H. Jon Benjamin talks Bob Belcher, Sterling Archer and voice acting

“Fill those precious lungs with little helium sprites of the universe,” H. Jon Benjamin’s gravelly voice commanded from the speakers, “now exhale it out. Okay, let’s get started.”

This Tuesday, H. Jon Benjamin played tracks from his own experimental jazz album on the stage in the Harrison Auditorium at the Penn Museum. The voice actor addressed a full house at the sold-out event.

Benjamin is best known for his voice acting as the titular characters on FX’s “Archer” and FOX’s “Bob’s Burgers.” He also played a role in the film “Wet Hot American Summer” and the Netflix show “Master of None.”

The event was organized by the Social Planning and Events Committee.

College junior Tim Bloom, one of the directors of SPEC Film, said that he “spent most of the fall semester picking someone” with co-directors and College seniors Sabina Spigner and Eugene Wolf.

The SPEC panel narrowed their search down to Benjamin from a pool of candidates. His voice acting made him stand out from the other considerations.

“He had a unique job, which is different from most actors,” Bloom said. “I’m just excited to hear everybody recognize his voice.”

Scott Burkhardt, a screenwriter and Cinema Studies professor at Penn, moderated the discussion with Benjamin. He explored Benjamin’s beginnings in comedy, comparing them to similar groups at Penn, such as Mask and Wig.

Benjamin began his comedy career as a member of the sketch comedy group Cross Comedy in Boston.

During the talk, Benjamin admitted that voice-work was a career he never anticipated for himself. He had no formal training in comedy.

“Comedy was not in any way something that I aspired to do,” he said. “I really did fall into it. But I was glad I did. Comedy was a career that really benefits from being rudderless.”

Despite his famous drawl that shows little emotion, H. Jon Benjamin said, “I do care a lot about all the stuff I’ve done. The persona comes from a little bit of a defense of never being conventionally taught how to do what I do.”

College freshman Daniel Horowitz said that the most surprising thing about Benjamin for him was “how little he actually works.”

Benjamin spends between two to six hours shooting an episode. Episodes of “Bob’s Burgers,” which rely more on improvisation than scripted scenes, tend to take longer to shoot, he said. While he’s not recording the voices of Sterling Archer or Bob Belcher, Benjamin does “a lot of writing” for a couple of TV shows he’s working on.

For students in the audience, the Benjamin on stage resembled the characters he plays.

“He was very much Bob to me the entire time,” said College freshman Ha Tran. “He really resembled the characters he plays.”

Benjamin himself said that of his two most famous roles, he embodies Bob Belcher more.

“I’m a lot more like Bob,” Benjamin said. “Archer is such a heightened character.” But, he added, “a more well-off Bob. Bob with a decent income.”

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