Tobias Fünke
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| Tobias Funke | |
|---|---|
 Tobias extolls the virtues of Arrested Development sponsor Burger King |
|
| Cause/reason | End of the series |
| Portrayed by | David Cross |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Spouse(s) | Lindsay Bluth Funke |
| Children | Maeby Funke (daughter) |
| Relatives | George Bluth Sr. (father-in-law) Lucille Bluth (mother-in-law) Michael Bluth (brother-in-law)) Buster Bluth (brother-in-law) Oscar Bluth (uncle-in-law) George Michael Bluth (nephew) Steve Holt (nephew) |
Dr. Tobias Fünke is a fictional character on the television series Arrested Development. A former psychiatrist and struggling actor, he is married to Lindsay Bluth and has a daughter, Maeby Fünke. Tobias is portrayed by David Cross.
[edit] Fictional biography
After completing his fellowship in psycholinguistics at MIT, Tobias became Chief Resident of Psychiatry in Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital. Two years thereafter, he lost his license for giving CPR to a Rhode Island man who wasn't actually having a heart attack. At the beginning of the series, Tobias decides that his destiny is to become an actor, after boarding a boat which he believes to be a pirate-themed cruise, but which turns out to be populated by gay protesters, most of whom are actors. He pursues this career throughout the series with a notable lack of success.
[edit] Personality
Tobias has a cheerful and unmindful disposition. He often greets his family with hugs, and regularly speaks in florid prose, accentuating the most mundane comments with a heightened false sense of grandiosity. He is unaware of his family's feelings and problems (especially Lindsay's), and seems to be gleefully oblivious to the obvious. He believes himself to have "cat-like agility", though in actuality he is klutzy and accident prone. Tobias has a rare condition called "never-nude" syndrome (which, as the narrator states, is "exactly what it sounds like") and wears denim cut-off shorts at all times, even in the shower. (The condition is based on the real condition of severe gymnophobia, although the portrayal is largely fake.) This condition threatens his acceptance of a coveted role as "Frightened Inmate #2" in a prison drama that calls for a nude shower scene. He had studied for the role by staying in the Orange County prison to research the "nature of fear". Lindsay helps him deal with his condition, and with the help of his acting coach, Carl Weathers, he gets the part. Carl would eventually help Tobias land a part on the TV series Scandalmakers, where Weathers plays Ice the Bounty Hunter, Tobias plays George Sr., and Dave Attell plays Tobias.
Tobias is in heavy denial about his sexual orientation, and much of the humor based around Tobias exploits this. His true nature often comes out in various ways, such as making sexual double-entendres; examples include him pretending to be a British nanny (à la Mrs. Doubtfire), offering Michael a "banger in the mouth" while holding out a plate of sausage, and screaming "I just blue myself!" after donning the trademark blue paint of the Blue Man Group. Another example is when he professed a desire to have sex with Robert Redford, and proclaiming "I wouldn't just lie there". This trademark oblivious nature is frequently exploited in plotlines regarding his relationship with his wife and daughter. Michael finally tells him to record what he is saying on tape and play it back to see what it sounds like, but when Tobias mistakes his innuendo for arrogance, he remarks to himself, "Tobias...you blowhard!"
While still a therapist (a self-styled analyst-therapist, or, as he calls it, "analrapist" (pronounced ɘˡnælrɘˌpɪst), Tobias wrote The Man Inside Me, which has belatedly become a runaway bestseller (but only in the homosexual community). At a reading, attended exclusively by gay men, it is revealed that he changed all the pronouns in the book to "he" for ease of reading, though his audience assumed it was for different reasons. He also achieved accidental success for a brief time with his self-help video, Families with Low Self-Esteem, but only because it was mistaken for Girls with Low Self-Esteem (a video series similar to Girls Gone Wild).
Lindsay, who married Tobias to spite her father, is convinced that her husband is gay. He has experienced sexual difficulties with his wife. This leads to their joint decision to attempt an "open" marriage.
In season two, Tobias is desperate to be an understudy for the silent entertainers Blue Man Group, and paints himself completely blue for hours, thus getting blue body paint on things in the Bluth model home (blue handprints can be seen in the background in many season 2 episodes). Lindsay kicks Tobias out of the house for the lack of attention that he pays toward her. Tobias misses seeing his family so much that he begins disguising himself as "Mrs. Featherbottom", an English housekeeper for the Bluth family. This plotline is similar to that of the film Mrs. Doubtfire, with shades of Mary Poppins (he also wants to prove that he is a good actor). Despite Tobias's disguise, everyone realizes that he is Mrs. Featherbottom, but says nothing because the house would not get cleaned otherwise.
In the mid 1990s, Tobias and his family performed as the folk group "Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution". Each song performed by the band was an advertising jingle for a new medicine, accompanied by a rapid listing of potential side effects at the end. Performances were underwritten by the Natural Life Food Company, a division of Chem-Grow, an Allen Crayne acquisition, which was part of the Squimm Group. Their motto was simple: "We keep you alive".
In season three, Tobias gets hair plug implants. Side effects of the hair plugs include a loss of feeling and mobility, which relegates him to a wheelchair (which he calls a "dolly") and skin and tissue damage. These symptoms are caused by a chronic form of graft-versus-host disease (which usually affects bone marrow transplant patients), and can be cured by simply removing the plugs. However, Lindsay chooses to exploit the disease for a Bluth family fundraiser, putting Tobias' health at great risk. He finally has them removed in the middle of the season.
[edit] See also
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