Is This Shea Stadium In The New Episode Of Bob’s Burgers? (UPDATE: Unfortunately Not)
Beloved Brooklyn venue Shea Stadium recently successfully funded a Kickstarter to keep their doors open for years to come (hopefully), and it’s a testament to their lasting impact on the community that a nod to the venue seems to have made its way into a recent episode of Bob’s Burgers.
In addition to all of the music that goes down at Shea, the space hosts a lot of comedy shows — Chris Gethard has ties there, and The Macaulay Culkin Show has hosted Bob’s Burgers actors in the past — so it’s safe to assume that a few people affiliated with the FOX animated sitcom have ascended its hallowed staircase at some point or another. (The show also has a history of highlighting some pretty great music.)
On this past weekend’s episode of the show (“Aquaticism”), the Belcher kids work on a plan to save the local aquarium after they find out that it could shut down. That plot point is eerily similar to what Shea’s going through right now, but it’s probably a coincidence considering these episodes take months to produce. What probably isn’t a coincidence is the decor of the aquarium itself, more specifically the swordfish hanging on the wall above a merch table, two features that are iconic to the Shea layout. See here (sans table, but you get it):
Amazing – @sheastadiumbk is in the new @BobsBurgersFOX episode. Someone please make .gif of this. Hot top courtesy of @bethlehem_steel 🙃🙂🙃🙂 pic.twitter.com/Mr3XFDe4ZM
— The So So Glos (@SoSoGlos) March 28, 2017
Hmmmmm… seems pretty spot-on. You can watch the full episode here. Shea Stadium’s Kickstarter campaign is still ongoing.
UPDATE: A reader points out that Bob’s Burgers writer Scott Jacobson directed a Superchunk video that was shot at Shea:
The evidence mounts!
UPDATE 2: BB writer Scott Jacobson has responded via Twitter and, unfortunately, the visual similarities to Shea Stadium are just a coincidence, but let’s keep on dreaming…
@Andrew_StClair @jmret Coincidence, I'm afraid! But I love Shea Stadium and think other people here would love it, too.
— Scott Jacobson (@straintest) March 29, 2017
@Andrew_StClair @jmret Thanks! I wish it were true. Would make us cooler!
— Scott Jacobson (@straintest) March 29, 2017