Y’all thought that after releasing my review to The Bob’s Burgers Movie in spoilerful fashion would be the last piece of content I would do for the season? Yeah well...no. We ain’t done. I ain’t done. We got more shit to talk about and this was one of them. So a few weeks ago, it was announced that the short from the show, “My Butt Has a Fever”, would be shown to the masses after it was yanked because of, you probably guessed it, the pandemic. Stupid decision but I guess that could explain why during the early days of the pandemic with the lockdowns. But in honor of The Bob’s Burgers Movie being released, the show, along with 20th Century Studios and Disney decided to show the short in theaters before the start of various films, mostly before the start of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. But...the only problem with that is that it was only available in certain theater chains. And by that, I mean the Alamo Drafthouse. Pretty much leaving everyone hanging in areas where they don’t have a Drafthouse in their vicinity. Living in Houston, there is one but I have to drive almost an hour to the suburb of the town where the theater is, which is in Katy. So that’s a no-go for me.
Luckily, the kind folks over at FXX decide to treat us nicely by premiering the short this past weekend on the day of the movie’s release along with a marathon of past episodes, mostly Seasons 9-11. And thus...here we are, my review of “My Butt Has a Fever”. Sorry, “My Butt HAZZA Fever” as it is aptly named if you wanna spell it that way. Noted that the whole short isn’t out online at the time of posting. The musical portion of the song is already up on YouTube, which thank God for that, but the entirety with Bob and Linda at the start of the short being forgetful fucks about the talent show...yeah, it’s getting to the point where if the short, rather, the musical portion of it didn’t get uploaded, then I have to get the screencaps from the camera phone since I have it on DVR. So if the quality is bad, well uh... it's pretty much all I can muster for this review. So don’t judge.
So the short starts with Bob and Linda as they finish cleaning up the place that is completely empty and notices an odd feeling that is going on at the start of the short. That being no customers, which is almost the norm with the place. But also Teddy is absent. Which to them, is odd because Teddy always comes to the restaurant almost every day. Mostly because they need to fix one of the booths due to a loose screw that could potentially put the customer in harm’s way. But their conversation gets interrupted by a weird muffling beeping sound somewhere around the restaurant, revealing to be an alarm on the phone from Linda’s purse and reveals that the alarm that was beeping was a reminder for them to get to school for the talent show. The same talent show that they’re already tardy from attending the event that the Belcher kids are attending and rush their way to the school to watch their kids perform.
And note that the visual and animation style is different from the usual show in various episodes. Because this isn’t the same color style from the show that we grew accustomed to for the past twelve seasons. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, which you should do, it’s a really great film, this is the same visual and art animation as the film itself. The shading on the characters, the details to the locations in town. You’re probably wondering why something like a short would have the type of animation if it’s gonna last for at least five minutes? But let’s not forget that this was shown before the new Doctor Strange film when visiting the Alamo Drafthouse in theaters. So they have to go balls to the wall for the visuals enough to fit for the big screen. And we’ll get to the animation portion in a little bit.
Bob and Linda arrive and made it in time as Rudy is finishing up with his performance for the show by juggling three inhalers and puffing one of them to give him the boost that he needed in front of the crowd. Already setting up another hidden talent that Rudy can do other him playing the drums and performing as a mime in “Teen-a Witch” to win the costume competition. The Belcher kids are up next to perform their act after Rudy with their performance as a group. And if the series were to do a talent show episode, that would’ve been the idea that should’ve come to life with the Belcher kids performing as a group for the big show. Because knowing Bob’s Burgers, other than their use of puns for whatever burger they can make, we only got one cookbook from the previous seasons, might be time to make another, just putting it out there, would be the music aspect of the show. I mean, take a look at the song contest in “Wag the Song” from Season 10 or the formation of Gene’s band in “Itty Bitty Ditty Committee” from Season 5 (spoiler alert: happened again in the recent movie). And having the Belcher kids, not them going solo or either sibling to be with their friends and compete with each other, working together for their performance, despite the stunt they’re about to pull, was an interesting touch for them to have it. Even though if this were an actual episode, there would be some arguments during practice leading up to the event.
So Rudy is done performing and it’s the Belcher kids’ turn to take the stage to do their performance and it looks like they’re getting some help on what they’re about to pull out of their asses. Remember when Bob and Linda notices that Teddy was MIA from the restaurant at the start of the film? Well, it looks like he’s helping the kids out in pulling their stunt by being under the stage with the radio on one side and the ropes on the next as the plan is about to come into place. Almost reminiscing with the events of “Topsy” where Louise asks Teddy for some help when going toe-to-toe with a Thomas Edison fanatic of a science teacher with the Topsy incident and now here we are again with the talent show with their performance.
Also, you have Tina showing concerns about doing the stunt as if she wants to back out from doing the stunt with Gene and Louise. Because of course. She wants to have a clean record and doesn’t want to get to anyone’s bad side. Mostly Frond and probably Bob and Linda, who are in attendance. But when we pan over to Jimmy Jr in the crowd along with Zeke, Darryl, Tammy, Jocelyn, and Courtney before switching back to the Belchers with Tina as she gains the confidence to do the stunt. Because of course! I could imagine during the pitch meeting between the three siblings where Tina doesn’t want to do it and Louise had to bring up Jimmy Jr into the conversation, which is more than enough for Tina to do it. I mean there’s that and also don’t want to be the “boring person” in the group, but it’s mostly wanting to impress Jimmy Jr. He’s pretty much her Pavlov’s bell. She was thinking of bowing out and wanted nothing to do with the stunt, only to end up jumping on board because Jimmy Jr would be there in the peanut gallery. That and reputation of course. But with that out of the way, it looks like the Belcher kids are up to do their performance.
