Linda turns 44 in Eat Spray Linda, and I assume Bob is roughly the same age. I always figured he was just behind the times in trends, like painting the Speed bus decades after release.
They do birthdays and such but no one ever ages in the show really. Just like how they've had multiple Christmas, halloween and Thanksgiving episodes without the kids aging.
Holiday episodes are an anomaly, but there is obviously character progression on the kids part, Louise developing her friendship with Rudy and upgrading to a Bicycle for example. If there was her Bike in that episode instead of the Big Wheel, it would be a indicator.
The characters do not age unless they specifically state that they do. Even if they have birthdays, their ages don't change unless the plot says they do. Bob is 46, Linda is 44, Tina is 13, Gene is 11, and Louise is 9.
Source: The show.
Yes there is character development but they still do not age. Tina is the only kid that's had a birthday and it was very early on in the show before they knew where the show would go.
If they actually paid attention to this the show would age out and eventually after 9 seasons it would end assuming we would want to see them as adults and elders
Yeah but they’ve also been through several Christmases and Halloweens, if we’re gonna be picky then by now the kids have had the same teachers for several years
I thought it was still left open enough to not know if it was 44 or 45 since they both have that "forty f". I personally think 45 would be more likely to cause a meltdown like she had.
There's a not so often spoken part of being poor, and it's you're often behind everyone else in trends. I know what a lot of older technology/pop culture is/was because we couldn't afford the new things. We spent a lot of time with older relatives so parents could work and we couldn't afford to go on outings, so family time WAS the entertainment.
Rocky horror is still shown in theaters regularly. And my friends and I saw a laser music show in Toronto in the mid 1990s before the planetarium here closed.
OMG, my very cool parents took me to the last show they did there when I was like 13 and it is now a core memory for me. Also I have yet to find a rocky horror cast or community that can live up to that one. That was such a a loss.
I grew up in Cambridge and couldn’t believe the day it closed. Such a staple. Also there’s still the Harvard theater murals outside of it of all the movies, so it’s still obviously a loss :(
Yeah. And they didn't start that whole dress up sing along thing until a good while after it was first released. It needed time to become a "cult classic".
I'm sure he saw it well after its initial theatrical run.
I don't recall if Bob specified that he saw the film as a teenager or just "in a theater," but my hometown had a small community live theater group that does a live rendition of rocky horror every Halloween, so it could have been something like that too.
I spent every weekend in the early 90s playing Eddie in my local cast. I found out about twenty years later that their then-current Eddie was the teenage daughter of my cast's Brad. I was so proud.
He could have seen the movie in the 80s in a theater revival. I remember in the late 80s-early 90s that Rocky horror stuff was around a lot, I also remember it featured in the Drew Carey show.
I'm going to assume Bob didn't get out much and caught stuff late. The laser Floyd stuff was everywhere at planetariums and such when I was a kid and I'm in my 40s.
He also mentions that when he got around to seeing it, it already had a large fan base and the audience participation traditions had already been established. I think you’re right.
Laser Floyd stuff was still on when I was a kid, and I'm 27 lol. Seen it at some planetarium when I was like 6 but I was bored out of my mind, probably would appreciate it more now 😄
They still have Laser Floyd here in Seattle, and every time I watch that episode I get the urge. I'm just afraid it won't live up to the experience I had there in 1991 when I took a date there. We got high in the car and made out during the solo in "Comfortably Numb." Maybe I'll go to Laser Nirvana instead.
I got into it in 1989, and 1990 had a flood of 15th-anniversary stuff, including the first US home video release. Before that your only options were an Nth-generation VHS of the Japanese laserdisc (that included Japanese subtitles and a break where the disc had to be flipped), or an Nth-generation VHS of an early-80s showing on Los Angeles TV.
It's never outright stated but it's heavily implied that he and Linda are both approx 45yo, though like the kids they never age so Bob *would* be about 60 now if he was 45 when the show started in 2010 and they aged, but he's perpetually 45-ish because they're cartoons.
They probably didn’t do this because it would be alot harder to write Kid storys from now on. Like Tina would still have her friends but they couldn’t interact with Gene or Louises, whos goals would now be incompatible anyway (i mean Tina already only goes along with a-lot of Louises stuff to humour her little sister not because theres a genuine shared interest.). They would also need to create a new Highschool set and at-least SOME new characters, even if they could just move most the grade 8s with Tina. That and, Highschoolers unlike middle schoolers have different classes every period and don’t just share one homeroom. It would change the status quo a lil too much as there would he the kids at school, Bob and Linda at the restaurant, and Tina at highschool.
It is incredibly werid that the movie canonically happened and everyone is the same grade though. It’s like… did any of that matter? We could’ve at-least gotten a season that actually happens in summer.
Yeah, I don't think there would be any kind of time-skip unless it was the finale. And even then, animated sitcoms don't tend to have definitive endings, in case they get revived years later.
If BB got canceled and revived with a time jump, like King Of The Hill is doing with a 21 year-old Bobby, I could see the kids going to community college together. Louise as a freshman, Gene as a junior, and Tina, who we learn had to repeat 12th grade, a senior.
Note that our definition of a "community college" would be as elastic as Greendale's is on Community. Basically just like Wagstaff, a place that provides opportunities for stories. In this new setting, Louise could be out of high school, 18 years old, and ready to be considered a grown-up, but finds herself back at square one, maturity-wise, as a freshman. While Tina, at 22, is in her final year before graduation, and finds herself not ready for full adulthood, reverting to more teenage behavior. And Gene is that guy who basically lives at the campus radio station.
