Everything's Better with Bob

""You... are my number one... guy!""

- The Joker to, well, Bob, Batman



Similar in nature to Doomy Dooms of Doom, Everything's Better With Bob is the way the name Bob seems to come up a lot in comedy, either as a punchline or as a common replacement name. Bonus points if someone happens to be named Billy Bob, in which case they are probably from the Deep South.

Bob is evidently an automatically humorous name. This is at least partially because it's so aggressively mundane to Western ears that it's funny in any context that's the least bit out of the ordinary. The effect is only enhanced if he works in accounting, or if he happens to be your uncle. It also helps that it's very short (one recognized characteristic of Inherently Funny Words) and that when you spell it backwards you still get "Bob."

Compare Alice and Bob (or Aerith).

Advertising

 * There was a series of faux outtake-style commercials for the Digimon Adventure dub that aired during the Myotismon arc. One had 'Izzy' stumbling over Kabuterimon's name until he finally Facepalms and asks "Can we just call him Bob?"
 * Little Bobdog, whose cartoony face adorns many a box of candy, T-shirt and stationery set across Asia.
 * In Belgium and the Netherlands the designated driver is commonly called BOB.
 * Bob From Accounting vs. the Orgg.
 * Bob, or Smilin' Bob, is the guy in the Enzyte male enhancement product commercials.
 * The never-heard Bob from Accountemps always makes everything better for Mr. Fernwell and Nurlman in a long-running series of Radio ads for the accountants' temp agency.

Anime and Manga

 * In Full Metal Panic!, during the "Toybox" arc of the first season, there was a part where Gauron was shown massacring a bunch of Mithril soldiers. One of the soldiers is heard to be screaming, "Bob! BOB!! Damn him! How dare he hurt Bob?!" Originally meant to be dramatic and scary, most of the feedback and comments on this part were of people laughing at how Narmtacular it was, since they apparently couldn't take it seriously when the guy was named "Bob". Let's face it - Bob is just a funny name to a lot of people.
 * It probably doesn't help that it sounded like "Bobo" in Japanese, either.
 * In Pokémon 2000, Ash Ketchum must save the world because a prophecy says that if The Chosen One named Ash doesn't, then the world will be destroyed. At that time, he wishes that his mother named him "Bob" instead.

Comic Books

 * Subverted in the Chick Tracts in that Bob is a preacher who "retells" the Bible stories with a bit of his own embellishment and preaches damnation versus salvation ONLY through Jesus Christ in some tracts.
 * X-Men member Bobby Drake aka Iceman.

Film
"Joker: You...are my number one...guy!"
 * Bob the Goon from Batman. Talk about an Ensemble Darkhorse....

"Akima: You can't call a planet "Bob." Cale: So now you're the boss. You're the King of Bob. Akima: Can't we just call it "Earth"? Cale: No one said you have to live on Bob. Akima: I'm never calling it that."
 * Silent Bob from The View Askewniverse.
 * The Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate (B.O.B.) of Monsters vs. Aliens.
 * Planet Bob from Titan A.E..


 * Caption: EARTH 2.0 (aka Planet Bob)

"Ali Baba: These are my brothers, Hummus, Couscous, and Bob. Calvin: Well, at least he's not named after food. Ali Baba: Bob, short for Kabob."
 * In the beginning of The Mummy Trilogy, "Abdul? Mohammed? ...Bob?"
 * Bob Roberts is a fictional politician depicted in the eponymous mockumentary by Tim Robbins.
 * Algren dubs the silent samurai who is assigned to guard him "Bob" in The Last Samurai.
 * One half of the Twins from Men in Black, the other's name being an unintelligible squawk.
 * In Mirror Mask, all the Monkeybirds are called Bob. Well, except one.
 * In A Kid In Aladdin's Palace we have this exchange:


 * What About Bob
 * In The Hole there's Frankie's clearly made up friend Bob (and his girlfriend Sally) who owns a ferrari and apparently one night heard about an escaped killer on the loose on the radio...
 * Old BOB (BiO-sanitary Batallion) from The Black Hole.
 * In Terminator 2, John Connor comes up with "Uncle Bob" as an alias for the T-800 Terminator.

