Thanksgiving is a big deal on Bob’s Burgers, especially for Bob. Season 10 is once again bringing the heat so let’s look at Bob’s best moment from each.
Everyone has a favorite holiday. Most people point to either Christmas or Halloween but very rarely does anyone say Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s because the holiday almost gets skipped over entirely. On Bob’s Burgers, Thanksgiving is a big deal, especially for Bob Belcher. While it might not be as exciting for everyone else, Bob has mentioned more than once that it’s his favorite holiday.
It’s clear to see why Bob loves Thanksgiving as much as he does. It’s basically a holiday just dedicated to eating and cooking. Even though he runs and works in his own restaurant, he doesn’t mind cooking all of the food. That’s a testament to how much he enjoys Thanksgiving as most of us probably wouldn’t feel the same way.
Every year, something always ends up going wrong. Call it bad luck or just the hand that Bob is dealt. Regardless, a Thanksgiving with the Belchers always involves chaos. In honor of Bob’s love for Thanksgiving though, I figured it’s time to finally show him some appreciation. Since Bob loves Thanksgiving, it’s only right that we pick out his best moment from each episode.
Starting way back in season 3 and spanning until this week’s episode, there is a lot to cover so put on your sweatpants and get ready to look at Bob’s best moment from each of the last 7 Thanksgiving episodes.
Before getting started, there will be spoilers for all of Bob’s Burgers Thanksgiving episodes including season 10’s “Now We’re Not Cooking With Gas.”
Season 3: “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal”
What happened in “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal?”: Season 3 was the first season that began the show’s holiday episodes. Of course, the episode is entitled “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” and what an appriorate name. This episode features the Belchers getting ready for Thanksgiving until their landlord Mr. Fischoeder comes in and asks to “borrow” their family besides Bob so that he can impress an old flame.
Bob reluctantly agrees after Fishoeder agrees to give them free rent for five months. Bob wants to include all of their traditions but things fall apart when the rest of the family gets too deep into their roles and Bob drinks too much absinthe. The episode ends with the Belchers being revealed as decoys and going home to have their own Thanksgiving. Even though this is the show’s first attempt at a Thanksgiving episode, it’s still one of their top-tier episodes.
What was Bob’s best moment from “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal?”: Narrowing down Bob’s best moment from this episode is tough. A few moments stick out to me, but the best is probably when Bob hallucinates that his family and the turkey are in their own version of My Neighbor Totoro. It’s a completely off-the-wall scene but something that only Bob would dream about.
Season 4: “Turkey in a Can”
What happened in “Turkey In A Can?”: Moving ahead to Season 4, this episode could possibly be nominated for the weirdest Thanksgiving episode yet. Regardless, the episode is incredibly sweet and heartwarming at the same time. The episode follows Bob preparing for Thanksgiving by doing a three-day brine on the turkey. Everything is going great until the morning when everyone wakes up to find that the turkey is in the toilet. Much to Bob’s dismay every single day, he tries to keep it from happening.
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Everything goes awry until Thanksgiving when Bob is finally able to cook the turkey. Upon sitting down at the table, he falls asleep and takes the turkey into the bathroom where he sits it down to potty-train it like he did Tina.
In the end, we find out that Bob’s allergy medicine is causing him to sleepwalk and imagine that Tina is the turkey. It’s basically Bob trying to hold on to his little girl after she wants to sit at the adult table.
What was Bob’s best moment from “Turkey In A Can?”: This is already a theme, but Bob has a lot of awesome moments in these episodes. If you’ve watched the episode, then you have no doubt which scene I’m going to pick. After destroying multiple turkeys, Bob goes back to the same grocery store and has a run-in with a worker there who thinks Bob is hitting on him. He even decides that he wants to be with Bob until Bob reveals that he’s “mostly straight” and that the guy should stay with his boyfriend.
For some reason, the scene always cracked me up so I had to include it. While it doesn’t really go along with the plot, it was a fun addition. It gave a bit of comic relief to an otherwise unfortunate week for Bob.
