Comedian Dan Mintz, best known for voicing lovelorn eighth-grader Tina Belcher on \u201cBob\u2019s Burgers,\u201d is bringing his deadpan delivery to The Bell House on March 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do kind of absurd one-liners, my biggest influence would be Mitch Hedberg, probably,\u201d Mintz said. \u201cAnd I have the same voice that I do for everything, just that one voice. I guess it sounds like Tina doing stand-up, but it\u2019s a little bit different, because I\u2019m a 45-year-old man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show \u2014 Mintz\u2019s first at The Bell House<\/a> \u2014 is part of his \u201cWell-Rounded Performer\u201d tour, which will take him across North America before the release of his new hourlong standup special this spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe great thing about doing stand-up versus doing a show or something is when you have a joke that works you get to keep doing it over and over again, which is fun,\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut then, eventually, you have to start writing new stuff, after you release the special.\u201d<\/p>\n Mintz, who is also a comedy writer for shows like \u201cNathan for You\u201d and \u201cThe Eric Andre Show,\u201d had wanted to work in comedy since he was a kid.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cNothing feels better to me than making someone laugh. As a kid, it kind of took me a while to figure out how to do that,\u201d he said. \u201cI would try to be funny a lot and not be funny. But every once in a while, something would hit, and it would just be the best feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n It seemed like \u201ca very noble profession to be doing something making people laugh,\u201d Mintz said. He always figured he would be exclusively a comedy<\/a> writer \u2013 he didn\u2019t feel like he could do standup. Then, he saw comedian Mitch Fatel perform at The Comedy Cellar in Manhattan.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was this really funny, kind of low-energy comic,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know that was a thing \u2026 I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, I could actually do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Mintz obviously makes people laugh through his writing and voice acting, but he can\u2019t experience those laughs live. Stand-up is different.\n<\/p>\n \u201cDoing stand up is so great because it\u2019s the one thing you have total creative control over, and it doesn\u2019t really cost money, like trying to make your own movie or something,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd most of all, just getting that instant feedback. I feel like if I was only doing writing, I feel like I would have this constant level of creative frustration without having this as an outlet.\u201d<\/p>\n Performing isn\u2019t always easy for Mintz, who said he\u2019s a little shy even when recording \u201cBob\u2019s Burgers,\u201d rarely straying off-script. But he\u2019s embraced it, and his reserved nature has shaped his comedy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started doing stand-up, I had so much stage fright, and I just really tensed up in a way that made me even more, like, monotone and weird and awkward,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I kind of realized, oh this is actually kind of working for the character. Instead of trying to figure out how to not be nervous, I actually should lean into it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do feel like sometimes, when I get comfortable and I\u2019m not really nervous going on stage, it doesn\u2019t go as well,\u201d he added. \u201cUsually I don\u2019t have that problem because I have natural stage fright.\u201d<\/p>\n Mintz\u2019s voice and his deadpan delivery helped shape his character on \u201cBob\u2019s Burgers.\u201d The show\u2019s creator \u201ckind of built the characters around us and our comedy,\u201d Mintz said in a 2013 interview<\/a>. And though the show hasn\u2019t really influenced his material, it has changed the way the audience responds, especially when they\u2019re used to hearing his voice come out of an animated tween.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I start talking, they hear the character\u2019s voice. I always get a laugh over the first setup, which is not even a joke or anything, it\u2019s just people realizing that I talk exactly like Tina,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce I get into the actual set, it doesn\u2019t come up as much.\u201d<\/p>\n Tina has come a long way over 16 seasons. Where Mintz retains his natural stage fright, Tina \u2014 who started the show too afraid to deliver a single line in a dinner theater<\/a> performance \u2014 in later seasons took a starring role in a Christmas play and agreed to perform a song based on one of her diary entries at an open mic night.\u00a0<\/p>\n But some things, like her love of horses and permanent crush on classmate Jimmy Jr., remain the same. And Mintz, who lives in Los Angeles but said it\u2019s \u201calways great to have an excuse to go to New York,\u201d thinks Tina would love it too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her first stop, undoubtedly, would be a horse carriage ride in Central Park.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like she seems like she\u2019d end up going to NYU or something for college. Maybe Jimmy Jr. would be there, or at like, Juilliard, for dance. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s quite good enough for that, but maybe she\u2019s following him there,\u201d he laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city has something \u201ccrazy interesting\u201d going on every night, he said.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like that\u2019s why it would be the best city in the world for Tina,\u201d he said. \u201cFor every one of her weird interests, there would be like a weird community she would find.\u201d<\/p>\n