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89-447: From 1974 to 1994, the band included pianist Adams, bassist Spampinato, guitarist Al Anderson , and drummer Tom Ardolino . This is considered the classic lineup of the group. Its current membership includes Adams, bassist Casey McDonough, guitarist Scott Ligon, and drummer John Perrin. Other members in the band's long history include guitarist Johnny Spampinato; drummer Tom Staley, and vocalist Frank Gadler. NRBQ began in late 1965 as

178-493: A counterpoint ." In an interview, Fagerbakke compared himself to the character and said, "It's extremely gratifying". Whenever Patrick is angry Fagerbakke models his performance after American actress Shelley Winters . Squidward Tentacles is voiced by Rodger Bumpass, who describes him as "a very nasally, monotone kind of guy." He said the character "became a very interesting character to do" because of "his sarcasm, and then his frustration, and then his apoplexy, and so he became

267-467: A live-action pirate named Patchy and his pet parrot Potty , whose segments are presented in a dual narrative with the animated stories. Patchy is portrayed as the president of a fictional SpongeBob fan club , and his greatest aspiration is to meet SpongeBob himself. He gets into absurd escapades in a similar matter to the actual show, with Potty constantly making fun of Patchy's nonsensical aspirations and causes trouble for him while he tries to host

356-667: A boom box to play the Tiny Tim song [' Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight '] that comes on in the third act. We really went all out in that pitch because we knew the pilot lived or died by if the execs laughed. When it was over, they walked out of the room to discuss it. We figured they would fly back to New York and we'd hear in a few weeks. We were surprised when they came back in what seemed like minutes and said they wanted to make it. — Derek Drymon While pitching

445-411: A child," but needed "an abnormally large voice." In addition to the regular cast, episodes feature guest voices from many professions, including actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and artists. Recurring guest voices include: Ernest Borgnine , who voiced Mermaid Man from 1999 until his death in 2012; Tim Conway as the voice of Barnacle Boy from 1999 until his death in 2019; Brian Doyle-Murray as

534-506: A cultural touchstone of Millennials and Generation Z . The series revolves around the title character and an ensemble cast of his aquatic friends. SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic yellow sea sponge who lives in a submerged pineapple . SpongeBob has a childlike enthusiasm for life, which carries over to his job as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab . One of his life's greatest goals

623-682: A following from years of live shows. The band has been known to perform without a set list which makes the band, in the words of AllMusic's Mark Deming, "a stellar and wildly unpredictable live act." In addition to its own compositions, the band performs a broad range of cover material and audience requests. In their nearly 50-year history, NRBQ's records have been released by many record companies, including Columbia Records , Kama Sutra Records , Mercury Records , Virgin Records , Rhino Entertainment , Rounder Records , and more. Their song "Get That Gasoline Blues" (on Kama Sutra) reached No. 70 in 1974 on

712-724: A kid. Think a Stan Laurel , Jerry Lewis kind of child-man. Kind of like a Munchkin but not quite, kind of like a kid, but not in a Charlie Brown child's voice on the TV shows. —Tom Kenny Kenny voices SpongeBob and a number of other characters, including SpongeBob's pet snail Gary and the French narrator. He also physically portrays Patchy the Pirate in live-action segments of most special episodes. Kenny previously worked with Stephen Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life . When Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants , he approached Kenny to voice

801-572: A live audience. In late spring of 1966, guitarist Steve Ferguson was invited to join NRBQ after he quit Mersey-Beats USA (no relation to the Liverpool group who recorded "I Stand Accused"). He met Adams when the latter briefly joined Mersey-Beats USA to fill in for the regular keyboard player. After playing a few live dates in Louisville , Jimmy Orten (Soul Inc) was recruited on bass and vocals and

890-586: A long illness. Bobby Lloyd Hicks died of bronchiectasis on February 20, 2017. Joe Camarillo died on January 24, 2021, of a stroke after contracting COVID-19 . On April 27 and 28 of 2007, NRBQ gave a pair of "38th Anniversary" performances in Northampton, Massachusetts, the first public NRBQ shows since 2004. Both Anderson and Johnny Spampinato appeared in the line-up, along with "Whole Wheat Horns" Donn Adams and Jim Bob Hoke, and unannounced guest appearances by John Sebastian , original NRBQ drummer Staley and

979-458: A pirate. Brown decided to use a "piratey" voice for the character with "a little Scottish brogue" after hearing Hillenburg's description of his boss. According to Brown, his Mr. Krabs voice was mostly improvised during his audition and it was not challenging for him to find the correct voice. Mr. Lawrence had met Hillenburg before on Rocko's Modern Life . While working on the pilot episode of SpongeBob , Hillenburg invited him to audition for all