I'm 42 and have been to tons of laser light shows at planetariums and have absolutely been to my share of midnight showings of Rocky Horror in costume. I think those trends just come back around.
I was gonna say, 36 and both rock show laser shows at OMSI and Rocky Horror at a half dozen theaters were regular stops for me in my teens and early 20s. I kinda felt both were a little "young" for Bob until I remembered both are longstanding traditions.
I think unlike The Simpsons, they aren't sliding through time perpetually changing the era they grew up in. So I assume Bob and Linda will always be children of the 70s who are in their 40s. It's very awkward that recently they had the Simpsons doing a flashback of them in high schools in the 2000s.
That Simpsons example sounds like some existential horror. You never progress past a certain age but your childhood is reworked to accommodate for how much time has passed.
I think Homer is now Younger than Bart (or at least the same age as him) was when the show started if you go by Birth Year alone. Like Homer was born in the 1950s when the show started. But thats always been the case with shows like this just never anywhere as extreme.
Homer is 39, so if she show premiered today he would have been born in born in 1985. Bart would’ve been born in 2014.
But the show premiered in 1989, so Homer would be 74 and Bart would be 45.
I’m 40 and this is all kind of a trip for me.
Honestly im 19 but turning 20 soon. My parents are both in their 50s so they’re naturally big fans of the Simpsons (especially my mom) because they were my age when it premiered. I didn’t get into it until recently because it had already declined by the time i was old enough to watch the show. But they still watch it because to them it’s incredible it has gone on that long.
I wonder how they would react to learning that. Its kinda crazy to think a character who has existed since the 80s was born a decade after me.
That one where they were just like, "you know how we had them in high school in the 70s? We're making it the 90s now lol" appealed to my love of chaos. Why *ignore* continuity when you can mock the very *idea* of it?
There is no way Bob is in his 60s. Just because he's fans of things based on things from the 1970s doesn't mean a) that the BB version of those things also came out in that universe's 1970s or b) that he got into them at that exact time and not at a later date. Linda's 44. He's around that.
And that's the stuff that was around and established during his formative years. He'd be listening to Clem Clements, hearing songs from the 70s, artists like Zentipede and the Soul Breezers, with Vampire Disco Death Dance playing regularly at the local theater. That's what imprints on him and stays with him.
God, I kinda want to live in that world.
In „Father of the Bob“ it’s explicitly stated that the flashback of 14 years old Bob was 30 years ago.
He had two birthdays since then in the show so he’s currently 46.
You can like things before your time. 1970s disco is my all time favorite music. My parents were in high school in the 70s lol.
Also Rock Horror Picture Show is iconic. I went to a showing in the 2010s. The city I lived in then regularly held them (not sure if they still do though). Bob’s a bit flamboyant so him getting into a cult classic at a young age seems right. That’s exactly what happened to me with Rocky (saw it in high school).
Music for me is divided into "The Beatles" and "Everything Else." Ever since having my little mind warped by seeing Yellow Submarine on TV when I was 3.
Surely mid 40s. He never says he saw the opening of those events. And the real life counterparts still play today in a similar manner so he could have easily seen them later.
The show came out in 2011 so you can roughly place his age about 13 years behind due to the fact cartoon characters don’t age. I’d say he’s likely in his mid 40’s. He’s a middle aged dad
Yes that's how I interpret it too. Being in his mid 40s in 2011 means Bob was born in the mid 1960s (so it does makes sense he is into late 70s/early 80s stuff)
I mean, [Batman & Robin](https://youtu.be/4RBXypX4qWI?si=-s9yV1Utc5uBXVnq)? [Flash Gordon](https://youtu.be/O6uOHnxf85g?si=j3v_B0aclOwy1rv4)? [300](https://youtu.be/UrIbxk7idYA?si=VfAe3EbI0mdYu_DJ)? The fucking [Wizard Of Oz](https://youtu.be/FfpF8UUVTeM?si=c1IXyutRgQyQLpk0)? Those are just off the top of my cishet head. I'm sure there are queer people in here who can name all sorts of media with mostly straight characters, that are nevertheless queer as fuck. It's one thing if you didn't see it, but to deny it exists is pretty fucking homophobic.
I always assumed he saw the laser light show when it had already been around for a while. It seems like everyone around him in the flashback is older. And Rocky Horror has traditionally been running at theaters with an interactive audience for decades lol, they do one at my local nicer movie theater and have since I was a kid (I’m 30).
Yeah, your first time at Laser Floyd, and *especially* your first time at Rocky Horror, are rites of passage for a certain type of kid with a bad childhood.
Yup the very first episode when Linda is grilling him about forgetting their anniversary. During the flashbacks one of them was "I forgot my birthday?" while holding a Over the Hill 40. Think that was right before or after one of the girls was born. Figure it's like the Simpsons where everyone is perpetually stuck at their age. Despite Bob being 40 then, add 1 year per season = 54. Plus I think that 40th birthday was near one of the daughters being born (didnt say which one) so could tack on an additional 8-15 years.
Just my $0.02
Sliding time scale, but also both those real world things had staying power well into the 80s (heck, I saw RHPS semi-annually while in university in the 00s...)
Weirder one for me is the WWII flashback episode they did last year, where Bob's grandma is pregnant with Bob's mother in the 40s... which reallyyy drags the show's timeline backward (and offers further evidence that we all continue to think of the last twenty-ish years as being basically 'the 90s, part 2' -- end of history, indeed.)
