers. Although this becomes somewhat downplayed in later seasons where Teddy Took a Level in Jerkass.
• Like a Son to Me: Multiple episodes show that Teddy loves the Belcher kids like they were his own children. He lets them store their bikes in his garage because it lets him pretend he has kids of his own, and "Uncle Teddy" shows they consider him an Honorary Uncle in return. In "UFO No You Didn't", he admits he wishes Tina was his daughter. As played for laughs in the Season 4 finale, and rather disturbingly in "Just the Trip", he has also extended this viewpoint to Bob.
• Lovable Coward: In "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" Teddy hides behind the Belchers when they think that they're approaching a murderer's house. Also, in "Mr. Lonely Farts" Teddy easily admits that he'd run and leave Bob and Louise to die if the online seller that they're going to is a murderer. On the other hand, Teddy will still go with the Belchers in dangerous situations—he still goes with the family in the mentioned incidents and he goes with Bob into the crawlspace with a rabid racoon in "Eggs for Days" as well as with Bob to confront a wild robotic shark in "The Deepening." Teddy is the family's closest friend and generally well-liked by the fandom and he readily admits to being a coward, which makes him more sympathetic.
• Loving a Shadow: "Sea Me Now" shows Teddy obsessing over his ex-wife Denise, and it soon becomes clear that he's seeing her through rose-colored glasses. The Belcher family are appropriately appalled to learn of the horrible things she did to him when they were together, but Teddy blames himself for all of it and insists that their relationship can still work before Bob ultimately convinces Teddy to leave Denise behind.
• Mandatory Line: Despite his status as a main cast member, often he's only in one or two scenes of any given episode—or otherwise still in a minor role—unless either plotline specifically focuses on him. Special note to "Li'l Hard Dad", where he shows up in the last five seconds of the episode asking if he missed everything.
• The Millstone: Several times the Belchers ask him for help regarding a certain task. Several times they'd have been better off without him.
• Motor Mouth: When he starts telling stories. Unfortunately for whoever's listening, that doesn't mean the stories go by much faster.
• Never My Fault: It's not even out of maliciousness—he genuinely cannot seem to grasp when he's messed something up (which is often), and either acts as if he was doomed from the start or tries to shift the blame onto someone else (often Bob). More than once, this has pushed Bob to his Rage Breaking Point. And even when it's obvious that it's his fault, Teddy still doesn't own up to the fact that he messed up.
  Teddy: (after singlehandedly screwing up a phone call when victory was within reach) Oh, well. There's nothing any of us could have done.
  • In "Comet-y of Errors", Teddy goes so far as to assume he's cursed ever since a bad experience with a comet from 30 years ago. While it can partially be attributed to Teddy's superstitiousness, it's also another way Teddy shifts blame from himself and his own mistakes. This is best shown when Bob rightfully tells him that there are some things over the past 30 years that were likely his fault (and also some things that were just beyond his control), causing Teddy to blow up at this notion and storm off rather than actually consider that some of those things may have been his fault (such as stepping on dozens of rusty nails because he's not watching where he steps).
• Nice Guy: His demeanor might be a little off-putting, but he never acts out of any sort of malice. Even on the rare occasion that he does get angry, he regrets it immediately afterwards. His niceness is what has helped him form many friends (at least ones who aren't as sane as Bob is).
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When he sees costumed mascots swarm the apartment in "Bed & Breakfast", Teddy has a traumatic flashback to his wife cheating on him with one such mascot, causing him to completely lose his mind and brutally attack every single one of them.
• Oblivious to Their Own Description: In "Land of the Loft" Teddy complains about Becket and Maya, claiming it's creepy that they came to the restaurant one day, liked the food so much they returned increasingly often, and now practically come every day. Bob and Linda can't bring themselves to tell Teddy that he basically just described himself.
• One-Hour Work Week: While the Belchers are frequently seen working, Teddy just as frequently ignores his own job as a handyman to spend time at the restaurant, with the few times he actually spends time working being rare (and typically forming some part of the plot). Even when he's not at the restaurant, he's usually with his family (or doing something for his family) and thus not doing any actual handyman work. Lampshaded in "Manic Pixie Crap Show"; he spends most of the subplot at the restaurant before acknowledging he has to leave for a job he should have done hours ago.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Implied; Teddy is generally a nickname for Edward or Theodore, the latter of which Tina calls him in "The Gayle Tales" and Gene calls him in "The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets". It's unconfirmed whether or not Theodore is his actual name (as neither Tina or Gene are in a position to know for sure), but there's much more evidence for this being his real name than anything else.
• Operation: Jealousy: A platonic example occurs in "Drumforgiven" when he is hired by Jimmy Pesto Sr. to do maintenance around his restaurant, and he attempts to use the opportunity to make Bob jealous. However, Bob doesn't actually care (he only feels weirded out that Teddy is even making it out to be a big deal), only for Teddy to act like he does care and yell at him for it. Bob exasperatedly is convinced by Linda to act jealous just to put the matter to rest, because it'd be easier than trying to convince Teddy he seriously doesn't mind. Even though Bob's acting could not be any more obvious, Teddy completely buys it.
• Papa Wolf: After he found out that a teenage boy named Jonas abandoned Tina to save his own hide, an enraged Teddy responded by throwing his moped off a cliff and into the ocean (he immediately regretted doing so though).
• Perma-Stubble: Always has this on his face.
• Relationship Upgrade: By "Comet-y of Errors" he's undergone one with Kathleen.
• Second Episode Introduction: Despite being a main character, he first debuts in "Crawl Space", an entire episode after the Belchers and several members of the supporting cast were established.
• Series Continuity Error: While he's currently bald with only some stubble, episodes that feature flashbacks of him reveal he had blond hair. Despite this, in "Beach, Please" he grows a mustache that is very clearly brown. It's not just a retcon either; "Frigate Me Knot" (seven episodes later) once again depicts him as a blond.
• Sixth Ranger: The only non-Belcher to be a part of the main cast, and by far the most recurring non-Belcher in the series.
• Stalker with a Crush: Teddy has done some pretty creepy things in his quest to involve himself with the Belchers. He clearly has a crush on Linda and there's some evidence that he also has a crush on Bob. Either way, he obviously desperately wants to be a part of the Belcher family.