Season 5: “Dawn of the Peck”
What happened in “Dawn of the Peck?”: This is where things start to get a little fuzzy as this episode is another one of the weirdest. The major plotline also features live turkeys and as someone who is deadly afraid of birds, this is an episode I usually avoid. Fear aside, it’s only fair that we talk about what happened in the episode.
“Dawn of the Peck” features the Belchers foregoing a traditional Thanksgiving which Bob claims he’s unbothered by. Instead, Linda and Teddy are going to “Run with the Turkeys” while the kids send the day at Wonder Wharf, having fun. Everything goes awry when the wild turkeys are set loose and start going over the runners while the kids get trapped on a tilt-a-whirl and they can’t get off.
Eventually, the kids are saved by Linda who must eventually save Bob after he heads to the grocery store to get a turkey. After getting surrounded by turkeys, Linda resets the pecking order and become “queen of the peckers.” The episode ends with the family, Teddy and Rudy spending Thanksgiving together.
What was Bob’s best moment from “Dawn of the Peck?”: Surprisingly, this episode has a sore lack of Bob since there’s no real “celebrating” going on for Thanksgiving. That’s why it’s kind of tough to figure out which moment is his best. Personally, his best moment comes when he’s home alone, getting drunk and singing to Donna Summers. It’s rare that we see Bob like that so it was truly a Thanksgiving treat.
Season 6: “Gayle Makin’ Bob Sled”
What happened in “Gayle Makin’ Bob Sled?”: Of all the Thanksgiving episodes, this is one that doesn’t really give off many holiday vibes. Regardless, it was Season 6’s Thanksgiving episode so let’s get into what happened. After a huge snowstorm, Bob is tasked with picking up Gayle for Thanksgiving dinner as Gayle hurt her ankle and Linda doesn’t like to drive in the snow.
Despite trying to get Gayle to hurry, Bob’s car gets trapped so Bob uses a kiddie pool to drag an injured Gayle, her salad and cat to their house. Eventually, Bob figures out that Gayle is faking her injury and the two eventually make to the apartment. While that’s going on, Bob leaves instructions for Linda and the kids to cook Thanksgiving dinner which turns into a disaster with everything fall apart before Bob comes back.
What was Bob’s best moment from “Gayle Makin’ Bob Sled?”: As previously noted, this one doesn’t have really scream Thanksgiving since Bob isn’t cooking the kitchen. However, Bob does have a few noteworthy moments. The moment that stood out most was Bob singing Jazz to Gayle’s cat, Mr. Business to try to get him into a box. It’s such an odd moment but a surprisingly heartwarming one for Bob.
Season 7: “The Quirkducers”
What happened in “The Quirkducers?”: For Season 7, things are a little bit different on Bob’s Burgers. A majority of the episode takes place before Thanksgiving and there is a sore lack of Bob in the episode. Rather than focus on Bob, this episode focuses more on the kids and what they’re doing at school.
To ensure that they get a half-day on Thanksgiving eve, Louise and Gene work together to produce Tina’s Holiday Erotic Friend Fiction. Once they convince Mr. Frond to produce Tina’s play, “The Quirky Turkey,” Louise takes over to try to get them to have a half-day including casting and adding lots of guts and gory to ensure that it happens. Louise explains the plan to Gene which is overheard by Tina.
Tina explains it to the rest of the cast who all agree with Louise’s reasoning for putting on the play. Things go as planned for Louise who understandably feels bad after showering everyone with blood and giblets. Eventually, Louise realizes that she’s wrong and apologizes to Tina with the episode ending as Tina and Jimmy Jr kiss on stage.
What was Bob’s best moment from “The Quirkducers?”: As noted above, there aren’t very many scenes with Bob in this episode. Two stand out to me so both are going to be featured. The first is when Bob decides to make waffles for the kids despite staring off with pancakes since that’s what Gene wanted. It was an unexpectedly sweet moment in the episode. The other is when Bob brings Linda’s Grandpa potato to the kids’ play so he can watch it. Two pretty adorable albeit small moments that featured Bob.
Season 8: “Thanks-hoarding”
What happened in “Thanks-hoarding?”: Of all the Thanksgiving episodes, this one is arguably my favorite of them all. Some might disagree, but there is something special about the Belchers and Teddy spending Thanksgiving together. Serving as Season 8’s Thanksgiving episode, it is one that I rewatch every year when Thanksgiving comes around.