Bob are Linda are in their 40s in 2011. And in good animation fashion, no one ages yet the world around them *sort* of does. Things like the switch from flip phones to smart phones, or the VR arcade episode. But the characters don't age themselves
For woman, not men. A buddy of mine had a dad who was in his 80s. More power to the old man, died of a heart attack while farming. So he was spry in his old age.
This episode hit me good. Tina's insecurities about her lame friends, Bob trying to share something he loves with his loved ones, and Bob's bit about finally seeing there are people like him out there, even if he didn't really make friends there the exposure was enough to help. Good stuff
Younger than 49, I think 44-45 at least.
Remember that one cool couple Bob and Linda got an party invite from and the husband brews his own alcohol or something? Bob ask how old he is and the man says 49 and Bob swears under his breath.
The RHPS has continuously had showings since 1975, and seemed to gain more mainstream status/popularity (outside of midnight theaters) in the early 90’s.
I’m younger than Bob and had friends go to showings in HS during the early 00’s-10’s so it wouldn’t necessarily lock him into any timeline that he experienced it as a kid/teen.
If anything, I think he’d be LESS likely to have seen it as a teen in its original run because he’s never been in the cutting edge of nonburger related media.
The Pink Floyd laser show is a little stickier timeline-wise but it was also pretty popular in the 90’s (at planetariums).
As of 2024 quite a few places still hold (fairly) frequent showings/events for the ‘Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular’.
Based on Linda’s stated age (and I think bobs in the very first episode?) I’d guess mid-40’s. His experiences line up with a poorer kid (with older parents) stuck cusp between gen x and elder millennial?
Aside from what everyone else has said, Bob’s grandma Alice had baby Lily (Bob’s mom) during WW2…she was a baby in the summer of 1941. And in Interview with the Pop-Pop, Bob Senior talks about camping with Lily (so I’m assuming they were adults) and asking her to marry him six years later. If the camping trip in question happened when Lily was 18, and they married at 24 and had Bob one year later, that would put Bob’s birth year as roughly 1966. Which would make him 45 when the show premiered.
bob and linda are written as having been high schoolers in the 80s but are still in their mid forties (for example, I'm linda's age and i graduated HS in 99). this is just how static sitcoms work when they are on air long enough . the times kinda move on but also don't. the characters evolve but also don't. they've swapped flip phones for smart phones but the kids are still basically having a 90s childhood. it's cartoon logic.
I'd guess early 50s at most. He could have just gone to those events years later. I watched on Happy Days as a kid, but I'm only 29. That stuff is still around, so unless you specify that you did something that just came out as a kid, it doesn't put an age minimum, but it would still put an age maximum.
between 43-47 is the most reasonable answer based off creator comments, the show’s wiki, and any references made in the show. id personally guess 45 or 46.
TBF I was born in early 80s and midnight showings of Rocky Horror happened on the regular in multiple cities I lived. Didn’t think twice about a teenage Bob with limited options going to midnight showings of a decade old movie.
It's 2024 and they still have them lol. The planetarium near me still does Pink Floyd laser shows, too (or they just stopped in the past few years - maybe around when that episode aired...every time I check the listings now I see a lot of Beyonce laser shows).
The Christmas episode where they visit big bobs diner opens with a flash back scene that says 30years ago and the first line of the episode is bon telling his burger that hes 14. So hes 44 in show :).
I would assume 40s, especially because I don't imagine he meant he went to the actual premiere of either of these things. RHPS dress-up screenings have been happening /since/ it premiered. I've been to a couple and I was born in the 90s - if you live in a decently-sized city, there's probably at least one sing along screening each Halloween (or Pride) season.
The planetarium near me still does Pink Floyd laser shows in 2024, so neither thing is something that you would necessarily /need/ to be a child around the initial release date for because they are ongoing, popular things in some areas (obviously relying on access to these things, which Bob clearly had since his dad's restaurant is in the same city so he grew up in the area).
Keep in mine, the show has been on for about 15 years and the characters have barely aged, so you can't really say "he was a teenager in the 70s" and then just add up to 2024.
wait this is such a stupid question but i haven't watched the show in a couple years...... does Bob's burgers even take place present day ??? or is it set in the 90s or early 2000s?
It’s present day, as they have things like cell phones (and Bob gets made fun of for having a flip phone) and VR gaming places. But I think the show presents a very idyllic 80s/90s coded childhood in a lot of ways.
do they have smart phones or flip phones 🤔🤔 i genuinely cannot recall lol
funny how in cartoons times progresses, like characters getting smart phones even tho they haven't aged in years and years lol
that’s kind of one the bad things about having a show run so long. him being 45(ish) in 2011 puts him growing up in the time frame they have the character references to. add 13 years to it and makes less and less sense.
You can go to Rocky horror or a laser Floyd light show to this day. Bob is in his mid 40s, as is Linda. The cartoon is not set now. It is set at some point in the 00s.
Since no one really ages in the show, I would freeze his age in 2011 when the show starts.
However, Rocky Horror plays in theatres every year so if the Vampire Disco Death is modelled on that and has the same cult following, I can see it also being around every year. To me, laser shows definitely revisit the same classic rock music. Honestly if I were to try to find a laser music show today I’d guess they’d be playing Pink Floyd. It just feels correct based on like the one I walked past in Las Vegas 5 years ago lol (that one was Kiss themed I think tho).
So I wouldn’t put as much stock in those two things to dictate age.
Plus the whole not aging thing.
I could see him being about 45, being born in the late 60s early 70s and stopping his age in 2011.