• Stepford Smiler: A look at Teddy's adult life is actually kind of depressing. He says he likes letting the Belcher kids keep their bikes in his garage because it lets him pretend he has kids of his own (specifically an older kid and a pair of twins), he goes to church because he's touch-starved, he has a ton of unpacked trauma from an abusive marriage, and overall he's pretty lonely aside from the Belchers. At the same time, he's usually optimistically upbeat about things, and he seems to be doing okay for himself.
• Stout Strength: Despite not looking physically fit, he has enough core strength to lift and throw a moped off a cliff and into the ocean.
  • He can also carry an entire heavy coffee table (as wide as Teddy himself), all the way to the park and back, while it's handcuffed to his hand.
  • When he and Bob are moving a couch, Teddy is annoyed that Bob takes so many breaks and just bodyslams the entire couch (and Bob) into the door.
  • He's also relatively fine when he and Bob are moving the restaurant oven hood. Bob, not so much.
• Superstitious Sailors: He was once in the Navy, and "Comet-y of Errors" shows him to believe heavily in superstitions, such as believing stepping on a nail gave him 30 years of bad luck or believing the universe is giving him signs to the point that he spends the episode basically incapable of making a decision without looking for one such sign.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: No matter how many times Bob tells him otherwise, Teddy is convinced that the Belchers' last name is actually Burger (apparently because of the sign on the restaurant). He even tells people that Bob answers to both names, which Bob also states is not true.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Downplayed — he seems to have nowhere else to go but Bob's Burgers (and he often stays until closing time), but they all like him and he's a loyal customer.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Loves Bob's burgers, to the point that the restaurant is almost like a second home to him. At one point Mort has to restrain him from breaking in out of desperation during "Food Truckin'". This actually ends up being a problem, because eating a burger almost every single day means his cholesterol is through the roof.
• Temporarily a Villain: In "Full Bars"; see Jerkass Ball.
• There Are No Therapists: Notable aversion; he regularly attends therapy as a result of everything that's happened in his life.
• This Is My Chair: He sits in the same stool at Bob's Burgers every time he's there, and if he shows up anyone who's currently sitting in it would be wise to move. In "Gene's Christmas Break", Mort gets Teddy a plaque to mark it. Bob's suggestions that Teddy put the plaque under the chair makes it clear he does not want Teddy to think he's the only one allowed to sit there.
• Too Dumb to Live: Where do we begin? All too often Teddy does something that could have landed him in the running for a Darwin Award—and in the case of "Full Bars", his stupidity proves to be dangerous to not just himself but other living things as well. Perhaps the best example is "Adventures in Chinchilla-Sitting", where Teddy attempts to eat pad thai while driving. Then, as if it weren't bad enough, we learn that he's allergic to peanuts^note For those unfamiliar with pad thai, peanuts are a core ingredient... which Teddy has somehow forgotten up until he starts choking. And to top it all off, he does it again in "The Terminalator II: Terminals of Endearment", eating an eggplant-themed Burger of the Day despite being deathly allergic to it (even though the Burger of the Day name explicitly lists eggplant, he doesn't draw the connection) and insisting he'll be fine when Bob freaks out—sure enough, next time he's on-screen he's in the hospital, barely even able to speak.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • While Teddy's still a loyal friend, he's also become increasingly more obnoxious and invasive to Bob, and much pushier as nowadays he more than often pushes Bob into doing unwanted things such as coming to his improv stage for a request that Teddy doesn't even respond to (despite his repeated pleas with Bob to do so) and urging Bob to donate his rare blood despite knowing of his phobia of needles and blood. As a result, Bob's patience with him is getting even smaller, and it's become more understandable why he's so hesitant to spend significant amounts of time with him. It reached a point where Bob outright asked Linda if they should stop being friends with him, which she almost agreed to.
  • In earlier seasons, his relationship with Mort was rather amiable. The two appeared close and some episodes implied they hang out in other locations even without Bob. As his possessiveness towards Bob and his family grew to the point of obsession and hostility to anyone else who tries to be close to them, Teddy started to become very impatient and ill-tempered with Mort, no matter how friendly or helpful he tries to be. Nowadays, Teddy's overall unpleasant attitude towards Mort makes one question if the two were ever friends to begin with.
• Trauma Button: Seeing costumed mascots not only sends him into an Unstoppable Rage, it also gives him flashbacks that end with him curling up on the ground sobbing.
• Undying Loyalty: The most loyal friend of the Belcher family. He sticks with them through thick and thin, even when they get on the bad side of other townsfolk.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Whenever he finds himself in a situation that may prove embarrassing or when he's trying to hide something, he'll deflect attention by either implying it was Bob's fault or claim Bob was doing something pushy or rude. Despite that he often begs and pleads for Bob's help or forces Bob into uncomfortable situations to make himself feel better.
• Vague Age: He was a young adult in the 80's and it's implied he's slightly older than Bob, making him around 50 or so, but his actual age is never revealed. "The Wolf of Wharf Street" indicates he's at least in his 40's.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • A one-sided version with Bob; Bob is frequently irritated by Teddy's stupidity and bizarre antics, but it's clear that he's still the closest thing to a Best Friend Bob has and the two have helped each other on numerous occasions.
  • Another one-sided version with Mort, although this time Teddy's on the other end. Teddy frequently gets annoyed at Mort for reasons implied to stem from his personal obsession with Bob and Linda, believing Mort to intrude on what would otherwise be alone time with them. Not only does Mort not return the animosity, but he goes out of his way to be nice to Teddy, which usually brings Teddy back to his senses, and overall the two are decent (if not necessarily best) friends.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Or those theme park employees in full-body animal suits, in Teddy's case. He describes their dead eyes as the worst part. He, uh... works it out.
• You Talk Too Much!: So much that in "Driving Big Dummy" he stretches out a two-hour trip to a seller Bob wants to visit to an entire day (and they haven't even reached the halfway point) just because he keeps making stops to talk to people. Bob eventually snaps and calls him out on effectively holding Bob hostage.