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1068-518: A rehearsal band in the Shively, Kentucky , home of brothers Terry and Donn Adams, and they appeared on stage for the first time in 1966. Along with drummer Charlie Craig, they made home tapes of their experiments. The first known reference to the band's name can be heard on one of these home tapes, with Donn announcing, "Here they are, the New Rhythm and Blues Quintet!" as though presenting them to

1157-602: A seven-minute pilot was pitched to Nickelodeon. The network's executives wanted SpongeBob to be a child in school, but Hillenburg preferred SpongeBob to be an adult character. He was prepared to abandon the series, but compromised by creating Mrs. Puff and her boating school so SpongeBob could attend school as an adult. In only a month after its premiere in 1999, the show became the highest-rated and most viewed animated Saturday morning program that year, beating Pokémon . The series received worldwide critical acclaim, and had gained more popularity by its second season. As of 2019,

1246-501: A wide spectrum of emotions". Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons! , has compared Squidward's voice to that of Jack Benny 's, a similarity Bumpass says is mostly unintentional. Voice acting veteran Clancy Brown voices Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob's boss at the Krusty Krab. Hillenburg modeled Mr. Krabs after his former manager at a seafood restaurant, whose strong Maine accent reminded Hillenburg of

1335-483: Is a popular beach hangout. When the SpongeBob crew began production of the series' pilot episode , they were tasked with designing stock locations, to be used repeatedly, where most scenes would take place like the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob's pineapple house. The idea was "to keep everything nautical", so the crew used plenty of rope, wooden planks, ships' wheels, netting, anchors, boilerplates, and rivets to create

1424-413: Is animation about kids in school... We want you to put SpongeBob in school." Hillenburg was ready to "walk out" on Nickelodeon and abandon the series, since he wanted SpongeBob to be an adult character. He eventually compromised by adding a new character to the main cast, Mrs. Puff, who is a boat-driving teacher. Hillenburg was happy with the compromise and said, "A positive thing for me that came out of it

1513-627: Is divided into two 11-minute segments. Hillenburg explained: "[I] never really wanted to deliberately try to write a half-hour show". He added, "I wrote the shows to where they felt right". SpongeBob SquarePants features the voices of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke , Rodger Bumpass , Clancy Brown , Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley , Carolyn Lawrence , Mary Jo Catlett , and Lori Alan . Most one-off and background characters are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker , Sirena Irwin , Bob Joles , Mark Fite and Thomas F. Wilson . Steve described SpongeBob to me as childlike and naïve. He's not quite an adult, he's not quite

1602-420: Is his best friend Patrick Star , a dimwitted yet friendly pink starfish who resides under a rock. Patrick considers himself to be intelligent, with his ignorance of his stupidity being a key trait of his. Squidward Tentacles , SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab, is a grumpy and bitter octopus who lives in an Easter Island moai . He despises his job as a cashier and enjoys playing

1691-404: Is the character! This is the guy!'" Jill Talley, Tom Kenny's wife, voices Karen Plankton. Being a Chicago native, she uses a Midwestern accent for the character. Electronic sound effects are underlaid by the series' audio engineers to create a robotic sound when she speaks. Talley and Mr. Lawrence often improvise Plankton and Karen's dialogue. Lawrence called improvisation his "favorite part of

1780-414: Is to obtain a boat-driving license from Mrs. Puff 's Boating School, but he never succeeds. His favorite pastimes include "jellyfishing", which involves catching jellyfish with a net in a manner similar to butterfly catching , and blowing soap bubbles into elaborate shapes. He has a pet sea snail with a pink shell and a blue body named Gary , who meows like a cat. Living two houses away from SpongeBob

1869-399: Is written differently to many television shows." Unlike most of its contemporaries, SpongeBob SquarePants does not use written scripts . Instead, storylines are developed by a team of five outline and premise writers. A two-page outline is then assigned to a team of storyboard directors, who produce a complete rough draft of the storyboard. One of the methods used to assemble storyboards

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1958-473: The Billboard Hot 100 chart. Over the years, the group played sets while wearing pajamas, hired professional wrestling manager "Captain" Lou Albano as the band's manager (for whom they penned a song in tribute), and exploded Cabbage Patch Dolls on stage. Al Anderson (NRBQ) Alan Gordon Anderson (born July 26, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In the 1960s, Anderson

2047-529: The California Institute of the Arts . His thesis film, Wormholes , is about the theory of relativity . It was screened at festivals, and at one of these, Hillenburg met Joe Murray , creator of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, Rocko's Modern Life . Murray was impressed by the style of the film and offered Hillenburg a job. Hillenburg joined the series as a director, and later, during

2136-686: The Flat Five , based in Chicago .) In July 2013, NRBQ toured with drummer Joe Camarillo of The Waco Brothers and Hushdrops , where he recorded two songs on the Brass Tacks album: "Greetings from Delaware" and "I'm Not Here". Bobby Lloyd Hicks became the drummer from 2013 to 2015. He played on "Love In Outer Space" and "Let Go" from the 5-CD box set High Noon . John Perrin became the drummer in 2015. Steve Ferguson died of cancer on October 7, 2009. Tom Ardolino died on January 6, 2012, following

