History
Mandel said that he accidentally created the voice that would be later used to voice Bobby when he was choking on a piece of cake at the age of 11. Two of Mandel's friends, Jim Fisher and Jim Stahl, signed an agreement with the Fox Corporation's then newly-created television division in 1989. Fisher and Stahl asked Mandel to create a show based on Mandel's stand-up comedy routines using the Bobby character. Mandel said that he believed that his stand-up routines were "in no way family entertainment." He, Fisher, and Stahl recalled stories from their childhoods as they discussed the formation of the show. Mandel stated "that was the seed of Bobby's World." The other characters on the show were mixes of characteristics of the creators' parents' friends and relatives.
During his standup routines, Mandel would commonly go into character with the same voice as Bobby, often conversing with an unseen "parent".
The voices of Kelly Generic (Bobby's sister) and Martha Generic (Bobby's mom) are based on two recurring characters Gail Matthius played when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1980. Martha is based on the character Roweena, a chain smoking hair stylist with an Upper Midwestern accent who gets into arguments with her best customer Nadine (Denny Dillon), while Kelly Generic is based on the character Vicky, a valley girl who annoys others with her shallow questions and rambling stories and often is seen with her friend Debbie (also Dillon).
Mitch Schauer drew the designs for the main characters. Bobby's character design was based on Schauer's then-four-year old son.
In the US, starting in 1996, the show was open-captioned; this was intended as an aid to help younger children learn to read.
In an April 2006 online interview, Mandel expressed his desire for a possible re-launch of the series. Episodes can occasionally be seen in syndication, on a variety of websites, or on Comcast's On Demand service.
According to a stand up video posted on YouTube.com, Mandel mentions that they are working on new episodes.
On February 12, 2007, the character Bobby made a surprise appearance on an episode of Deal or No Deal.
Read more about this topic: Bobby's World
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