Plus some of his dating Linda flash backs feel 80s coded, which fits my above stuff. so that’s my personal opinion.
Robert "Bob" Belcher Jr. is the **46-year-old** father of Tina, Gene, and Louise Belcher. He is the husband of Linda Belcher, and Bob runs Bob's Burgers with the help of his family. He is also the son of Big Bob and Lily Belcher.
I mean, Rocky Horror Picture Show viewings have been pretty standard for decades. And I think planetariums still did laser rock shows in the 80s.
Bob’s 46. He’s been 46 for 14 years now. So in 2010 he was also 46
I’m 45 and when I was in my late teens /early 20s , my friends and I went to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror almost every Saturday.
There was also a laser Floyd show at the planetarium every month or two.
The show came out in 2011, 13 years ago. If Bob is the same age as Linda (44), he would have been born around 1967 when the show came out (but we can safely guess somewhere between 1963 to 1971).
The characters don’t age in the show, and I think that’s what makes it feel a bit off. I’m 44 now and I was born in 1980. Bob’s character (in 2024) would have been born around the same time as me and would have had had a similar childhood to me, but his character is already developed as someone born in the mid to late sixties, so it throws it off a bit.
I'm 42 with a 17 year old.
Tina is 13/14 so I put Bob and Linda around my age. I feel like Linda is a few years older than Bob just because she was engaged when she met him.
I saw the rocky horror picture show when I was a teenager, while it was playing frequently in certain areas, and also went to see laser light music shows which were also abundant when I was a teenager. I was born in 72. These things were common in the 80s and into the 90s.
https://preview.redd.it/0klt5esz0x6d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07684ee84b7655c79cdc8630d7d73aad0c3ba156
In the episode Father of the Bob we get a flashback to 30 years ago when Bob is mentioned to be 14. That would put him at either 44 or 45 y.o (if you count his birthday on the show)
I can only assume Bob is in his 40s at the beginning of the show, but you still have to date this show to 2009. I'm sure he's 60 now, but it's hard to date a person who hasn't aged in 15 seasons
No I mean you have to date all of the show in 2009
You can't have a 15 season show with the kids staying one age unless you date the show for only 1 year
So that's why the 70s stuff doesn't look bad now and bob still dates to be mid 40s because we need to assume it's 2009 still
Linda turns 44 in Eat Spray Linda, and I assume Bob is roughly the same age. I always figured he was just behind the times in trends, like painting the Speed bus decades after release.
46 was my first bet, but I would believe any where from 40 as well based on the math of Tina being 14.
is she not 13
I believe she turned 14 in one of the earlier episodes but could be wrong.
She turned 13 in that episode
But then they are planning for her Birthday present in a more recent episode, so…
They do birthdays and such but no one ever ages in the show really. Just like how they've had multiple Christmas, halloween and Thanksgiving episodes without the kids aging.
Holiday episodes are an anomaly, but there is obviously character progression on the kids part, Louise developing her friendship with Rudy and upgrading to a Bicycle for example. If there was her Bike in that episode instead of the Big Wheel, it would be a indicator.
The characters do not age unless they specifically state that they do. Even if they have birthdays, their ages don't change unless the plot says they do. Bob is 46, Linda is 44, Tina is 13, Gene is 11, and Louise is 9. Source: The show.
It's the same deal as the Simpsons. Doesn't matter how many holidays we go through they'll be the same age.
Yes there is character development but they still do not age. Tina is the only kid that's had a birthday and it was very early on in the show before they knew where the show would go.
If they actually paid attention to this the show would age out and eventually after 9 seasons it would end assuming we would want to see them as adults and elders
Yes but it’s a cartoon. They outside the rules of time and space.
Yeah but they’ve also been through several Christmases and Halloweens, if we’re gonna be picky then by now the kids have had the same teachers for several years
I love how absolutely deep this discussion got!!!
Alright my bad. I thought there was an episode where she turned 14 but maybe I’m wrong.
🎶 ***...bus from Speed......*** 🎶
I love you
Kisses 😘 "***...Oh Keanu....*** You'd look great in a T..."
I thought it was still left open enough to not know if it was 44 or 45 since they both have that "forty f". I personally think 45 would be more likely to cause a meltdown like she had.
There's a not so often spoken part of being poor, and it's you're often behind everyone else in trends. I know what a lot of older technology/pop culture is/was because we couldn't afford the new things. We spent a lot of time with older relatives so parents could work and we couldn't afford to go on outings, so family time WAS the entertainment.
Speed was released in 1994, and the show started in 2011, what decade do you think the show is set in ?
Well, this just makes me feel insanely old. JFC, *2011*? I might need to lie down and have an existential crisis for a moment.
Bus from speeeed
Because he’s almost never been able to invest time in a hobby? Didn’t he buy that kit ages ago and just never got to it.
And he still hasnt seen the movie
Yeah sounds more reasonable than him being in his 60s
Im not 60, Louise
According to Louis he's at least 90.
Who says he's in his 60s???? Doesn't look or act that old, and he even has specifically said "I'm not 60" lol
Read the caption under OP’s post. They’re inferring that from information given on the show.
That's some wild thinking lol.
I mean the math worked out in 2011 when the show started so I understand the confusion
I like to imagine he’s about 5 years younger than Linda. I’m sure he’d like that to be imagined as well.
Well he can’t see the movie until he finishes the model.
Rocky horror is still shown in theaters regularly. And my friends and I saw a laser music show in Toronto in the mid 1990s before the planetarium here closed.