Mort

Mort

"I'm 35! ...If you believe my dating profile."

Voiced by: Andy Kindler
"Remember, this isn't life or death. It's just death."

The mortician who works next door to Bob's Burgers, a family friend of the Belchers, and one of their most recurring customers (alongside Teddy).

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• Butt-Monkey: Frequently, he's treated poorly by his friends, whether they take advantage of his generosity or ignore his advice (even when it's actually helpful).
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Season 1's "Weekend at Mort's" is easily the largest role in the series he's had, with much of the episode directly focusing on him and his prospective girlfriend.
  • Season 12's "Manic Pixie Crap Show" demonstrates he knows a thing or two about the grieving process, and gives Linda the advice needed for her to finally grieve over witnessing the death of a dog she cared about as a young girl.
• Demoted to Extra: Went from the closest the show had to a Sixth Ranger to an occasional presence whose apartment building appears more often than he does.
• Dodgy Toupee: He's got hardwood under that rug. It's made obvious by the fact that the color of the toupee doesn't match what remains of his actual hair (the toupee is brown, while what remains of Mort's hair is gray). He's seen removing it for the first and only time in "My Fuzzy Valentine".
• The Drag-Along: He's usually dragged into doing things that he never agreed to.
• Early Personality Signs: His interest in funerals apparently began in childhood, as he would plan his funeral as a child and arrange his Playmobil figures in rows as if they were grieving patrons.
• Extreme Doormat: He never stands up for himself when Teddy is mean to him. It's not that surprising however, given his status as a Butt-Monkey.
  • Averted in the episode "Tina-Rannosaurus Wrecks". In the B-plot, Mort generously offers to drive the Belchers around in his car while theirs is being repaired. However, he regrets this decision when they start taking advantage of him, and towards the end he gets fed up. In a fit of rage, Mort enters the restaurant and declares that he isn't a taxi and has had enough of the Belchers taking advantage of him. Though he deflates when Bob and Linda explain they got him a gift basket and a thank you note as appreciation for helping them, and it's right there on his doorstop; he realizes they meant well and calms down.
• Foil: To Teddy, as they're both regulars at Bob's Burgers and are their own bosses. Mort, while less close to the Belchers, is much more grounded and stable than Teddy, who is obsessed with the Belcher family and has a lack of understanding how annoying or disruptive he can be.
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": He's upbeat and chipper, and enjoys telling jokes (both Black Comedy and otherwise).
• Informed Attribute: It's pointed out in "Friends with Burger-Fits" that he doesn't always order a burger from the restaurant, which is why he's healthier than Teddy despite going there nearly as often. However, if he's shown eating something at the restaurant (and not just sitting at the counter) it's basically always a burger (even in that same episode). In fact, the item he says he often orders (soup) isn't even listed on the menu.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Mort" is French for "death", and he works at a funeral home.
  • Mort can also be short for mortician. Knowing Mort, he probably tells this joke every chance he gets.
• Nice Guy: Opened his home and provided use of his car (hearse) to the Belchers when they needed it, and is friendly to Teddy even when Teddy is hostile to him.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Best shown in "Weekend at Mort's", where he's very excited to talk about objects he's found in corpses (particularly tumors) with his date Samantha and eventually makes out with her on an embalming table in his morgue (with the intention of going much, much further than that).
• Older Than They Look: With his toupee, he looks to be closer to Bob's age or maybe a little younger. In reality, he's a little older, which is made super obvious when he removes his toupee in "My Fuzzy Valentine".
• Only Sane Man: Odd obsession with corpses aside, Mort is generally one of the sanest, most reasonable people in the series. He often hangs around Bob's Burgers but isn't as obsessive as Teddy, often provides useful advice to the current situation, and if he sees something even remotely odd going on in the restaurant when he's about to enter or things start to take a turn for the weird while he's there, he wastes no time leaving and not returning for the rest of the episode.
• Out of Focus: He debuted in the first episode (making his first appearance before even Teddy), and he remains a fairly important character in the first few seasons, appearing just as often as Teddy does (and even appearing a few times without Teddy). In later seasons, however, he tends to only appear in three or four episodes, sometimes even without a speaking role, and never appears unless Teddy is also there.
• Perky Goth: He lives in a morgue, wears a black suit and has an unsettling obsession with corpses, but is otherwise a cheerful, friendly Nice Guy.
• Satellite Character: A very interesting case; with only four exceptions throughout the entire show, all of which were early in the show's run^note "Human Flesh", "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?", and "Weekend at Mort's" from Season 1; "Tina-Rannosaurus Wrecks" from Season 3, he has never appeared in an episode that Teddy was absent from. Additionally, given most of his current appearances are at the restaurant, whenever he does appear he tends to share a scene with Teddy.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If something just downright weird is happening at the restaurant when he shows up, he'll decide to leave and come back later.
• So Unfunny, It's Funny: He often tries to tell a joke whenever an opportunity arises (and in "The Deepening" he even tries his hand at stand-up comedy), but very rarely sticks the landing, to the point that his failed attempts at humor are themselves jokes of their own.
• Stating the Simple Solution: In "Bobby Driver", as Linda spends her entire subplot trying to get Teddy to like sushi (or at least tolerate it) in time for a date at a sushi restaurant, Mort points out that Teddy could just order something besides sushi from the menu. Teddy does not appreciate this advice.
• Those Two Guys: Often appears with Teddy as Bob's regulars.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In "Aquaticism" he mentions to the kids that churches are exempt from paying taxes. While he was just trying to add to a conversation they were having about the local aquarium not being able to pay its taxes, this leads to the kids spearheading a tax fraud scheme in an attempt to save the aquarium, which leads to a series of events that culminate in an IRS agent nearly getting killed by jellyfish.
• Vague Age: He's over 35 (given "Weekend at Mort's" has him list this as a fake age on his dating profile) and he's got a balding head of gray hair as well as a visibly elderly mother, which would place him at around Bob's age or a little older (late 40's/early 50's).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: A one-sided version with Teddy. Teddy frequently gets annoyed at Mort for reasons implied to stem from his personal obsession with Bob and Linda, believing Mort to intrude on what would otherwise be alone time with them. Not only does Mort not return the animosity, but he goes out of his way to be nice to Teddy, which usually brings Teddy back to his senses, and overall the two are decent (if not necessarily best) friends.