Literature

 * In the "Prancing Pony Inn" sequence of The Lord of the Rings, there's a throwaway mention of a bumpkin stable boy named Bob, who was probably the most inconsequential and plainest-named character in the entire Tolkien mythos. How's that for non-notability?
 * The fact that he directly aids and interacts with the pre-Fellowship makes him pretty damn notable in the grand scheme of things (in Middle Earth), though.
 * In the Bruce Coville story "My Little Brother Is A Monster", part of the Bruce Coville's Book Of Monsters anthology, it's mentioned that in the secret language of monsters, Bob means 'the sound of a large dog puking.'
 * The Lamuellans from Mostly Harmless worship the Almighty Bob, mostly because Old Thrashbarg, who is their shaman or whatever, says they have to, and it seems easiest to humour him.
 * Harry Dresden "inherits" a powerful knowledge spirit bound inside an ancient skull from his adopted father. Out of dozens of masters over hundreds of years, Harry is the first person to give the spirit a name. His name? Bob the Skull.

Live-Action TV
"Blackadder: What's your name, boy? Boy: Kate Blackadder: Kate? That's an unusual name for a boy. Boy: Oh, it's short for...um.. Bob."
 * Bob!
 * "Hi, Bob!"
 * Bob and Doug McKenzie
 * There were not one, but two characters named Bob in Blackadder (both of whom were Females in disguise).

"J.D.: You go by your first name? Dr. Bob: Nope! First name's Fred! J.D.: ...Fred Bob?"
 * One of the best examples in terms of Bob As Inherently Funny Word, thanks to Rowan Atkinson's unique delivery.
 * This is actually an example of Throw It In, as Rowan Atkinson has a stammer and that's just how he says "Bob".
 * Bob, the dyslexic friend of the titular characters in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
 * He is BOB! Eager for fun! He wears a smile! Everybody run!
 * In Scrubs, Dr. Bob the Hematopathologist.

"Giles: There's something... different about this... menace, something in the air... The stench of death. Xander: Yeah, I think it's Bob."
 * There was also a deceased patient named Bob. Complete with Carla pantomiming the name by bobbing her head back and forth.
 * What's got two thumbs and doesn't give a crap? Bob Kelso.
 * The Fan Nickname for Benton Fraser's father in Due South is dead!Bob.
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer - graveyard scene in "The Zeppo":


 * There's also Principal Flutie stating that he prefers it when students call him Bob, which Buffy does, and then he sees her previous school report and insists she call him Principal Flutie.
 * Bob Bishop from Heroes. He always introduced himself (or was introduced) as the head of the Company, followed by "I'm Bob."
 * From Doctor Who: Sacred Bob, a Church Militant Cleric facing the Weeping Angels.
 * Who later became Angel Bob.
 * In Stargate Atlantis, Sheppard dubs the toughest Wraith he had yet faced, "Bob".
 * In Friends Phoebe decides to name the rat that keeps coming to her apartment Bob. When she finds out he's a girl, she says she likes Bob as a girl's name.
 * Nick at Nite's 1993 Marathon of The Bob Newhart Show -- Better Living Through Bob.

Music
"Jesus' brother Bob, Jesus' brother Bob A nobody relative of the son of God If only I'd been born just a little sooner I'd be more than the brother of God Junior"
 * Arrogant Worms: "I once had a dog named Bob/Now Bob's a funny name for a dog/If you ever have a dog don't name him Bob"
 * Don't forget Jesus' Brother Bob:


 * The Jimmy Buffett song "Bob Roberts Society Band"
 * Sparks have a song called "Here Comes Bob" about a man who crashes his car to meet new people.

Newspaper Comics

 * Used constantly in Pearls Before Swine.
 * In commentary Stephen Pastis wrote, "Bob is a funny word. It has two b's (b is a funny-sounding letter), it's a palindrome, and it's a verb".
 * Not to mention "Bob" is short and easily fits into the ever shrinking panels of Newspaper Comics.
 * At one time, Garfield befriended three mice who were squatting in his house. Two of them were named after their forebears, but the third, Bob, was named for "the sound his head makes when he runs into the wall".

Stand Up Comedy

 * Bob Newhart - The very embodyment of the everyman trying to deal with all the non-Bobs out there in the world.
 * There's an old joke- What do you call a guy with no arms or legs in the water? Bob. It's a bit tasteless but still a valid example.
 * In a stand-up routine back in the 60's, Bill Cosby insisted that all gas station attendants have their name, "Bob", on their uniform name-tag.

