Bob’s Burgers star H. Jon Benjamin has said that the show helped him to become a better father.

The actor voices titular role in the long-running animated sitcom, which revolves around the Belcher family and their burger restaurant.

Speaking to Variety‘s Artisans, Benjamin praised his character, revealing that he himself was the “meanest” dad before he took on some of the role’s characteristics.

“Bob is a really good parent – very supportive, very present, pretty patient. He’s a good dad for what he has to go through,” he said. “I’m a terrible dad. I’m like the exact opposite. Thankfully, Bob’s Burgers totally helped my parenting. I was the meanest dad. And then I slowly started getting more like Bob – but it was too late.”

[embedded content]

During the interview, the actor recalled that he was surprised that the show – which has been running since 2011 – made it past its first season.

“Whenever you start doing a television show, you feel like it’s gonna get cancelled after a season,” he said. “You do one, and you’re happy to get two, then three – then, oh my God, four – then holy shit, five. And then, no way, six. And then – fuck—seven!”

Back in 2022, show creator Loren Bouchard explained to NME that Bob’s Burgers tries to avoid the grumpy dad stereotype, calling it “low-hanging fruit”.

“We weren’t interested in that at all,” he said. “Bob can be grumpy, but he’s not fundamentally a grumpy dad. He’s actually this incredibly vulnerable person who’s trying to make this restaurant work, and that’s very much a creative act for him: in a funny way, he’s trying to express himself.

“And so when his kids and wife are expressing themselves too, you get the sense that they’re all on the same page. It’s very much them against the world rather than them against each other. And so the comedy comes from that rather than this, you know, grumpy dad figure who kind of hates his family.”

The show’s success has also spawned a film, which was awarded four stars by NME when it was released in 2022.