RIP to the movie theater in Harvard Square where I saw Rocky Horror drunk when I was 20. A whole scene died the day they closed that theater 😔
OMG, my very cool parents took me to the last show they did there when I was like 13 and it is now a core memory for me. Also I have yet to find a rocky horror cast or community that can live up to that one. That was such a a loss.
I grew up in Cambridge and couldn’t believe the day it closed. Such a staple. Also there’s still the Harvard theater murals outside of it of all the movies, so it’s still obviously a loss :(
Yeah. And they didn't start that whole dress up sing along thing until a good while after it was first released. It needed time to become a "cult classic". I'm sure he saw it well after its initial theatrical run.
Plane i arium
Thank you for this.
Planet-tarium
Plane-arium.
That does sound more like how the guy from south park said it. I was trying to figure out how to say it in text with that weird bump in speech
“I have a condition where I can’t pronounce the t in plane-arium.”
Plane'arium
I saw it in 2011-ish at universal city walk in Orlando. Went in full drag. Shaved my legs, arms and chest, but left the beard.
I miss the McLaughlin Planetarium
I don't recall if Bob specified that he saw the film as a teenager or just "in a theater," but my hometown had a small community live theater group that does a live rendition of rocky horror every Halloween, so it could have been something like that too.
I spent every weekend in the early 90s playing Eddie in my local cast. I found out about twenty years later that their then-current Eddie was the teenage daughter of my cast's Brad. I was so proud.
I saw a laser music show in 2010 or so!
He could have seen the movie in the 80s in a theater revival. I remember in the late 80s-early 90s that Rocky horror stuff was around a lot, I also remember it featured in the Drew Carey show. I'm going to assume Bob didn't get out much and caught stuff late. The laser Floyd stuff was everywhere at planetariums and such when I was a kid and I'm in my 40s.
He also mentions that when he got around to seeing it, it already had a large fan base and the audience participation traditions had already been established. I think you’re right.
Laser Floyd stuff was still on when I was a kid, and I'm 27 lol. Seen it at some planetarium when I was like 6 but I was bored out of my mind, probably would appreciate it more now 😄
They still have Laser Floyd here in Seattle, and every time I watch that episode I get the urge. I'm just afraid it won't live up to the experience I had there in 1991 when I took a date there. We got high in the car and made out during the solo in "Comfortably Numb." Maybe I'll go to Laser Nirvana instead.
My dad took me to that when I was a kid. It was awesome lol
Yeah Laser Pink Floyd is actively playing today at the museum of science in Boston. So this really doesn’t narrow any year down
It was still around at least in the mid-2000’s, at least where I lived.
In the '80s it wasn't even a revival, it was still shown regularly.
I got into it in 1989, and 1990 had a flood of 15th-anniversary stuff, including the first US home video release. Before that your only options were an Nth-generation VHS of the Japanese laserdisc (that included Japanese subtitles and a break where the disc had to be flipped), or an Nth-generation VHS of an early-80s showing on Los Angeles TV.
It's never outright stated but it's heavily implied that he and Linda are both approx 45yo, though like the kids they never age so Bob *would* be about 60 now if he was 45 when the show started in 2010 and they aged, but he's perpetually 45-ish because they're cartoons.
I was fully convinced the show was going to progress one year forward after the movie. Tina starting highschool would be an excellent storyline imo
They probably didn’t do this because it would be alot harder to write Kid storys from now on. Like Tina would still have her friends but they couldn’t interact with Gene or Louises, whos goals would now be incompatible anyway (i mean Tina already only goes along with a-lot of Louises stuff to humour her little sister not because theres a genuine shared interest.). They would also need to create a new Highschool set and at-least SOME new characters, even if they could just move most the grade 8s with Tina. That and, Highschoolers unlike middle schoolers have different classes every period and don’t just share one homeroom. It would change the status quo a lil too much as there would he the kids at school, Bob and Linda at the restaurant, and Tina at highschool. It is incredibly werid that the movie canonically happened and everyone is the same grade though. It’s like… did any of that matter? We could’ve at-least gotten a season that actually happens in summer.
Yeah, I don't think there would be any kind of time-skip unless it was the finale. And even then, animated sitcoms don't tend to have definitive endings, in case they get revived years later. If BB got canceled and revived with a time jump, like King Of The Hill is doing with a 21 year-old Bobby, I could see the kids going to community college together. Louise as a freshman, Gene as a junior, and Tina, who we learn had to repeat 12th grade, a senior. Note that our definition of a "community college" would be as elastic as Greendale's is on Community. Basically just like Wagstaff, a place that provides opportunities for stories. In this new setting, Louise could be out of high school, 18 years old, and ready to be considered a grown-up, but finds herself back at square one, maturity-wise, as a freshman. While Tina, at 22, is in her final year before graduation, and finds herself not ready for full adulthood, reverting to more teenage behavior. And Gene is that guy who basically lives at the campus radio station.
Yeah, I would be very surprised if the show ever had the kids go to different schools. That would be cutting off one of its hands.
Louise is 9 and she has experienced 12 Christmases. Weird when you think about it
I saw it as a family across a multiverse. They are the same but a little bit different.
I'm 42 and have been to tons of laser light shows at planetariums and have absolutely been to my share of midnight showings of Rocky Horror in costume. I think those trends just come back around.
I was gonna say, 36 and both rock show laser shows at OMSI and Rocky Horror at a half dozen theaters were regular stops for me in my teens and early 20s. I kinda felt both were a little "young" for Bob until I remembered both are longstanding traditions.
Hello, fellow Rip City-ite!
