Bob the Tomato
Compiled by Trisha Bleau

Roger: Do you ever forget your lines and have to re-take the scene? (Like from the out-takes seen in "A Bugs Life")

Bob: No, I’m pretty good with my lines, but one time I put too much pepper on my paprikash.

Chuck: Why can't Bob be one of The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything?

Bob: That’s a good question, Chuck. Actually, I did audition for the role of one of the Pirates several years ago. I was very excited about the opportunity, so I brought an exhaustive list of all the wonderful things that the Pirates could at any time choose to not do. Well, I guess my list was too ambitious, ‘cause I never did get a call back.

Lynda: What is it like to be a vegetable?

Bob: Just before the grand opening of our stage show, VeggieTales Live!, I learned some rather discouraging news. Not since Punky Brewster was cancelled, had I been so discouraged. You see, I had been living under the faulty assumption that I, Bob the Tomato, am a bona fide vegetable, while in reality, I am but a mere fruit. Who would have guessed that a grand species like Lycopersicon esculentum (Latin for Tomato) could be anything but a veggie?

For weeks after I had first learned of this news, I was living in denial. After all, this is the kind of thing that happens to the artichoke or the endive (Sorry guys!), not to the tomato. Besides that, I can’t be having an identity crisis now! The holidays are nearly upon us.

Then I remembered Larry telling me about something called common law veggieship, where one can petition to be a legally certified veggie if he/she has been considered a veggie for a minimum of three years. I mean, if Mark Twain can say the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco, then certainly I can call myself a veggie.

Roger: Does all the fame ever go to your heads?

Bob: Well, when that is all you really are, it’s hard for it to go to anywhere else. So, I try and not let it go to the top of mine.

Roger: Did you ever meet a potato you didn't like?

Bob: Yes, his name was “Rotten” Au Gratin Capshaw. One day, he chased me on his bike all the way home from school. But before I could reach my front stoop, I collapsed from exhaustion. Just then, “Rotten”pulled up next to me on his bike, and said “Hey, tomato! You dropped your book back there. Why d’ya you run from me? I was just tryin’ to give it to you.” From that day on, when people ask, ‘Isn’t that “Rotten” Au Gratin over there?’ I say “there’s nothing rotten about that potato. He’s Ore-Ida®!”

Roger: How do you get all the different accents right? I mean, that must take a lot of practice!

Bob: Uh, actually accents aren’t my specialty. But some of the other veggies are quite good at them. I admire their talent. Accents require patience and good listening skills. They also take a willingness to sound silly in front of a lot of other folks. But I imagine that part of the fun of it.

Brian: What do you like better, vegetables or fruit?

Bob: I’m not sure if I understand your question, Brian. While technically I am a fruit,
I am also considered a vegetable. (See my response to Lynda’s question above for more information.). It’s kind of like dual-citizenship. There are benefits to either side. Let me put it another way, ever watch a ballgame where you like both teams? You end up really enjoying the game, because you’re happy either way it turns out.

Randi: What is your favorite game?

Bob: Ah, Randi, good question. I like the classics - games that make you think. Games of strategy - you know, chess, backgammon … Oh, alright, I like Uncle Wiggily®!

Mandy: Where do you live?

Bob: Lombard, Illinois. It’s a western suburb of Chicago.

Trisha: What advice do you have to give to the youth of this world?

Bob: Whenever you have the chance to help others; do it. The reward is three-fold because you make someone else feel good, you make yourself feel good, and you make God happy. Oh, and one other thing - never look a gift horse in the mouth, or for that matter any kind of horse. Their breath is terrible!

*Ore-Ida is a trademark of Ore-Ida Foods, Inc.