Another
new Andrew Rannells project! I love Bob’s Burgers, and it was fun to have
Rannells, along with a few other notable Broadway voices, guest-starring on
this delightful episode.
When
heartthrob Boo Boo leaves the boy band Boyz 4 Now, auditions for his
replacement are held locally. Tina runs
into a boy on the street heading to the auditions and is convinced they’re
soulmates, so she disguises herself as a boy and sneaks into the convention
center (no girls are allowed in) to find him.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family falls in love with a baby rat they’ve
been tasked with taking care of.
I’ll start
with the rat stuff, which fits nicely into the Bob’s Burgers wheelhouse of kind of gross but still weirdly
endearing. Linda making the rat a tiny
table out of a bottle cap is funny, Louise naturally does a bad job of
pretending to be indifferent to its cuteness, and I love how sincerely Bob
says, “I like the rat more than any of you.”
But the
real joy here is definitely Tina and the boy band auditions. The episode sets up a good conflict for her,
struggling to stay true to her latest crush while surrounded by cute boys and
their butts, and it’s no surprise to say she finds it a challenge. I love how she starts fantasizing at the drop
of a hat, and I like how her fantasies are so clearly fueled by rom-com tropes
(the guy friend who’s always been there for her after the popular jerk lets her
down, the arrogant tool she shares love/hate chemistry with at the office, her
boyfriend’s best friend who’s been quietly pining for her.)
Even
better, all these daydreams are in song.
I love Bob’s Burgers’s musical
episodes anyway, and when you throw in some Broadway actors playing the objects
of Tina’s affection, it is on. Rannells is joined by fellow Book of Mormon alumni Josh Gad (Elder
Cunningham) and Rory O’Malley (Elder McKinley,) along with Daveed Diggs
(America’s favorite fighting Frenchman/no more Mister Nice President!) All three are a delight in their roles. I’d say O’Malley gets the best song, Diggs
gets the funniest scenario, and I’m most impressed by Gad; his singing is
typically pretty hammy, but he plays it straighter here. (Side note: this must've been Broadway night on FOX, because Jonathan Groff also appeared as a guest star on The Simpsons!)
And, of
course, Rannells. He plays Hayden,
another of Tina’s insta-crushes. We know
almost nothing about him as a character, since the brunt of his screentime is
in a fantasy, but that’s okay, because it’s awesome. While the other three guys all have great
fantasies/songs, this one is my favorite.
Yes, biased, I know, but it’s also just super fun. It features a tag-team with Gad, which
conjures up Mormon memories, the
scenario Tina dreams up for Hayden is awesomely ridiculous, and the song
features some delightfully-Bob’s Burgers
naughty space puns.
Very
funny, obviously, and Rannells absolutely nails the boy-band sound in his voice. Also, while he only has a couple lines of
non-sung dialogue, it stills sounds like he’s doing a voice of some kind. I appreciate that – even though Rannells has
a pretty animation-friendly voice anyway, he still adjusts it to the
character/scenario.
Recommend?
In
General
– Sure. Bob’s Burgers is a fantastically odd show, and this is an
entertaining episode. Plus, Broadway
actors!
Andrew
Rannells
– I would. Even though it’s a small one,
it’s still really funny, and the singing is excellent.
Warnings
Crude
humor and mild sensuality (Tina really likes butts.)
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