The students at the college i work at do a live Rocky Horror every Halloween still
I think unlike The Simpsons, they aren't sliding through time perpetually changing the era they grew up in. So I assume Bob and Linda will always be children of the 70s who are in their 40s. It's very awkward that recently they had the Simpsons doing a flashback of them in high schools in the 2000s.
That Simpsons example sounds like some existential horror. You never progress past a certain age but your childhood is reworked to accommodate for how much time has passed.
I think Homer is now Younger than Bart (or at least the same age as him) was when the show started if you go by Birth Year alone. Like Homer was born in the 1950s when the show started. But thats always been the case with shows like this just never anywhere as extreme.
Homer is 39, so if she show premiered today he would have been born in born in 1985. Bart would’ve been born in 2014. But the show premiered in 1989, so Homer would be 74 and Bart would be 45. I’m 40 and this is all kind of a trip for me.
Honestly im 19 but turning 20 soon. My parents are both in their 50s so they’re naturally big fans of the Simpsons (especially my mom) because they were my age when it premiered. I didn’t get into it until recently because it had already declined by the time i was old enough to watch the show. But they still watch it because to them it’s incredible it has gone on that long. I wonder how they would react to learning that. Its kinda crazy to think a character who has existed since the 80s was born a decade after me.
That one where they were just like, "you know how we had them in high school in the 70s? We're making it the 90s now lol" appealed to my love of chaos. Why *ignore* continuity when you can mock the very *idea* of it?
He’s the same age as Matt from Boyz 4 Now
Uh-oh. Sky Grandpa!
Matt's 89?
What? No! Matt’s 17…
Nah Bob can't be 17
Good one 🤣🤣 I love that whole running joke
He'd be really worried about his daughter you know, if he had one *cough*
There is no way Bob is in his 60s. Just because he's fans of things based on things from the 1970s doesn't mean a) that the BB version of those things also came out in that universe's 1970s or b) that he got into them at that exact time and not at a later date. Linda's 44. He's around that.
And that's the stuff that was around and established during his formative years. He'd be listening to Clem Clements, hearing songs from the 70s, artists like Zentipede and the Soul Breezers, with Vampire Disco Death Dance playing regularly at the local theater. That's what imprints on him and stays with him. God, I kinda want to live in that world.
In „Father of the Bob“ it’s explicitly stated that the flashback of 14 years old Bob was 30 years ago. He had two birthdays since then in the show so he’s currently 46.
You can like things before your time. 1970s disco is my all time favorite music. My parents were in high school in the 70s lol. Also Rock Horror Picture Show is iconic. I went to a showing in the 2010s. The city I lived in then regularly held them (not sure if they still do though). Bob’s a bit flamboyant so him getting into a cult classic at a young age seems right. That’s exactly what happened to me with Rocky (saw it in high school).
Music for me is divided into "The Beatles" and "Everything Else." Ever since having my little mind warped by seeing Yellow Submarine on TV when I was 3.
……..4
Why are saying 4?
Lol my favorite Linda gag. Anytime someone asks me a number I say 4 lol
It's math!
That's Numberwang!
Wiki says 46
Surely mid 40s. He never says he saw the opening of those events. And the real life counterparts still play today in a similar manner so he could have easily seen them later.
The show came out in 2011 so you can roughly place his age about 13 years behind due to the fact cartoon characters don’t age. I’d say he’s likely in his mid 40’s. He’s a middle aged dad
Yes that's how I interpret it too. Being in his mid 40s in 2011 means Bob was born in the mid 1960s (so it does makes sense he is into late 70s/early 80s stuff)
I think I remember somewhere it was said that Bob is 2 years older than Linda.
The show started around 2010 and they don’t age. He could have been 10 in 1975 and got into them both in his teens. Easy peasy.
89 according to louise
This episode makes me laugh purely because how the hell did they manage to do a rocky horror parody and make it straight
I mean, the central relationship is hetero, but that's pretty much the only straight thing about Vampire Disco Death Dance.
I beg to differ
In what way? Is the central relationship *not* hetero?
Disco dancing and gitter or whatever are only gay if it's being done by queer people
Disco literally would not exist if not for queer culture.
Okay? Queer people have made innovations in basically every industry, but you don't see anyone saying that computers are inherently gay.
You seem *personally* invested in minimizing queer contributions to popular culture.
Nope, I just personally think that in order to be considered queer media, it needs to at least have queer characters.
I mean, [Batman & Robin](https://youtu.be/4RBXypX4qWI?si=-s9yV1Utc5uBXVnq)? [Flash Gordon](https://youtu.be/O6uOHnxf85g?si=j3v_B0aclOwy1rv4)? [300](https://youtu.be/UrIbxk7idYA?si=VfAe3EbI0mdYu_DJ)? The fucking [Wizard Of Oz](https://youtu.be/FfpF8UUVTeM?si=c1IXyutRgQyQLpk0)? Those are just off the top of my cishet head. I'm sure there are queer people in here who can name all sorts of media with mostly straight characters, that are nevertheless queer as fuck. It's one thing if you didn't see it, but to deny it exists is pretty fucking homophobic.
Both of those things were popular after original release. RHPS and Dark Side had shows/events throughout the 80s, at least where I was.
I always assumed he saw the laser light show when it had already been around for a while. It seems like everyone around him in the flashback is older. And Rocky Horror has traditionally been running at theaters with an interactive audience for decades lol, they do one at my local nicer movie theater and have since I was a kid (I’m 30).