Getting into the episode, the episode begins with Bob getting excited about his own Thanksgiving plans until Teddy explains that he needs Bob’s help. Since it’s the day before Thanksgiving, Bob agrees to help with Bob and Teddy getting all the food ready while Linda and the kids tackle de-hoarding Teddy’s apartment.
The following day on Thanksgiving, Bob feels unsatisfied by their own Thanksgiving so he heads back over to Teddy’s to redeem himself. Eventually, Bob is able to redeem himself while Linda helps Teddy with his hoarding. The episode ends with the Belcher family and Teddy eating Thanksgiving dinner together.
What was Bob’s best moment from “Thanks-hoarding?”: Unlike the previous three episodes, there is a larger focus on Bob in this episode. As for Bob’s best moment, two moments jump out to me but the one that I’m going with is Bob going over to Teddy’s to fix his Thanksgiving and redeem himself. Bob’s intentions might not have been noble, but he was able to help Teddy and still spend Thanksgiving with his family which is what matters most.
Season 9: “I Bob Your Pardon”
What happened in “I Bob Your Pardon?”: Before we get into this years’ episode, it’s time to look back at last year’s. Once again, this is another super unique Thanksgiving episode for the Belchers but still keeps the theme of family throughout. Let’s dig in and talk about what happened in “I Bob Your Pardon.”
“I Bob Your Pardon” begins with Bob getting ready for Thanksgiving before the family goes to the town turkey pardon. Upon hearing that they aren’t officially pardoning the turkey, Tina decides to rope the rest of the family into rescuing the turkey. Of course, hijinks ensue with them getting the turkey and trying to set it free which doesn’t go as planned. Eventually, everything falls into place and the family is able to celebrate Thanksgiving much to Bob’s delight.
What was Bob’s best moment from “I Bob Your Pardon?”: While the episode features a lot of Bob and his family, there is one moment that I always remember. Earlier in the episode, Bob talks about not having cranberries for dinner and after they save the turkey, he finds out that the farmer who is keeping the turkey has a cranberry bog. He basically freaks out over how fresh the cranberries are and it’s actually pretty sweet. It was a nice little bit of comic relief for the end of the episode, too.
Season 10: “Now We’re Not Cooking With Gas”
What happened in “Now We’re Not Cooking With Gas?”: It wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving with the Belchers if something went right. This year, it has to do with the cooking and it’s no doubt, a major disappointment to Bob as a chef. Either way, there’s no way that the Belchers are going to give up that easily. With that being said, let’s get into what happened in “Now We’re Not Cooking With Gas.”
“Now We’re Not Cooking with Gas” starts with the family coming home with a River Brook Lake Farms turkey, much to Bob’s overwhelming excitement. Bob is ecstatic to cook it until he finds out that there was a gas leak so they can’t cook it in the oven. Since they can’t find another place to cook it, Bob decides to make a fire pit outside to cook the turkey with. Everything is going good until they run out of things to burn with Bob sending the kids to the woods and the fire department showing up.
The fire department tells Bob to get rid of the fire but he doesn’t listen. He even gets angry when the kids come back with a huge log. It only gets worse when it starts raining and Bob refuses to give up on the turkey. Tina eventually decides to burn her gratitude tree and Bob realizes how nutty he’s been all day. The episode ends with Bob tripping and causing the turkey to burn completely before finding out the turkey was fully cooked and the family being able to eat it.
What was Bob’s best moment from “Now We’re Not Cooking With Gas?”: As far as Thanksgiving episodes go, this was not Bob’s best outing. While he loves Thanksgiving, he took things a little bit too far. At points, it even felt out-of-character for him. Thankfully, his best moment came at the end when he added the final leaf to the gratitude tree, explaining that he’s most grateful for his family. While this episode wasn’t as cheery as the other Thanksgiving episodes, “Now We’re Cooking With Gas” was a memorable episode.
Bob’s Burgers airs Sundays on Fox at 9/8c.
What’s your favorite Bob moment from the Bob’s Burgers Thanksgiving episodes? Be sure to let us know in the comments!