Linda's Friends

Gretchen

Gretchen

Voiced by: Larry Murphy

Linda's hairdresser and good friend. She has a rather messed up love life, with a known history of sexual harassment and stalking.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: She claims to have stalked famous people and former boyfriends. At least of her attempts at getting a plus-one in "Every Which Way But Goose" fails because her creepy attitude puts off her prospective date.
• Ax-Crazy: If stalking celebs and her ex-boyfriends is any indication. "Seven-tween Again" shows that if a regular customer goes to another hairdresser, she'll start waving those scissors around with much more violent intent.
• Berserk Button: Going to other hairdressers besides her, especially if the culprit is a regular customer of hers. If she finds out, she'll go a little apeshit.
• The Bus Came Back: After having sat out of Season 10 and 11 (with her then-final appearance being Season 9's "Every Which Way But Goose"), she makes a return in Season 12's "Seven-tween Again". She even shows up at the restaurant asking to catch up with Linda because they haven't talked in a while, effectively lampshading her absence.
• Chatty Hairdresser: She's Linda's hairdresser and will not shut up.
• A Day in the Limelight: She gains relevance in the B-plot of "Every Which Way But Goose", though it's not until "Clear and Present Ginger" that she becomes important to the A-plot of an episode.
• Dumb Blonde: She isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, to be frank.
• Establishing Character Moment: One of her first lines in the series has her explain that she got fired from her old job for groping somebody while playing it off as something to laugh at.
• Everyone Has Standards: As desperate as she is for love, she decides being with Hugo isn't worth her time and dumps him.
• Fat Bastard: She's plump, but her attitude makes her a Zig-Zagged usage of this trope. See The Sociopath as to how.
• Fat Idiot: She's fat, and not so bright.
• Foil: She is to Linda what Teddy is to Bob. Both are the fat best friend to one of the Belcher parents, both of them really want to have a romantic partner, and both don't seem to realize how less than ideal others see them as or how socially unacceptable some of their actions are. They're also both voiced by Larry Murphy. However, Bob admits he doesn't really enjoy spending more time with Teddy than he has to, whereas Linda is in general okay with hanging out with Gretchen. There's also the fact that Teddy is a divorcee with a wife who cheated on him while he desperately wants to find love and sometimes tries to force his way into the Belcher's lives, whereas Gretchen doesn't get as involved with the Belchers while she seems more interested in sexual intercourse and has no issue with apparently cheating on a boyfriend.
• Formerly Fat: Subverted. In "The Unbearable Like-Likeness of Gene", she loses weight using a diet consisting of fruit and vegetable peels. However, within three episodes she's back to her old body shape. While it could easily just be a Snap Back (given the change is never acknowledged), it could also be a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome given crash diets like the one Gretchen underwent are very unhealthy and any weight loss achieved is extremely difficult to maintain because of the stress it puts on the body.
• Has a Type: She has a thing for authority figures (and mailmen, but only if they have good routes).
• I Just Want to Be Loved: All she wants is a boyfriend. Unfortunately, she has rather disturbing means of trying to acquire one. And the one time she does get a boyfriend (Hugo), she dumps him.
• Informed Attribute: Louise refers to her as Linda's friend who swears. Her behavior is more about inappropriate sexual behavior and a rude attitude than any swearing. Even then, due the show having a Lighter and Softer tone than something like Family Guy, she wouldn't be able to say anything more profane words like hell, damn or ass.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Coupled with her already-nutty personality, she becomes rather abrasive to Linda in "Every Which Way But Goose" after Linda invites someone as Gretchen's plus-one to her sister's wedding without Gretchen's permission. As Bob points out, however, what Linda did is kind of scummy and Gretchen's reaction to it is understandable.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Or bronze, maybe. Her behavior can be off-putting, she has little sense of when it's appropriate to say or do what, and as some of these other tropes show, she may have some issues. But she's usually fairly welcoming, and in "The Laser-inth" she's the one to come up with a plan to take one of the Dinner Dolls out of the Dinner Doll restaurant when she realizes Louise has taken a liking to one of them and is upset that it is going to be shredded - and she even does so incorporating the doll's backstory of being a spy, which is something that is right up Louise's alley, and lets the Belchers buy it using her employee discount.
• Lack of Empathy: Despite being friends with Linda, Gretchen doesn't come off as the most likely person people would want to be friends with. She's stalked ex-boyfriends and celebrities, ran over their wives with her car, and once cut Linda's ear while doing her hair but insists it was like that before and made a joke about her bleeding ear problem.
• Satellite Character: Nearly every major appearance she has (with very few exceptions) is in a Linda-based plotline or otherwise in relation to Linda in some capacity, likely because Linda is the only Belcher who wants anything to do with her.
• The Sociopath: She's made comments about stalking celebrities and old boyfriends, and has also mentioned attacking them and their loved ones with her car in an offhand fashion. She also got fired from her job for sexual harassment, and proceeded to joke about it.
• Stalker with a Crush: Stalks celebrities and ex-boyfriends.
• Yandere: She seems to be one to a certain degree, stalking exes to the point that she once got a restraining order. She does not want to let go.

Ginger

Ginger

In "Clear and Present Ginger"

Linda's best friend whose face has never been shown, though Linda frequently talks to her over the phone. Through these calls and Linda's own exposition we learn various details about Ginger's life.

