H. Jon Benjamin
H. Jon Benjamin is an actor, born 1966.
H. Jon Benjamin makes no attempt to do voices. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1966, he came out of comedy into animation with Ben on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, then Coach McGuirk and Jason Penopolis on Home Movies, and by then the method was already fixed: one flat, put-upon baritone, applied to everybody, with no character work layered on top of it.
That sounds like a limitation and it is the opposite. The comedy comes from the distance between the voice and whoever is supposed to be speaking. Sterling Archer in Archer is a swaggering superspy voiced like a man complaining about a parking ticket. Bob Belcher in Bob's Burgers is a tired restaurateur voiced in exactly the same register, and the difference between the two characters is entirely in the writing and the timing, not the instrument. The purest example is Wet Hot American Summer, where he plays a can of mixed vegetables and does not adjust a thing.
The supporting credits are their own comedy history: Carl on Family Guy, Mothmonsterman on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Master on The Venture Bros., The Blank Void on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, plus Central Park, Teenage Euthanasia, WordGirl, ChalkZone and The Adventures of Puss in Boots. He appears on camera more often than people realise, in Master of None, Nathan for You and small film parts, and he is the voice of Boy in Boy Kills World. Two of his shows have now run long enough to be institutions, which for a performer with one voice is a genuinely strange achievement.
Movies (14)
- Boy Kills World (2024)
- Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
- New York Minute (2004)
- The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)
- Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (2009)
- Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap! (2010)
- Hell and Back (2015)
- Happy Accidents (2000)
- Dean (2016)
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
- Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
- Familiar Touch (2025)
- TV's Funniest Animated Stars: A Paley Center for Media Special (2015)
- Martin & Orloff (2002)
TV (25)
- Family Guy (1999)
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014)
- Bob's Burgers (2011)
- Archer (2009)
- WordGirl (2007)
- All Hail King Julien (2014)
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000)
- The Venture Bros. (2004)
- Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995)
- The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015)
- Master of None (2015)
- ChalkZone (2002)
- Central Park (2020)
- Home Movies (1999)
- Difficult People (2015)
- Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017)
- Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)
- Teenage Euthanasia (2021)
- All Hail King Julien: Exiled (2017)
- Human Giant (2007)
- Cheap Seats (2004)
- Star Trek: Short Treks (2018)
- Nathan for You (2013)
- How to Die Alone (2024)
- Titan Maximum (2009)
Where to start with H. Jon Benjamin
Bob's Burgers first, because it is the warmest use of the voice and the easiest to fall into. Bob is a decent man losing a slow argument with the world, and Benjamin plays the fatigue as affection rather than bitterness.
Then Archer, which takes the identical delivery and points it at an obnoxious superspy, so the gap between what is said and how it sounds does all the work. Go backwards for the origins: Home Movies is where Coach McGuirk lives, arguably still the funniest thing he has done, and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is where the deadpan was established. Wet Hot American Summer is the proof of concept in a single scene. For live action, Master of None shows he can hold a scene with his face, and The Venture Bros. and Boy Kills World round out the range.