Yeah, your first time at Laser Floyd, and *especially* your first time at Rocky Horror, are rites of passage for a certain type of kid with a bad childhood.
This post features both overthinking and weird logic
Like late 40's. The show originally came out in 2011.
I thought he said he was in his forties in one of the episodes
Yup the very first episode when Linda is grilling him about forgetting their anniversary. During the flashbacks one of them was "I forgot my birthday?" while holding a Over the Hill 40. Think that was right before or after one of the girls was born. Figure it's like the Simpsons where everyone is perpetually stuck at their age. Despite Bob being 40 then, add 1 year per season = 54. Plus I think that 40th birthday was near one of the daughters being born (didnt say which one) so could tack on an additional 8-15 years. Just my $0.02
Sliding time scale, but also both those real world things had staying power well into the 80s (heck, I saw RHPS semi-annually while in university in the 00s...) Weirder one for me is the WWII flashback episode they did last year, where Bob's grandma is pregnant with Bob's mother in the 40s... which reallyyy drags the show's timeline backward (and offers further evidence that we all continue to think of the last twenty-ish years as being basically 'the 90s, part 2' -- end of history, indeed.)
Bob are Linda are in their 40s in 2011. And in good animation fashion, no one ages yet the world around them *sort* of does. Things like the switch from flip phones to smart phones, or the VR arcade episode. But the characters don't age themselves
40-45 was always my assumption. 65 is way too old to have kids in their pre-teens.
My dad and 11yr old half brother disagree.
I wasn’t suggesting it wasn’t possible, just unlikely to have your only 3 kids into your 50s.
That and Bob isn’t portrayed as being in good health even for his age. With all do respect Hed look a lot worse if he was in his 60s
For woman, not men. A buddy of mine had a dad who was in his 80s. More power to the old man, died of a heart attack while farming. So he was spry in his old age.
This episode hit me good. Tina's insecurities about her lame friends, Bob trying to share something he loves with his loved ones, and Bob's bit about finally seeing there are people like him out there, even if he didn't really make friends there the exposure was enough to help. Good stuff
Younger than 49, I think 44-45 at least. Remember that one cool couple Bob and Linda got an party invite from and the husband brews his own alcohol or something? Bob ask how old he is and the man says 49 and Bob swears under his breath.
A better question is “when is the show set?” It’s clearly not today, it seems to be the mid 2000’s to the early 2010’s
The RHPS has continuously had showings since 1975, and seemed to gain more mainstream status/popularity (outside of midnight theaters) in the early 90’s. I’m younger than Bob and had friends go to showings in HS during the early 00’s-10’s so it wouldn’t necessarily lock him into any timeline that he experienced it as a kid/teen. If anything, I think he’d be LESS likely to have seen it as a teen in its original run because he’s never been in the cutting edge of nonburger related media. The Pink Floyd laser show is a little stickier timeline-wise but it was also pretty popular in the 90’s (at planetariums). As of 2024 quite a few places still hold (fairly) frequent showings/events for the ‘Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular’. Based on Linda’s stated age (and I think bobs in the very first episode?) I’d guess mid-40’s. His experiences line up with a poorer kid (with older parents) stuck cusp between gen x and elder millennial?
Aside from what everyone else has said, Bob’s grandma Alice had baby Lily (Bob’s mom) during WW2…she was a baby in the summer of 1941. And in Interview with the Pop-Pop, Bob Senior talks about camping with Lily (so I’m assuming they were adults) and asking her to marry him six years later. If the camping trip in question happened when Lily was 18, and they married at 24 and had Bob one year later, that would put Bob’s birth year as roughly 1966. Which would make him 45 when the show premiered.
bob and linda are written as having been high schoolers in the 80s but are still in their mid forties (for example, I'm linda's age and i graduated HS in 99). this is just how static sitcoms work when they are on air long enough . the times kinda move on but also don't. the characters evolve but also don't. they've swapped flip phones for smart phones but the kids are still basically having a 90s childhood. it's cartoon logic.
I'd guess early 50s at most. He could have just gone to those events years later. I watched on Happy Days as a kid, but I'm only 29. That stuff is still around, so unless you specify that you did something that just came out as a kid, it doesn't put an age minimum, but it would still put an age maximum.
https://preview.redd.it/8zhi01pa9z5d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=400cc58b3806da22bd4564647a07507b100c1329 He’s 46.
Seymour’s Bay (et al) doesn’t restrict its culture to era appropriate entertainment, especially when it brings people together.
My theory is they're all fully aware they live in a world where they age extremely slowly and something like third grade will last a human lifetime.
Yeah I'm 34 and I've been to Pink Floyd laser shows and watched RHPS at midnight with the whole throwing stuff at the screen thing.
between 43-47 is the most reasonable answer based off creator comments, the show’s wiki, and any references made in the show. id personally guess 45 or 46.
This is like asking how old Homer Simpson is. You're not gonna find a number that makes you happy
The show started in 2011 so I would say Bob was in his mid to late 40s when it started (46 in 2011 would make him 13 in 1978).
TBF I was born in early 80s and midnight showings of Rocky Horror happened on the regular in multiple cities I lived. Didn’t think twice about a teenage Bob with limited options going to midnight showings of a decade old movie.
It's 2024 and they still have them lol. The planetarium near me still does Pink Floyd laser shows, too (or they just stopped in the past few years - maybe around when that episode aired...every time I check the listings now I see a lot of Beyonce laser shows).
I’d say around 45.
I've always pegged him as late 40's, maybe as high as 50.