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• A Day in the Limelight: The main plot of "Clear and Present Ginger" revolves around Linda planning a hangout with her. Though downplayed in that Ginger herself only appears for five seconds and never has any lines, it's still her largest role in the series, as all other mentions of her are throwaway lines.
• Ambiguous Situation: While neither of Ginger's appearances reveal much about her (given her back is always facing the camera), she's shown to be a redhead and is always clad in a blue shirt. Way back in Season 1's "Hamburger Dinner Theater", a woman with a similar appearance is sitting with Linda at the dinner theater with her face fully revealed—she has the same shade of red hair as Ginger and a similar blue shirt. It's left unclear as to whether or not this woman is Ginger in an Early-Bird Cameo—she's never named in the episode itself, and the fact that her face is shown seemingly goes against the show's efforts to hide Ginger's appearance in both of her confirmed appearances, but her appearance matches what little of Ginger has been shown and she has a clear friendship with Linda.
• Best Friend: She's Linda's, with Linda having known her since before she met Bob, although the two don't really hang out very often due to Ginger living 90 minutes away.
• The Faceless: She is seen a grand total of twice, one of which was in flashbacks, but she always has her back turned to the camera so her face has never been revealed.
• Happily Married: Voluntary or involuntary drugging aside, the fact that she and her husband Tony have an active sex life suggests they're this.
• Meaningful Name: Her name is Ginger and all that's known about her appearance is she's a redhead.
• Noodle Incident: Linda usually relates weird stories about Ginger to her family but without all the details, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks.
  Linda: Ginger's cat died, but in a really funny way!
• Satellite Character: The whole point of her character is just to be Linda's best friend. Even when she becomes plot-relevant in "Clear and Present Ginger", the crux of the focus remains on Linda, with Ginger herself not receiving any additional characterization.
• Slipping a Mickey: Potentially. She either drugs her husband Tony with "penis pills" all the time, or he willingly takes them regularly. Linda wasn't clear on the details.
  Linda: I wanna be edgy like them. Pill popping sex freaks!
• Shout-Out:
  • Possibly to Home Movies. In the earlier seasons of that show, Paula would often be talking to an unseen friend on the telephone, though that was mostly for exposition's sake.
  • Her name, taken along with the Belcher daughters — Tina Louise played Ginger on Gilligan's Island.
• Unseen No More: Season 6's "Sliding Bobs" ended her status as The Ghost, though she's never been seen from the front so she remains The Faceless.
• The Voiceless: In both of her brief cameos, she doesn't have any lines.

The Back-Alley Raccoons

A pack of raccoons living nearby the Belcher's home. Linda and Teddy are obsessed with them and their lives which they see like a complicated TV series.

The raccoons include:

• Little King Trashmouth, the "protagonist" of the Raccoons and Linda's main obsession.
• Gary, Little King Trashmouth's husband
• El Diablo, Little King Trashmouth's sworn enemy.
• Big Baby Pudding Snacther, a raccoon that steals Linda's pudding and the mother of three baby raccoons.

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The One-Eyed Snakes

Critter

Critter

"Oh, these patches? Well, we got this one for... tickling a cop."

Voiced by: Robert Ben Garant

The leader of the One-Eyed Snakes Motorcycle Gang, succeeding the late Horny Dave. After becoming a father, however, his loyalties are split between his family and his gang, causing tensions to arise.

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• Affably Evil: Leader of the One-Eyed Snakes Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, cooks and sells meth, killed a cop, and is involved with the White Power movement. However, his kindness towards the Belchers is surprisingly genuine—he pays Bob for the damages the gang caused while hanging out at the restaurant, bowdlerized himself when explaining his patches to the kids, and later helps them turn an old bumper car into a go-kart for free (though he claims it's because most of the parts are "donated"). He even tries to spare Bob's feelings regarding the biscuits he made to hide the fact he was selling Teddy's homebrew in the restaurant from Hugo.
• All Bikers are Hells Angels: Is the leader of the One-Eyed Snakes Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, with a history of meth-cooking and cop-killing.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Almost literally; his crimes include larceny, cooking and distributing meth, at least one murder, and... unpaid parking tickets. Ironically, the tamest one is the only one he's known to have actually been arrested for (albeit only because the tickets totaled nine thousand dollars).
• Bowdlerized: Does this to himself when explaining the patches on his vest to the Belcher kids, including such things as "tickling a cop" and "not being part of the White Power movement".
• Berserk Button: Never mess with his vest!
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent from the series since Season 6, he has a speaking role in the movie.
• The Chains of Commanding: Feels the weight of being the new head of the One-Eyed Snakes after the death of their previous leader, Horny Dave. He even admits he feels like he isn't worthy of succeeding Horny Dave and laments how he doesn't have the man's natural authoritative personality.
  • This becomes too much for him by "Wag the Hog", saying that he left the group to pursue his new vocation as a family man. This left them bitter of his departure, though Bob manages to make them understand having a kid is not bad (while his kids belittle him of this).
• Cop Killer: He earned a patch for it, though he covers it up as "tickling" a cop when explaining it to the kids.
• Family Man: As of the end of "Ear-sy Rider". This causes tensions with the One-Eyed Snakes in "Wag the Hog" when he leaves the gang to be a full-time father. He eventually learns to make time for both his family and the gang, as seen in the movie where he's seen hanging out with the other One-Eyed Snakes once again.
• Inadequate Inheritor: As leader of the One-Eyed Snakes, he mentions that he's worried about not being able to live up to the legacy of Horny Dave, as he lacks Dave's natural authority.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With the Belcher kids. He helps Louise get her beloved pink bunny-ears hat from Logan and later helps the kids turn a broken-down bumper car into a go-kart for free.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Subverted. Critter is one of two people who slept with Mudflap at the time of Sidecar's conception (the other being Horny Dave), and as a result he clearly doesn't believe it when he's told that he's Sidecar's father. There seems to be no way to prove that Mudflap is telling the truth... until Mudflap reveals that Horny Dave had a vasectomy nearly twenty years prior, meaning Critter is the one possible father remaining.
• Odd Friendship: In the same vein as Mickey; a gang leader with a heavy criminal record (that includes murder) is probably the last person you'd expect to be a friend of the Belchers.
• Official Couple: With Mudflap, after he finds out the kid she's pregnant with is his, and not Horny Dave's like they all believed.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's a meth dealer and murderer who also has a patch for associating with white supremacists. Granted, the vest the patch was on belonged to Horny Dave, not Critter, but the fact that Critter sees the vest and everything on it as a sacred heirloom says everything it needs to.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: All the parking tickets he hasn't paid aside, Critter really got it made after becoming a family man, up to and including getting a job at a super important tech store that pays him a hell lot more than Bob's job as a restauranteur. It's too bad Critter doesn't see his job as such a big deal even though he was very close to losing it.
• Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Invoked. Critter's job at a tech store is much better than a normal retail job, but he still feels like this anyway. He's even embarrassed that Louise sees him in uniform and thinks less of him.
• Tragic Keepsake: His vest used to belong to his leader, the late Horny Dave.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He's willing to put a scare into Logan (and even pull a knife on him), but tells Cynthia he wasn't going to hurt him and gets defensive when Louise insists he would've.

Mudflap

Mudflap

"Here's a bunch of money that's definitely not stolen."

Voiced by: Wendi McLendon-Covey

Critter's wife and the mother of their baby, Sidecar. Much like him, she has quit the gang, though not the lifestyle nor cut connections, to take care of her baby.

