Wendy Molyneux: The Thanksgiving song that Linda sings was totally improvised by John Roberts. We had it written that Linda was going to threaten to sing a Thanksgiving song, but in the booth John started singing and it ended up becoming this amazing song.
John Roberts, Linda on Bob’s Burgers: I started playing Linda — my mom, basically — in the East Village before Bob’s Burgers. Then I started doing her on YouTube, which is when she broke out. I met H. Jon Benjamin through our mutual friend David Cross, and Linda ended up being written for me on Bob’s Burgers.
In “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal,” we weren’t quite as musical back then, but I came up with this little song about cranberry sauce and killing turkeys, which is funny because I’m vegetarian. Linda definitely would kill the turkey, though — joyously. Anyway, I improvised this little song, and they pieced it together and put it in the show and then again over the end credits.
Dillihay: Most animation for Bob’s Burgers is done overseas, but our in-house animators always do the sequences over the closing credits. They wanted those scenes — that’s when they can show off and have fun.
Wendy Molyneux: After this episode, it spiraled into this series-long runner that Bob cannot have a good Thanksgiving. Lizzie and I wrote the next three Thanksgiving episodes and one more later on. It became a personal challenge for us every year to figure out how we could destroy Bob’s Thanksgiving again.
I think it works because people really identify with it. No matter how much you idealize a holiday, the potential for it to unwind in disaster is part of the tension and happiness of the occasion. We’re all always teetering on the brink of a holiday apocalypse.
Benjamin: Even though this episode is a crazy conceit, there’s still something about the show that’s always grounded. Bob’s Burgers reflects the regular, everyday pressures families go through, including the holidays, where something always gets fucked up. That’s what makes the holidays both joyous and awful.