Theater

 * The Reduced Shakespeare Company's performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) involves one of the actors calling the lighting manager 'Bob' because '2/3rds of lighting managers are named Bob' and calling every one of the audience members called up to participate 'Bob'.

Video Games
"Guybrush: [in his pretend voice] Foolish Power Pirate! Your porcelain parts will be sacrificed to, um, Bob, the Lord of the Seas! [switches to a pretend high voice] Arrrr! Me kidneys! [takes the action figure back from the altar]"
 * Bob the Killer Goldfish
 * Bob the Jagex cat and Evil Bob.
 * Bob The Lazy Cat.
 * Billy Bob The Cactus Blob
 * Billy Bob of Space Colony.
 * The beggar Blind Bob in Dreamfall.
 * Billy Bob Johns. Better known as Maximillion Galactica.
 * The infamous Born-on-Boards of Marathon. Comes in panicky Red Shirt and explosive Simulacrum varieties. FROG BLAST THE VENT CORE!
 * Inversion: A lot of EVE Online players think the game would be is better without BoB.
 * B.O.B., a robot who crashes his dad's space-car en route to a date.
 * The B.O.B. (Big-O-Blaster) in Banjo-Tooie.
 * Bob's Pizzeria in Shenmue.
 * Toys for Bob, notable for developing Star Control 1 and 2. An Umgah captain in the second game is called Bob, too.
 * Um...HELLO?
 * Bob-ombs
 * Bob, the fat fighter from Tekken 6. Also BOB, the Fan Nickname for series mainstay Hwoarang.
 * Bob the Ghost.
 * But you can't call me Bob, I'm Murray!
 * Also, in Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1, if the player has Guybrush place a Porcelain Power Pirate Action Figurine on the altar of Flotsam Jungle:


 * Suikoden II has Bob, a werewolf with dreadlocks.
 * Bub and Bob.
 * Uncle Bob, the jovial cop from the Pangya games.
 * The briefing for the Starcraft minigame "Zergling Roundup" features a character named "Billy Bob". Considering the setting involves the Deep South In Space, it's entirely understandable.
 * Bob Wilson from Fatal Fury 3.
 * Bob, one of the Sunset Riders.
 * Bob Newbie, from The Sims.
 * Super Punch-Out!! (the SNES version) has a very obvious Bob Marley-alike named Bob Charlie.
 * In Fallout 2 the character of Harold mentions that the tree growing out of his head is called Herbert. This however turns out to be a joke as it's really called Bob.
 * The voice of the announcer in Guilty Gear X2 is credited as simply "Bob".
 * Bob the Hamster
 * Bob the Killer Snail

Web Comics

 * Bob and George.
 * Bob was there, too.
 * Bob the Angry Flower.
 * Bob from Fletcher Apts
 * The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob, naturally.
 * Bob Cunningham, the main character in TRU-Life Adventures
 * Kevin and Kell has had no fewer than four Bobs over the years. Granted, they're not very important.
 * Bob from Emergency Exit
 * The late, lamented Waiting for Bob.
 * Robert'); DROP TABLE Students; --, a.k.a. Little Bobby Tables.
 * Pretty much every male character in Edible Dirt is named Bob, unless it's someone famous or someone whose name is important to the pun.

Web Original

 * The Everyday Happenings of Weebl (and sometimes Weebl's friend Bob)
 * McNannersBob, the video blogger
 * Eskimo Bob
 * This guy actually named his blog "Everything's Better With Bob".