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• Affably Evil: Despite being a violent criminal, she is nice and friendly to the Belchers.
• In the Blood: According to Critter, Sidecar gets his temper from her.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: She was Horny Dave's lover, meaning everyone assumed he was the father of Sidecar. However, this was not the case—Sidecar's biological father was instead Critter (Horny Dave had a vasectomy in 1995, making it physically impossible for him to be Sidecar's father). Everyone else (including Critter himself) still believed that Sidecar was Horny Dave's, and Mudflap did nothing to correct them up until Sidecar was born and Mudflap told Critter the truth point-blank.
• Maternity Crisis: She ends up going into labor as the One-Eyed Snakes are about to very likely assault the Bush family. That said, Sidecar's birth actually eases the tension between the groups (helped by the fact that Tom Bush helped with the delivery).
• Official Couple: Possibly with Critter after he finds out the kid she's pregnant with is his and not Horny Dave's like they all believed. Although it's also possible they're just cohabitating in order to raise Sidecar together.
  • Prior to his death, she was part of this with the late Horny Dave.
• One Drink Will Kill the Baby: Downplayed, as she was very late in pregnancy (as in within a week of giving birth) but her first appearance had her drinking while pregnant with Sidecar, with Bob pointing this out.
• Parental Neglect: She won a drinking contest and may have gotten involved in fights through her entire pregnancy and even drank whiskey during labor. Possibly averted now as she seems to be taking good care of Sidecar now and has stated that she could die for him.
• Pink Means Feminine: Averted. She wears a pink/red tank top but is not exactly feminine.
• Pregnant Badass: For most of "Ear-sy Rider", until she gives birth at the end.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: Like her husband, she still maintains a lot of her biker gang mannerism and habits, despite quitting the gang and being theoretically in the clear.

Others

Mickey

Mickey

"It's gonna be really tough to find a job within 50 feet of the bank that'll also let me sleep in the basement."

Voiced by: Bill Hader; Loren Bouchard ("Beach, Please"); John Q. Kubin (The Bob's Burgers Movie)

A bank robber who befriended Bob during a hostage situation. After getting out of jail, he hops from job to job around town, currently working as one of Mr. Fischoeder's carnies at Wonder Wharf.

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• Affably Evil: At first Bob was terrified of him, but once he was one of Mickey's hostages, he realized Mickey can be a pretty nice guy, although a bit eccentric, and scared. To take it even further, Mickey's even nicer than some of the hostages.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Let's just say Rodney was probably the brains of the whole bank-robbing gig.
  • In "Bob Fires the Kids", he thought he could rob the same bank twice since it's unconstitutional to be tried for the same crime twice in America, even after Bob tells him that's not how "double jeopardy" works.
  • In "Dawn of the Peck" he thought that the birds that escaped were planning to Take Over the World.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's a former bank robber who takes advantage of his friend who gave him both a place to stay and a job, and he still seems interested in returning to his old life, but he doesn't approve of mocking people with diabetes.
• Friendly Enemy: When he was still a bank robber (and sometimes when he still causes trouble), he was this to the Belchers.
• Friend to All Children: One of his positive traits is that he seems to be a softer guy towards young people. He has genuine affection for the Belcher kids, even stopping mid-bank robbery to give Louise some answers for a school report she was doing.
• Genre Savvy: In "Ambergris", the kids approach him for help selling the titular lump and tell him that it'll be One Last Job. While reviewing his options, Mickey notes that taking the job means he'll either die or go to jail at the end of it. That said, he ends up doing neither.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Played for Laughs. He cannot seem to decide whether he wants to keep his honest job at the wharf or go back to his criminal ways.
  • In "Bob Fires the Kids", he got released from prison and says he planned on straightening himself out, leading to him working for Bob for the summer. However, Bob soon found out that he was using their basement to tunnel into the bank (naturally with the intention of robbing it) and fired him.
  • In "Ambergris" we see him happily working at the Wharf, and is reluctant to help Louise sell the ambergris since it's illegal. She does convince him to do "one last job" so he could use his share to open a bar, and officially go straight. However, when Tina says she'll give him the full ambergris, because Louise was going to double-cross him he reveals that he'd instead use his share to buy a tank to rob a bank. He calls this plan "Mickey Tank Bank".
  • As of "Wharf Horse" he seems to still be working at the Wharf, and is focused on his job to the point that he's in the running for Employee of the Month. As a result, he refuses to let Louise ride a rollercoaster due to her being too short—except he's willing to bend the rules when she claims she's with Mr. Fischoeder, who is currently getting on the ride with Bob.
  • In "Dawn of the Peck" he gladly runs the ride that the kids are on, only to abandon them when the birds start attacking. But later comes back with Linda, and Teddy (although begrudgingly) to help save the kids and later Bob, and joins everyone for Thanksgiving.
  • In "Best Burger" he helped the kids get the black garlic to Bob, and helped the kids avoid the store manager they took it from. Worth noting is that he only helped them after they mentioned that they stole the black garlic.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: The movie suggests he's not very fond of Mr. Fischoeder, since he joins the other carnies in singing "Lucky Ducks" (which is basically a two-minute rant about how awful and exploitative he is).
• Karma Houdini: He is arrested at the end of "Bob Day Afternoon" and was apparently sentenced to eight years in prison, but in "Bob Fires the Kids" it's revealed that during his trial the prosecutor was under a heavy dosage of meth, resulting in a mistrial that made Mickey a free man. He lampshades it during the movie; when his fellow carnies (who are all ex-cons) sing about how they've paid for their crimes, Mickey quickly adds that most of them have.
• Odd Friendship: For a given value of friendship (given that Bob seems to tolerate his nonsense at best), we have Mickey, the shameless conman and criminal, and Bob, the hardworking family man and small business owner.
• Punch-Clock Villain: In "Beach, Please", he goes against the Belcher kids to try and help Mr. Fischoeder win their bet not out of any hard feelings, but because he's on Mr. Fischoeder's payroll.
• Put on a Bus: After Season 5's "Best Burger", he stopped making appearances up until Season 11's "Copa-Bob-Bana". At 125 episodes, it's currently the fourth-longest gap between appearances a notable character has had, beaten only by Big Bob (159 episodes; from the beginning of Season 5 to the end of Season 12), Josh (151 episodes; from the end of Season 3 to the end of Season 10), and Linda's parents (142 episodes; from the end of Season 3 to midway through Season 10).
• Trashy Trailer Home: Just like the other carnies at Wonder Wharf, he lives in a run-down trailer park known as Carniapolis.
• Villainous Friendship: With his old partner Rodney, to the point where he looked up to him. On his end, Rodney seems to genuinely like Mickey, but doesn't seem to return the idolatry.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: He goes from working as a career criminal to an employee at Bob's Burgers before finally settling as a carny at Wonder Wharf (where other ex-cons work). While he's remained a carny ever since "Ambergris", he's also been shown working several other jobs in later episodes, such as a pedicab driver in "Best Burger" and a bartender in "Copa-Bob-bana".