And for the plan to take center stage as Louise taps her foot onto the stage floor, giving Teddy the signal to turn on the radio. Fooling Frond in thinking that the idea the Belcher kids are doing for the talent show is a skit before we get to the musical aspect of things and getting the crowd moving. Of course, knowing Frond, he ain’t having and tries to turn off the intercom but can’t because of the off switch being non-functional. Tries to close the curtains to abruptly end the show, but fails because Teddy notices the ropes being pulled and decides to pull back. And I did say that the whole crowd was moving to the beat of the Belcher kids’ song. I mean, you have various characters that have little to no lines sitting in the peanut gallery like Jimmy Jr, Zeke, Tammy, Jocelyn, Darryl, and Courtney. But you also have Peter and Henry, who are sitting in the front row and not being underutilized in the short as being a part of the band kids and played a part as Frond was about to chase the kids. Also that Alex cameo in the peanut gallery when dancing to the music.
The band kids make their move to get to the groove of the beat of the song as Frond chases after the Belcher kids to the exit where Frond finds LaBonz on the phone and locks him outside. And might as well get this out of the way, but the animation for the chase and the kids’ performance as a whole was animated beautifully. Fantastic visuals. And much like with the movie, the cast and crew put a lot of hard work they can muster to make this short for us fans to enjoy. And the song...I listened to it four times this past weekend when seeing it time after time on FXX and fucking hell, that song was catchy. I mean...move over Sunny Side Up Summer, looks like we got a new contender. Yeah, I said it. Fight me. It’s a really great song and it’s been lodged in my head and it was quite the earworm. It was a really good song and I get that they only pulled the short back in early 2020 mostly due to the pandemic because fever, health, one of the symptoms of catching Covid was a fever and I get that the reason for that. That and also the date of the movie being pushed back too many times during the pandemic, people working from their homes, and also working on the show. But besides that, it’s a great song from what is pretty much a good short big enough for the big screen.
The kids made it back to the stage as Bob and Linda commentate on the performance and it looks like even while they were being chased around by Frond as if they were participating in the Kentucky Derby, the show remains to go as planned with everyone enjoying the beat and turning it into a full-fledged concert. It’s straight-up pandemonium and it looks like there is no stopping at any time soon as if they pretty much won the talent show for the performance that they pulled. Of course, it wasn’t long until Frond comes back from the front of the school and into the auditorium and has to yell out “detention” to the three Belcher kids for pulling the stunt for the talent show. At least live a little for once, Frond. They didn’t wait for two, three hours of watching kids doing their best and keep it rated G. Almost feels like you’re waiting for excitement while attending a game and it took until the final quarter or period after a snoozefest of an event. So everyone in the audience enjoyed the Belcher kids’ performance and it looks like Teddy enjoys it enough for him to be seen by Bob and Linda; and also Frond giving Tina, Gene, and Louise detention for pulling the stunt that is going to be talked around the campus for days.
This is where we are at in the final few moments of the short with the three siblings sitting in detention the next day after the talent show. Was it worth it to pull something like that last night? According to the Belcher kids, the short answer is yes. It was worth it to get detention because everyone loved it. They loved it. To the point where Jimmy Jr sees Tina through the door window when walking by. Got her end of the bargain in doing the stunt along with her siblings. Ending the short with Mr. Frond, being the hack that he is, humming to the tune from the talent show with Louise calling him out as he tries to knit to pass the time. Also, note the treehouse silhouette in the credits. Apparently, it was to show their respect to the late crew member Dave Creek, who died tragically in a skydiving accident back in 2021. Rest in peace, man, and the treehouse being shown in the credits was a nice touch to remember his memory.
So all and all, this was a pretty amazing short, and for something as silly as the name of the title, “My Butt Has a Fever”, much like with past episode titles in both “Glued, Where’s My Bob” or “Poops!... I Didn’t Do It Again”, this series never failed to exceed expectations and this fit the bill quite nicely. The animation, as I said earlier in the review, is fantastic, and the visuals, even though it’s the same as the movie itself, look great. And for the song used in the short, I gotta admit, this was a pretty good ass song and for someone who saw the short four times during the past weekend on the weekend of the release of the movie, it was a banger and did not disappoint. Also liked the idea of the kids competing in a talent show and I know that this idea was used, but hopefully, this might happen in a future episode, and praying that the show doesn’t half-ass it. So this may sound crazy for giving the short a rating but...I’ll give “My Butt Has a Fever”, no joke here ladies and gentlemen...
A 10 out of 10. You heard that right, folks. A 10 out of 10. News story of the year! This short exceeded expectations, the visual and animation look amazing, the song was a banger, and despite some hiccups, it didn’t downplay the short. So it was a pretty good and enjoyable short and I do hope the full thing gets released. Hopefully on streaming sites. Probably on the same day as the movie’s release there later in the summer months. But other than that, pretty good ass short and it did not disappoint.
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