Netflix’s BoJack Horseman has been one of the greatest animated TV shows to hit our screens in recent years due to its ability to juggle moments of brilliant comedy with soul-crushing examinations into depression and life’s tribulations.
It’s also been the source of one of animated TV’s greatest mysteries: why does BoJack Horseman hold his phone like a moron?
If you watch any scene from the show where he speaks to someone on his phone, you’ll notice how he holds it against his cheek rather than his ear.
The enormous distance between the phone and BoJack’s ear will render any call moot since he won’t be able to hear anything clearly. And when you consider the gap between the phone and his mouth, the person on the other end of the line won’t be able to clearly hear him either.
Seriously, how does that work? It’s like the whole “Arthur’s headphones” meme all over again but somehow even more baffling.
After literally years of continuously binging the show on Netflix and pondering on the logistics of this, we’ve finally been given an explanation from BoJack Horseman producer and production designer, Lisa Hanawalt.
She explains that the team were well aware of the weird problem and while she got “maybe too annoyed” at the fan complaints, many conversations were had over decision to have BoJack hold his phone the way he does.
But despite putting so much time into coming up with potential solutions – such as having BoJack alternate between holding the phone to his ear and mouth, and having his very own gigantic BoJack Horsephone© – everything still ended up looking “stupid.”
These solutions also caused unexpected headaches for the animators and writers, and the BoJack Horseman team decided to just have him hold his phone to his cheek, suspension of disbelief and logic be damned.
It’s almost a shame we never got to see the BoJack Horsephone© because seeing him deal with a phone that big on a daily basis would’ve been an all-time great sight gag in a show filled with them.
For those wondering why the BoJack Horseman team didn’t just give BoJack a Netflix-branded earpiece or something, Lisa explained it in very simple terms that he “never really seemed like a Bluetooth guy!”
Okay fair enough, earpieces are definitely more of a Princess Carolyn thing anyway.
Looking stupid, and writing and animation difficulties isn’t exactly the greatest explanation as to why BoJack (and most folk in Hollywoo) hold their phones like a weirdo, but hey, at least we got some closure on this dumb mystery.
At the end of the day, we have to give credit to the BoJack Horseman team for doing their best in trying to solve a problem no one really expected.