Marshmallow

Marshmallow

"Marshmallow in the house. Now put a burger in my mouth!"

Voiced by: David Herman (2011-2020), Jari Jones (current)

A friendly prostitute and semi-regular customer of Bob's Burgers.

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• The Bus Came Back: Vanished from the series after season 8's "The Bleakening", minus a voiceless cameo in the end credits of the movie. She finally returned fully voiced in season 14's "Fight At The Not Okay Chorer-al".
• Hartman Hips: Has huge hips, even for the art style.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She is really nice and is one of the prostitutes that remind Tina that she has a good father.
• Insistent Terminology: Bob makes it clear that she's not handsome, she's beautiful. Considering she's a trans woman, this distinction is justified (and based on Marshmallow's reaction, quite appreciated).
• Nice Girl: One of, if not the, nicest adult character on the show. She never does anything to annoy or piss Bob off, he's always happy to see her, and he's implied to be truly in awe of what a free spirit she is.
  Bob: She comes and goes as she pleases, she answers to no one, and she is truly free.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Linda calling the cops on the underground gay Christmas party in a fit of rage in "The Bleakening" is enough to even piss off the normally pleasant Marshmallow. She still doesn't raise her voice though.
  Bob: Oh, hey, Marshmallow.
  Marshmallow: Mm-mm!
• Phrase Catcher: "Oh, hey, Marshmallow."
• Queer Colors: Her cameo in the movie's end credits depicts her wearing a dress patterned after the transgender pride flag. She also wears blue lipstick instead of her usual red in order to better fit the theme.
• Remember the New Girl?: She debuts suddenly in the second half of "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" and Bob is already familiar with her, but while it's clear they only recently met over the course of the episode (given none of the other Belchers are familiar with her) said first meeting is never shown.
• The Stoner: "Bob Fires the Kids" indicates she uses weed.
• Trademark Favorite Food: It's apparently how she got her name.
  "If you show me a sweet potato pie, I am on top of it."
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Normally, a person in a scandalously revealing monokini would attract some attention, but Bob usually just responds when with "Oh, hey, Marshmallow". Part of it is because Bob is an accepting person, part of it is because his family's eccentricities are much stranger, part of it is because they've met much weirder and more off-putting people, and most of it is the show creator actually making characters like Marshmallow human and three-dimensional.
• Younger Than They Look: It can be hard to tell characters' age range in the art style of the show, but Marshmallow appears to be a wise and experienced middle-aged woman, similar in age to Bob and Linda. She claims in "The Bleakening" that she's only twenty-three, barely half of Bob's age.

Warren Fitzgerald

Warren Fitzgerald

Voiced by: Chris Parnell

Bob's best friend from high school and a successful businessman who recently sold his company.

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• Former Teen Rebel: Once ditched a school trip alongside Bob to go smoking.
• The Ghost: First mentioned, but not actually seen, in Season 3's "Carpe Museum". He later averted this with his proper debut in Season 6's "Pro-Tiki/Con-Tiki".
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: His voice actor, Chris Parnell, plays Cyril Figgis on Archer, where Bob's voice actor H. Jon Benjamin also stars as the title character. Ironically, while their characters on Archer despise each other, their characters here are best friends.
• Nice Guy: It seems like the show is building up to the reveal that he's not as great a guy as Bob claims, but he's actually just as friendly as Bob remembered, and it's easy to see why Bob and him were friends. Even with the episode setting up conflict between the two, it's not out of any bad intentions and it's quickly resolved when the two actually talk about it.
• Old Friend: He and Bob were buddies back in high school.

Dalton Crespin

Dalton Crespin / Dame Judi Brunch

Voiced by: John Early
"I almost literally never say this word, but this brunch is amazeballs!"

A brunch blogger that befriends Linda when the Belchers try to get into the brunching business.

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• The Alcoholic: Played with. On the one hand, he had sixteen Bloody Marys over at Jimmy Pesto's. On the other hand, it's implied he only had so many because Jimmy heavily watered them down to the point that they were borderline non-alcoholic (even after the sixteen drinks, Dalton was sober enough to drive home).
• Art Shift: He debuts during the fanart-based "Brunchsquatch", meaning he regularly changes in design. It's not until his second appearance in "The Bleakening" that he's depicted with the show's usual design.
• Camp Gay: Very theatrical and over the top about his mannerisms; "The Bleakening" confirms he's gay.
• Caustic Critic: Subverted; everything about him initially seems to indicate this, but he turns out to be quite friendly.
• Good Counterpart: To the Moody Foodie, a one-off character from Season 2. Both are reviewers who the Belchers try very hard to impress when they come to the restaurant, but while the Moody Foodie is a Caustic Critic who is overly harsh and revels in seeing his reviews harm businesses, Dalton is an affably eccentric guy whose criticisms are constructive and never excessive, even becoming a friend of Linda.
• Faux Horrific: He's mortified when the kids draw a picture of them stabbing him so they can keep his dog... because they drew him with flip-flops.
• Nice Guy: Despite being introduced as a potential Caustic Critic, he's exceedingly nice to Linda throughout the disastrous brunch in his first episode, giving her constructive criticism and warning her about the "brunch skunks."
• Shout-Out: His blogger name is a reference to Judi Dench.

Nat Kinkle

Natalie Kinkle

"All right, so where to? Sad girl, you wanna go run over this kid who dumped you or what?"

Voiced by: Jillian Bell

A lovably eccentric limousine driver who befriends the Belcher women one Valentine's Day.