2225-691: The Ocean Institute , an organization in Dana Point, California , dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history . While Hillenburg was there, his love of the ocean began to influence his artistry. He created a precursor to SpongeBob SquarePants : a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone used by the institute to teach visiting students about the animal life of tide pools . The comic starred various anthropomorphic sea lifeforms, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob SquarePants characters. Hillenburg tried to get

2314-607: The Tiki influence on the show, the background painters use a lot of pattern." Pittenger said the sky flowers were meant to "evoke the look of a flower-print Hawaiian shirt ". Series creator Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child and began developing his artistic abilities at a young age. Although these interests would not overlap for some time—the idea of drawing fish seemed boring to him—Hillenburg pursued both during college, majoring in marine biology and minoring in art. After graduating in 1984, he joined

2403-444: The clarinet and painting self-portraits. He is constantly annoyed by SpongeBob and Patrick's antics, who are unaware of Squidward's animosity towards them, though they get along well when the situation calls for it. Mr. Krabs , a greedy red crab, is the owner of the Krusty Krab. He serves as a father figure to SpongeBob. He is a single parent with a teenage daughter, a grey sperm whale named Pearl , who has no interest in taking over

2492-486: The fourth season , he took on the roles of producer and creative director . Martin Olson , one of the writers for Rocko's Modern Life , read The Intertidal Zone and encouraged Hillenburg to create a television series with a similar concept. At that point, Hillenburg had not even considered creating his own series. However, he realized that if he ever did, this would be the best approach. He began to develop some of

2581-402: The series bible . Although Drymon would go on to have a significant influence on SpongeBob SquarePants , he was not offered a role on the series initially. As a late recruit to Rocko's Modern Life , he had not established much of a relationship with Hillenburg before SpongeBob ' s conception. Hillenburg first sought out Drymon's storyboard partner, Mark O'Hare —but he had just created

2670-484: The Chum Bucket. It rarely has any customers due to its sale of chum -based food constituting as cannibalism by the majority of the fish population. It is run by a small, green, one-eyed copepod named Plankton and his computer wife, Karen . Plankton, being a childhood friend and eventual rival of Mr. Krabs, constantly tries to steal the secret recipe for Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers, hoping to gain

2759-519: The Flying Dutchman; and Marion Ross as Grandma SquarePants. Notable guests who have provided vocal cameo appearances include: David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness in the television film Atlantis SquarePantis ; John Goodman as the voice of Santa in the episode " It's a SpongeBob Christmas! "; Johnny Depp as the voice of the surf guru, Jack Kahuna Laguna, in the episode " SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One "; and Victoria Beckham as

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2848-474: The NRBQ played a compressed 30-minute club show. He also reported that both Mike Mills and Peter Buck of R.E.M. watched each of the NRBQ's opening sets during their portion of the tour from the edge of the stage "as if to endorse NRBQ for their fans". In 1994 Anderson departed the group: he would become an award-winning Nashville songwriter for many country and western acts. He was replaced in NRBQ by Joey Spampinato 's younger brother, Johnny Spampinato, who

2937-514: The Record Plant and by early 1969 were signed to a two-record deal with Columbia Records. Their self-titled debut album was released that year, with songs by both Eddie Cochran and Sun Ra , and a number of similarly wide-ranging original songs. The following year, the group collaborated with rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on an album titled Boppin' the Blues . Over the next three years,

3026-562: The Run (2020). Two spin-off series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and The Patrick Star Show , premiered in 2021. As of February 2022, four additional films are planned: three character spinoff films for Paramount+ and Netflix , and a theatrical SpongeBob film. The fourteenth season of the main series was announced in March 2022, and premiered in November 2023. In September 2023,

3115-575: The Spampinato brothers started playing shows as a trio, under the name "Baby Macaroni" and as the "Spaminato Bros.". After a number of months, Adams recovered well enough to tour with former drummer Staley and Japanese rockabilly group the Hot Shots. In June 2006, Adams and Ferguson released the album Louisville Sluggers (with Ardolino on drums, Pete Toigo on bass and other supporting musicians), and this album's line-up performed some live shows in

3204-466: The Sponge resembles an actual sea sponge, and at first, Hillenburg continued to use this design. In determining the new character's behavior, Hillenburg drew inspiration from innocent, childlike figures that he enjoyed, such as Charlie Chaplin , Laurel and Hardy , Jerry Lewis , and Pee-wee Herman . He then considered modeling the character after a kitchen sponge and realized this idea would match