Western Animation

 * Bob the Builder
 * Sideshow Bob.
 * SpongeBob SquarePants.
 * Bob the Guardian in Re Boot. So named apparently because the producers liked the way Blackadder said the name "Bob". Unless he's a blitter object - a type of Amiga hardware sprite most commonly called a 'Bob'.
 * God, the Devil and Bob
 * The Fairly Odd Parents: in one ep, Timmy pretended to be 'Bob from the Nervous System' and there is a clown/businessman named Flappy Bob.
 * That's the central nervous system!
 * And Elmer's boil, Bob.
 * The Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy episode Dear Ed was about Plank leaving Jonny after an argument, so the Eds make new friends for Jonny. One of them was a traffic cone named Bob. Things seemed to be going well until Jonny and Bob played ping-pong where Bob spiked the ball into Jonny's forehead, where it was lodged.
 * Bob Oblong
 * Bobby Hill from King of the Hill, who even once tried his hand at stand-up comedy.
 * If Bobby is allowed... Bobby Generic, from Bobby's World.
 * And Bobby from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. It seems "Bobby" denotes that the character is very young and perhaps naive.
 * Histeria! has Lucky Bob. Hiyo!
 * Would you like to talk to tomatoes?
 * One of the segments on Ka Blam! showed an extra-terrestrial trying to civilize and modernize a caveman (with little success) entitled Prometheus and Bob. Prometheus is the alien.
 * B.O.B.
 * Bob Parr
 * There is a minor Irken character on Invader Zim named Table-Headed Service Drone Bob---a case of Aerith and Bob, given most Irken (and even human) names on the show.
 * "You can't name a planet Bob!"
 * King Bob, who is even called "Your Bobness".
 * Bob the piñata from The Penguins of Madagascar.
 * "No, that's B.O.B. It stands for "Boy On Bike"; I didn't catch his name!"
 * Helga's dad, "Big Bob" Pataki (the Beeper King), of Hey Arnold! fame.
 * The Mask played around the dangers of putting satanic material in their saturday morning cartoon by having The Devil go solely by the name "Bob". Given the nature of the show, our hero won his soul back by turning into a dozen showgirls.
 * After much prodding from the Muses, the narrator from Disney's Hercules admitted that his name was Bob. Justified in that the narrator was voiced by Robert Stack.
 * One of the Rugrats' many Malapropers was the oft-repeated "Thank Bob!".
 * In As Told by Ginger Macie's psychologist parents are Bobby and Bobbie Lightfoot.
 * One of the Goodfeathers was named Bobby, after Robert De Niro.
 * The hideously deformed Ugly Bob, from South Park.
 * Bob Babble, the game commentator from Mutant League.
 * Bob, one of the Snowrilla's heads on Jimmy Two-Shoes
 * Bob from Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters is among the most powerful monsters in the series. His name is actually Tatsurion the Unchained, but he would up with Bob as a nickname.

Other
"On August 18, Hurricane Bob brushed the coastline of North Carolina, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to the region. Areas along the Atlantic coast in the state recorded up to 5 in (130 mm), with a maximum of 5.3 in (130 mm) falling in Cape Hatteras. One person was killed in the state in relation to Bob and damage from the storm was estimated at $8 million (1991 USD)."
 * Microsoft Bob, the annoying house-themed alternate-user-interface program that became a byword for software flops. It prominently featured "agents," which were the predecessors of the Microsoft Office Assistants. In this case, everything would probably have been better without Bob.
 * It had every assistant but Clippy. Apparently the others weren't annoying enough.
 * J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, pipe smoking icon of the Church of the SubGenius.
 * In Austria, you can even get internet and mobile phone from Bob. Who'd have expected that in Austria.
 * If you fancy visiting the top of Mt. Jungfrau in Switzerland, you will need to use the trains of BOB - the Berner Oberland Bahn.
 * In a game show parody on one of Cheech and Chong's albums, a guy named Bob has to guess his own name.
 * The name Bob is also used in the Bob campaign in the Netherlands and Belgium, to raise awareness against drunk driving. (people there would thereafter often call the designated driver The Bob)
 * Everything is not better with Hurricane Bob. The name makes it hard to read the article with a straight face:

""What's your name?" "Bob." "Get the fuck away!""
 * When the eastern half of Canada's Northwest Territories was separated off into a new territory called Nunavut, there were some unofficial polls as to what to call the remainder. "Northwest Territories" was by far the favourite, but the runner-up was Bob.
 * Another Canadian example: The Edmonton Transit Service runs a series of ads about proper behavior on the bus called "It's All About Bob."
 * Inverted by Mitch Hedberg, who argued that since Thirteen Is Unlucky, so is the letter B, because it looks like a compressed number 13.


 * Deinterlacing videos can be a tricky process. There are several methods for performing it in software, one of the best being a combination of two methods called Bob and Weave according to this site.
 * The Bob Club