Bojack Horseman’s Mr.Peanutbutter | National Face of Depression?

Love him or hate him, Mr.Peanutbutter, voiced by Paul F. Tompkins is an essential part of Bojack Horseman. With his loud, hyper, and boisterous nature, Mr.Peanutbutter has a knack for stealing the spotlight. He loves making everything about himself.

Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) is essentially a humanoid dog in the critically-acclaimed animated series. He is a constant source of competition to Bojack Horseman, much to the horses’ annoyance.

He has the most carefree nature among all the main characters. His attitude towards life is all about eating, drinking, partying, and… being happy.

He loves his fame and popularity, making sure he’s the star of the crowd. Though, he is never held accountable and easily shrugs off anything. Mr.Peanutbutter just keeps going on like his usual goofy, blissful self in the face of any life events; even broken marriages or failed business ideas.

He cracks jokes and one-liners with the utmost ease. He is ready to support anyone (read: Todd) with any silly idea they have. The guy just can’t say no to anything!

We are sure everyone knows a real-life Mr.Peanutbutter with the same aura and vibes. He’s a character we find every day in our lives!

A Deeper Insight into His Emotions

Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) won’t think twice before speaking. In his goofy ways, he often blurts out the nasty stuff that makes people hate him. With time it seems that even his sweet and funny gestures are less about others and more about himself. Some think he is truly evil in disguise.

What we think is that Mr.P.B is not a bad guy. But he does have narcissistic personality disorder making him think everything is about him and only him. Unlike Bojack who suffers from self-pity and follows the “I’m a bad person” narrative, Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) does not even acknowledge his actions. The element of self-awareness is completely missing in him.

His happy, upbeat vibe where he never ‘actively’ does anything to hurt anyone makes it seem he’s not guilty at all. But he ignores and gaslights when someone is hurt and runs from accountability. It seems like he himself doesn’t know what he is doing wrong.

If we really think about it, Mr.Peanutbutter is also emotionally unavailable. Even the grandest of his gestures when it comes to love is less about love and more about what he thinks love is. His marriage with Diane is an example. He fails to truly realize what it is she needs and instead showers her with needless luxuries she never asked for.

In simple words, Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) is emotionally immature and in some way, damaged.

Could Mr. Peanutbutter Be Depressed?

Season 6 finally reveals a new side of Mr. P.B.  He is now going on a speaking tour with Gen-Z pop idol Joey Pogo to talk about a subject he knows  nothing about- as the “National Face of Depression,”

‘Sad Dog’ becomes a meme representing Mr. P.B. Princess Carolyn claims that he attempted suicide, instantly garnering him attention and increasing popularity.

“We didn’t realize you have a mental illness! You are truly a hero for de-stigmatizing this all-too-common affliction,” the paparazzi swoons.

Joey then asks Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) if there is a possibility he may be depressed and just not know it. Joey tells him that the people who seem happy are the most depressed. To this, Mr. Peanutbutter states that he seems very happy.

It is true that depression does not always manifest itself visibly. In fact, everyone reacts to it differently. It ‘could’ be plausible that Mr. Peanutbutter belongs to the category of people who pretend to be chirpy and happy, choosing to live in denial.

In Season 4 when Diane tells him she is tired of squinting in order to see the good in their marriage, Mr. P.B. looks crushed. He has already had a failed marriage with Jessica Biel in the past. But this time, he looks hopeless. He is upset because whenever something bad happens, the way he wishes to look at the world completely breaks down. He simply cannot cope with his beliefs being challenged.

Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) once famously said:

“The key to being happy is to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense”

That is the takeaway from his entire character and depression. This façade of being happy and busy and distracted is the only coping mechanism he knows of.

Mr.Peanutbutter’s | Blurry Future

Mr.Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) cheats on his pug girlfriend, Pickle’, twice, with Diane. In Season 6, he suddenly confesses this to her. After the confession, things do blow out of proportion. Mr.P.B. tries hard to fix the relationship by trying to reason with Pickles and promising her this won’t ever happen again. He calls the two instances as ‘one’ unit of cheating simply to downplay his own mistakes.

However, it seems like Mr.Peanutbutter is slowly discovering that he is not a good person for the things he does. It is huge speculation that he won’t be able to swallow the new pill regarding his own depression.

Many fans fear that the show might end with Mr.P.B committing suicide in Part 2. While we don’t have any factual hints for this, this remains one of the biggest speculations among the audience. In fact, a very scary one too. Similar to real life, meanwhile we have been expecting someone so openly miserable like Bojack to do something like this, it is often the happiest-looking people who end up taking their life away.

We really hope that Mr.Peanutbutter’s story does not end in this way. In a show as dark as Bojack Horseman, this may be a possibility. Will Mr.Peanutbutter realize he needs to be better? Or will his story dwindle down to nothing?

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for January, Bojack Horseman Season 6 Part 2.