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• Almost Famous Name/Punny Name: Her full name is a reference to jazz musician Nat King Cole. Bob actually mishears it as such before she spells out her surname.
  Nat: K-I-N-K-L-E. How are you hearing it?
  Bob: Oh, never mind. Just like that.
• Berserk Button: The movie Big, because it encouraged people to stick their heads out of still-moving limousines, something she believes frequently leads to decapitations.
• Birds of a Feather: She quickly bonds with Louise, who shares her wild imagination and vindictive streak. Louise even jokes about Nat being her real mother, and seems to completely trust Nat's judgement, when normally she would stubbornly do her own thing.
• Butch Lesbian: Very physical with a broad (though wide-bottomed) build, boisterous, has a masculine dress sense, and has repeatedly shown interest in women—"Just The Trip" reveals she has an ex-girlfriend, while "Clear and Present Ginger" features her trying to win over a single mother. Show director/storyboard artist Simon Chong posted art of Nat in front of a lesbian flag, seemingly confirming her as lesbian instead of bi or pansexual.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Assumes the reason the Belchers have never heard of limo decapitations is because the government is covering it up. She also refuses to carry cash, but doesn't elaborate beyond the fact that she doesn't trust it.
• Crazy-Prepared: Comes armed with a tub of baked beans (to throw at a meter maid), a hand grenade (thankfully deactivated, because she would have found an excuse to use it), a glove box full of stink bombs, and possibly some ghillie suits in her debut appearance. She’s also more than ready to make a call for a dead horse.
  Nat: And we don't put it in the kid's bed; he'd be expecting that. We put it in his backpack under his homework. He reaches in, all proud he did his homework, and bam! Dead horse.
  Louise: It's a great plan.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Just the Trip" focuses more on Nat's personal life than her previous two appearances.
• The Münchausen: She's full of crazy stories about her busy life, some of which are apparently true, like being a former member of a women's scuba team (who are also "marijuana enthusiasts").
• Nice Girl: Nat goes through a lot of trouble to help find Linda's anniversary gift in "The Ring (But Not Scary)" and got some of her friends to help out simply because she likes Linda and the Belcher kids. Though he's the last of the Belchers she meets, she also quickly takes a liking to Bob during their hunt for the ring.
• Noodle Incident: Once lived in a lake. Not near a lake, in a lake.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Outside of Bob occasionally calling her Natalie, she goes exclusively by Nat.
• Prefers Proper Names: Which is pretty ironic, considering Nat herself is Only Known by Their Nickname.
  • Her debut episode makes frequent references to Tom Hanks, who she calls "Thomas Hanks".
  • When referring to Bob by name, she often calls him "Robert", something no other character does more than once. He takes to calling her "Natalie" in return.
• Quirky Girl, Quirky Tux: She's a Cloudcuckoolander with a series of strange and eclectic interests, and wears a pink tux as her work uniform.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: She prefers to keep various reptiles as pets and "Just the Trip" revolves around her taking the Belchers with her when she visits her ex-girlfriend's animal sanctuary to re-home her pet snake there.

Kathleen

Kathleen

Voiced by: Sharon Horgan

A meek woman with whom Teddy may be falling in love with... and the feeling may very well be mutual.

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• Betty and Veronica: When introduced in "The Helen Hunt", she's the meek and sweet Girl Next Door type Betty compared to the Rich Bitch Helen's Veronica to Teddy's Archie.
• Foil: To Helen, also serving as her Good Counterpart.
  • Both are Teddy's prospective love interests, but Kathleen seems to genuinely like him while Helen exploits his feelings for self-gain.
  • Both are widows who lost their husbands in freak accidents, but Kathleen had no involvement in her husband's death (her husband was hit by a train) while Helen is implied to have caused her own husband's death (her husband fell off the roof of a beach house with evidence suggesting Helen caused him to fall).
  • Helen is wealthy with multiple abodes; Kathleen is lower-class and living in a small, cramped apartment.
• Nice Girl: She's a tad socially awkward but nonetheless a very pleasant and polite woman who's always friendly towards the Belchers and Teddy.
• Oireland: Averted. Kathleen is played by Sharon Horgan, using her normal Irish accent to voice Kathleen. Also, rather than stereotypical "Oirish" traits, Kathleen's Irishness is demonstrated by her watching hurling at home.
• Relationship Upgrade: Implied in "Fingers-loose", where she and Teddy are going out to see a movie. "Comet-y of Errors" does away with the ambiguity, explicitly confirming the two are seeing each other.
• Second Love: She and Teddy are both this to each other; Teddy is divorced while Kathleen is widowed.
• Unkempt Beauty: Especially when compared to Helen. Kathleen spends all of “The Helen Hunt” in a ratty T-shirt and sweatpants, and even when she cleans up she sports a loose ponytail instead of a more fashionable hair style.

Skip Marooch

Skip Marooch

Voiced by: Kumail Nanjiani

A celebrity chef from Pakistan who competes against and comes to respect Bob during a burger-making competition.

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• Curb-Stomp Battle: This trope's aversion is part of why he comes to respect Bob so much. Despite everyone assuming the titular competition in "Best Burger" would be a shoo-in for Skip, Bob more than holds his own. He still loses, but it's a much narrower loss than expected—which, against a celebrity chef, is impressive.
• Genius Ditz: Downplayed; he's not outright dumb, but outside of cooking he tends to think things through very poorly (such as assuming an ATV could pass through deep water and not realizing his mistake until he's sinking). That said, when he is cooking he's unrivaled by even the best chefs out there.
• Nice Guy: Skip Marooch is very personable. After the contest in "Best Burger", he drops by Bob's Burgers because he wants to try Bob's Black Garlic Burger, and in "Glued, Where's My Bob?", he hooks up Bob with an interview for Coasters magazine to give his restaurant a boost in business.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: In his first appearance, Skip seems a bit too nice, and it seems like he's being set up to be a sore winner/loser. However, Skip is just as nice as he appears to be (if a bit eccentric), and even brings along his followers to try the black garlic burger at Bob's restaurant, bringing Bob more business than he's ever seen in his life.
• Supreme Chef: He didn't get to where he is today by not knowing what he's doing.
• Worthy Opponent: Bob sees him as this by the end of the titular competition in "Best Burger", and the feeling turns out to be mutual.

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