The Astrology of Bob’s Burgers: H. Jon Benjamin and Bob Belcher

Well, my previous post was on Dr. MLK Jr., and this one’s on Bob Belcher. Welcome to the realities of a Leo Mercury!

I wish I could remember where I heard this—but if you feel a character is played well by an actor, the actor’s natal chart probably comes through the performance.

One of my all-time favorite shows is Bob’s Burgers, a goofy, queer-coded show about a family who runs a burger joint in New Jersey (“Joisey”) or somewhere Joisey-adjacent.

We have decent birth data for the five main voice actors who play the Belchers. After many passes through this show, I looked up their natal charts to draw similarities between the actors and the characters. What I found is pretty delightful.

Let’s start with Bob Belcher, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin. On a whim last month my partner and I listened to H. Jon Benjamin’s autobiography “Failure Is An Option” on a road trip. Already this sounds like a title Bob Belcher would choose. At some point in the book, Benjamin shared his desire to age quickly so he could skip past the frivolity of youth and settle into his grumpy, stinky nature. That clocked Saturn for me real quick, and that was probably the moment that set off this whole silly research project, I *needed* to see H. Jon Benjamin’s chart.

We have excellent birth data for H. Jon Benjamin and, sure enough, he has Aquarius rising. Using the traditional planetary rulers, he (and, according to this art-imitates-life theory, Bob) are Saturn-ruled. I think Aquarius rising works well for Bob. He is so motivated by what could be and embodies the more offbeat, service-oriented, and unselfconscious expressions of Saturn through Aquarius.

H. Jon Benjamin has moon and Jupiter conjunct in Cancer, which are the planets that rule and exalt in Cancer, respectively. Bob is a really nurturing parent to his kids, and his business revolves around caring for people through comfort food. He’s also a huge weeper, just sayin’. And while Bob can be given over to gloominess, partial to Saturn, we see many instances of Bob being just as driven by his (theoretical) Jupiter in Cancer, partial to hope and dreams. After all, H. Jon/Bob’s ruling planet, Saturn, is in the Jupiterian sign of Pisces. Ultimately, Bob’s toiling and bleak financial realities nestle themselves in the bosom of aspiration and belief in goodness.

Bob’s theoretical sun is in Gemini, which I feel really comes through in his daily burger puns and his insatiable curiosity for rare ingredients such as black garlic and Woolly Neptune mushrooms. This placement seems loud and apparent, like most Geminis, so I’ll move on.

What I find most hilarious in treating H. Jon Benjamin’s chart as Bob Belchers is the shit going on in Taurus. There is a tight conjunction between Mercury, Mars, and the North Node. This is too literal. The animal symbol for Taurus is a bull, or cow, right? And Mercury, planet of business, Mars, planet of slaughter, and North Node, which represents where we hunger, are all jointly present. As Bob would say, “HA!” The voice actor with all these placements plays a man who literally feeds hungry people slaughtered cows as a business. This is the kind of stuff that makes me live for astrology. It gets even deeper: this stellium is in Bob’s fourth house of home and family. His business is literally adjoined to his home and his family runs it. And Taurus is associated with low rooms, and the restaurant is on the bottom and cellar floors.

This Taurus stellium also explains Bob’s resistance to all manner of change and insistence on doing things his way. If you’ve seen the show (and I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you have), you’ll know that Bob falls out with his father because Bob wants to do burgers his way. His own, creative, quirky, punny way.

Well, this was supposed to be a quick Twitter thread that devolved into far more delineation than I planned! So, I guess this will be a series now! Stayed tuned for more on the other characters and voice actors in the show. If you want me to illuminate your own life as I’ve just done for Bob Belcher, book a natal chart consultation with me here.