Are you ready for a clip that will catapult you back to the early 1980s? One saturated with the style and the attitude that made MTV an irresistible force? A video that leads with provocation, tight clothing, and copious amounts of neon? John Roberts has a video like that for you – a synth-driven, funked-out, new wave celebration of sexuality, steeped in the iconography of the day-glo decade.
Though Roberts’s name might not be familiar to you, there’s a pretty good chance you’re familiar with him. He voices the character of Linda Belcher, the enthusiastic, gently hedonistic, reliably hilarious wife of the title character on the long-running FOX animated series Bob’s Burgers. Roberts has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the show, and his expressive performances have made Linda one of the best-loved cartoon characters on television. Roberts is a musician and a songwriter as well as an actor, and in his songs, recordings, and notorious shows at Joe’s Pub in New York City, he never fails to foreground his love of ’80s pop, punk and new wave. And the new wave loves him right back: he’s collaborated with Blondie, singing with Debbie Harry on “Love Level,” a cut from the band’s 2017 set Pollinator.
