The world of adult-animated shows is a wild one. What began as a seemingly innocent attempt to bring families together with The Simpsons, by utilizing more subtle humor and elegant humor that grown-ups could enjoy without scarring the children for life, soon blew up into controversial and laugh-out-loud shows like Family Guy and South Park. No two animated shows directed towards adults are the same, and loving one doesn’t have to mean hating all others.
Bob’s Burgers isn’t quite like anything else on television. It has a special kind of humor that’s been compelling fans to watch it and love it for eight years now. And while its humor is far from relying on the cheaper and outright offensive remarks that are a staple for most animated shows, it’s not without fault either. Let’s take a look at ten jokes from Bob’s Burgers that have already aged poorly.
Gayle Loves Bob
This ongoing gag that Gayle has a huge crush on Bob is kind of…weird? We’re sure that this might be an attempt of art imitating life when it comes to love triangles, but one that involves your sister-in-law just doesn’t feel right. Gayle’s craziness, in general, is a bit of a tough pill to swallow, and her obsession with Bob makes it even harder to watch.
Some of her lines trying to seduce him strive to be funny, but often fall flat. She wants him to stare at her naked body and keeps making uncomfortable remarks that honestly don’t add anything to an otherwise extremely entertaining show.
“Is It Possible To Be In Love With 25 People At Once?”
Bob’s Burgers wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for the character of Tina. She’s a hormonal mess that serves as the major comedic source out of the entire array of characters. And 99% of the time, it’s pretty hilarious. Some other times, it can get a little bit uncomfortable for viewers.
This discomfort stems from the fact that Tina is still a child. And her sexual awakening is visible through lines like “is it possible to be in love with 25 people at once” makes us cringe quite a bit. Take it easy, girl!
“That’s Nice. Maybe We Should Cook Meth”
In the episode “Bob Fires The Kids” we see the young members of the family going off on their own after Bob fires them so they can have a normal summer. They eventually get bored and find work on a farm which turns out to be a marijuana farm, and they get to work there, becoming accomplices to a drug-dealing operation.
This is not the first time we see the kids thinking about going into the drug business. Back in the first episode of the third season, Louise drops this gem of a line - “maybe we should cook meth”. Maybe you should stay in school?
“I’m So High”
We’re not going to pick apart an animated adult show because they decide to bring up drugs. That’s just a standard plot point for pretty much every sitcom in the world. But the way it was done in the episode “Burguer Bob” does make some eyebrows raise since it depicts Bob popping pills like it’s nothing while hanging with a bunch of kids.
The worst part is that Bob gets so high he tries to beat up some of the kids. Now, drug abuse is already pretty bad as it is. But combine that with attempting to knock out children, and we have a problem.
“I Call It The Child Molester, It Comes With Candy”
If you’re going to write a show that involves a family running a burger joint, then you’ll obviously have to come up with a few jokes here and there that involve burgers. And you can get pretty funny without having to take an inappropriate route! Which is not the case for this particular burger.
We’re talking about that one time where we were introduced to the child molester. And guess what? It came with candy. Because child molesters use candy to lure in little kids. And that’s hilarious!
“You Won’t Get Molested, You’re Heavy”
Talk about a two-in-one inappropriate joke! This whole exchange is just a major no-no. From the name of the burger to the inclusion of candy, and the presence of a man that “looks like a child molester” in the restaurant, everything just screams no. But what really drives the point home is what follows the introduction of the burger.
Bob urges Gene to serve the man, to which he replies “why do I have to be molested?”. The answer? “You won’t get molested, you’re fat”. They could at least have left it at the burger. This whole sentence just makes hearts ache.
“I Just Kissed My First Boy! Me Too!”
In a world where media outlets are still learning how to treat transgender people as human beings as opposed to punchlines and the subject of offensive jokes, the introduction of three transgender sex-workers to the show was a breath of fresh air. And in general, Bob’s Burgers looked like it was going to do a good job.
That was, of course, up until Tina kisses a boy at her birthday party and yells out “I just kissed my first boy!”. One of the boys at the party, who was flirting with one of the three women, says “me too”. Misgendering people is not okay. It’s not funny. It’s hurtful and offensive, and by now, we should all know better.
“You’re The Worst Kind of Autistic”
Many fans of the show have been speculating for years whether or not Tina is on the autism spectrum, pointing to things like difficulty in lying, emotional breakdowns, and an apparent lack of awareness in regards to social situations as proof of the matter. This has never been confirmed or denied, so there’s no saying whether or not it’s true.
Regardless of that, this line said by Louise is horrible. It occurs when Gene is trying to prove Tina is autistic by dropping toothpicks on the floor, which she gets wrong twice. “You’re the worst kind of autistic” belittles people who are in the autism spectrum in an extremely hurtful - and unnecessary - way.
“Transvestites”
Over the course of the episode when the three transgender women are introduced, they keep being referred to as “transvestites”. This happens even after an exchange where they say “When it’s time for you to blossom into a woman, you can’t let anything stop you…not a town full of doctors who refuse to remove your penis”, which clearly indicates the women want to undergo sexual reassignment surgery.
The constant use of this term over the course of the episode is wrong and offensive towards transexual people since it does not depict them as women, and rather men who dress as women.
Butts
This one isn’t as much as being offensive, but more about just being old, period. And, at this point, kind of boring. If you’ve ever watched the show, then you know that Bob’s Burgers has a pretty weird fixation with butts in general. The closeups, the mentions, an entire episode dedicated to it…
We get it, the showrunners are really into butts. But we’ve pretty much had enough with all the butt references, the episodes, and the closeups. Move on, it got old.