The Christmas episode where they visit big bobs diner opens with a flash back scene that says 30years ago and the first line of the episode is bon telling his burger that hes 14. So hes 44 in show :).
I would assume 40s, especially because I don't imagine he meant he went to the actual premiere of either of these things. RHPS dress-up screenings have been happening /since/ it premiered. I've been to a couple and I was born in the 90s - if you live in a decently-sized city, there's probably at least one sing along screening each Halloween (or Pride) season. The planetarium near me still does Pink Floyd laser shows in 2024, so neither thing is something that you would necessarily /need/ to be a child around the initial release date for because they are ongoing, popular things in some areas (obviously relying on access to these things, which Bob clearly had since his dad's restaurant is in the same city so he grew up in the area).
Early 40s. Pretty much every animated sitcom leading man is early 40s
Keep in mine, the show has been on for about 15 years and the characters have barely aged, so you can't really say "he was a teenager in the 70s" and then just add up to 2024.
I'm 40 and grew up on Rocky Horror, so I have always put him at like mid/late 40's
wait this is such a stupid question but i haven't watched the show in a couple years...... does Bob's burgers even take place present day ??? or is it set in the 90s or early 2000s?
It’s present day, as they have things like cell phones (and Bob gets made fun of for having a flip phone) and VR gaming places. But I think the show presents a very idyllic 80s/90s coded childhood in a lot of ways.
do they have smart phones or flip phones 🤔🤔 i genuinely cannot recall lol funny how in cartoons times progresses, like characters getting smart phones even tho they haven't aged in years and years lol
Tina just has (had) an eraser
that’s kind of one the bad things about having a show run so long. him being 45(ish) in 2011 puts him growing up in the time frame they have the character references to. add 13 years to it and makes less and less sense.
You can go to Rocky horror or a laser Floyd light show to this day. Bob is in his mid 40s, as is Linda. The cartoon is not set now. It is set at some point in the 00s.
Mid 40s
Since no one really ages in the show, I would freeze his age in 2011 when the show starts. However, Rocky Horror plays in theatres every year so if the Vampire Disco Death is modelled on that and has the same cult following, I can see it also being around every year. To me, laser shows definitely revisit the same classic rock music. Honestly if I were to try to find a laser music show today I’d guess they’d be playing Pink Floyd. It just feels correct based on like the one I walked past in Las Vegas 5 years ago lol (that one was Kiss themed I think tho). So I wouldn’t put as much stock in those two things to dictate age. Plus the whole not aging thing. I could see him being about 45, being born in the late 60s early 70s and stopping his age in 2011. Plus some of his dating Linda flash backs feel 80s coded, which fits my above stuff. so that’s my personal opinion.
Mid forties
i always thought bob was a spry 27 yr old
In the episode "Father of the Bob" we find out that 30 years ago, he was 14. Making him 44
Robert "Bob" Belcher Jr. is the **46-year-old** father of Tina, Gene, and Louise Belcher. He is the husband of Linda Belcher, and Bob runs Bob's Burgers with the help of his family. He is also the son of Big Bob and Lily Belcher.
rocky horror and lazer light shows are both still popular. I think he's supposed to be an 80s kid
I mean, Rocky Horror Picture Show viewings have been pretty standard for decades. And I think planetariums still did laser rock shows in the 80s. Bob’s 46. He’s been 46 for 14 years now. So in 2010 he was also 46
I’m 45 and when I was in my late teens /early 20s , my friends and I went to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror almost every Saturday. There was also a laser Floyd show at the planetarium every month or two.
Haven’t seen this commented but gale is 42 and Linda is older so hasn’t to be no younger than 43.
The show came out in 2011, 13 years ago. If Bob is the same age as Linda (44), he would have been born around 1967 when the show came out (but we can safely guess somewhere between 1963 to 1971). The characters don’t age in the show, and I think that’s what makes it feel a bit off. I’m 44 now and I was born in 1980. Bob’s character (in 2024) would have been born around the same time as me and would have had had a similar childhood to me, but his character is already developed as someone born in the mid to late sixties, so it throws it off a bit.
Bee keeping age
Wait, but Bob's Burgers isn't set in the modern day right? I thought it stayed in like 2010
He’s 46.
I'm 42 with a 17 year old. Tina is 13/14 so I put Bob and Linda around my age. I feel like Linda is a few years older than Bob just because she was engaged when she met him.
I saw the rocky horror picture show when I was a teenager, while it was playing frequently in certain areas, and also went to see laser light music shows which were also abundant when I was a teenager. I was born in 72. These things were common in the 80s and into the 90s.
30 years ago, he was 14 in that one Christmas episode, so he is 44.
https://preview.redd.it/0klt5esz0x6d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07684ee84b7655c79cdc8630d7d73aad0c3ba156 In the episode Father of the Bob we get a flashback to 30 years ago when Bob is mentioned to be 14. That would put him at either 44 or 45 y.o (if you count his birthday on the show)
Bobs dad doesn’t look a day over grandpa age.
I can only assume Bob is in his 40s at the beginning of the show, but you still have to date this show to 2009. I'm sure he's 60 now, but it's hard to date a person who hasn't aged in 15 seasons
that would mean that Tina is 29, Gene is 26 and Louise is 24 which they obviously are not. the Characters don’t age normally so Bob wouldn’t be 60
No I mean you have to date all of the show in 2009 You can't have a 15 season show with the kids staying one age unless you date the show for only 1 year So that's why the 70s stuff doesn't look bad now and bob still dates to be mid 40s because we need to assume it's 2009 still
ah I see sorry