3293-900: The U.S. and Japan as "The Terry Adams – Steve Ferguson Quartet" and "Rock & Roll Summit Meeting." Also in September 2006 came the release of a SpongeBob SquarePants album, The Best Day Ever , which included backing music by all four NRBQ members, as well as Anderson. The album, a collection of '60s-influenced pop/rock produced by Andy Paley , and co-written by Paley and the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, also included such musical luminaries as Brian Wilson , Tommy Ramone , James Burton , Flaco Jiménez and Philadelphia DJ Jerry "The Geator" Blavat. In November 2007, Adams formed "The Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet" with Scott Ligon on guitar and vocals, Pete Donnelly (of The Figgs ) on bass and Conrad Choucroun and Ardolino on drums. In March 2011, Adams posted an open letter to fans announcing that with

3382-769: The band (20 years, from 1974 until 1994), and was often augmented by the Whole Wheat Horns (Donn Adams, Keith Spring and others). Starting in September 1989, NRBQ opened for R.E.M. on the "Acronym Tour" with the first concert taking place on the 27th at the University of Dayton Arena. The last stop on the tour was at the Shoreline Amphitheater at Mountain View in Mountain View, California on October 21. Rolling Stone' s Sam Freedman noted that

3471-495: The band experienced personnel shifts, with the departure of Ferguson (replaced for one year by Ken Sheehan), Gadler, and Staley, and the arrival of two new members: guitarist/singer Al Anderson formerly of The Wildweeds, known for the Connecticut and Massachusetts regional hit "No Good To Cry", and drummer Tom Ardolino . The Adams / Spampinato / Anderson / Ardolino quartet stayed together longer than any other incarnation of

3560-472: The band left for Florida in late 1966. In Miami , early January 1967, NRBQ played six nights at The Cheetah. Soon after, Orten and Ferguson returned to Louisville. Adams stayed behind and joined The Seven of Us, a band that was playing the same club. By August, the NRBQ was Adams (keyboards), Ferguson (guitar), Spampinato (bass) and Frank Gadler (vocals) from The Seven of Us, and Tom Staley (drums). In December 1968, they began recording with Eddie Kramer at

3649-528: The band's former road manager Klem Klimek on saxophone. Gadler, former lead vocalist, also appeared. The band's music is a blend of styles from rockabilly to Beatles -influenced pop to Thelonious Monk -inspired jazz . They have attracted fans as diverse as Bob Dylan , Paul McCartney , Elvis Costello , Keith Richards , The Replacements , John Sebastian , Dave Edmunds , Ira Kaplan and Penn & Teller . NRBQ songs have been performed by Bonnie Raitt , Los Lobos , and Dave Edmunds among others. Also,

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3738-410: The cartoon to Nickelodeon executives, Hillenburg donned a Hawaiian shirt, brought along an "underwater terrarium with models of the characters", and played Hawaiian music to set the theme. The setup was described by Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing". They were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode " Help Wanted ". Drymon, Hillenburg, and Jennings returned with what

3827-428: The character for a "Cheese Man". He settled on the name "SpongeBob". "SquarePants" was chosen as a family name after Kenny saw a picture of the character and remarked, "Boy, look at this sponge in square pants, thinking he can get a job in a fast food place." When he heard Kenny say it, Hillenburg loved the phrase and felt it would reinforce the character's nerdiness. Derek Drymon , who served as creative director for

3916-432: The character's square personality perfectly. Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Pearl, and Squidward were the next characters Hillenburg created for the show. To voice the series' central character, Hillenburg turned to Tom Kenny , whose career in animation had started alongside Hillenburg's on Rocko's Modern Life . Elements of Kenny's own personality were employed to develop the character further. Initially, Hillenburg wanted to use

4005-434: The characters from The Intertidal Zone , including the comic's "announcer", Bob the Sponge. He wanted his series to stand out from most popular cartoons of the time, which he felt were exemplified by buddy comedies like The Ren & Stimpy Show . As a result, Hillenburg decided to focus on a single main character: the "weirdest" sea creature he could think of. This led him to the sponge. The Intertidal Zone ' s Bob

4094-436: The characters. Since other voices had been found for the main cast already, Lawrence began by voicing a variety of minor characters. This included Plankton, who was initially only set to appear in one episode. Mr. Lawrence recalls that Nickelodeon executives told Hillenburg, "'we could stunt-cast this. You know, we could have Bruce Willis do this voice.' And Steve was just like, 'it's Doug [Lawrence], don't you hear it? This

4183-422: The comic professionally published, but none of the companies he sent it to were interested. A large inspiration to Hillenburg was Ween 's 1997 album The Mollusk , which had a nautical and underwater theme. Hillenburg contacted the band shortly after the album's release, explaining the baseline ideas for SpongeBob SquarePants , and also requested a song from the band, which they sent on Christmas Eve. This song

4272-576: The episode " Take My Wife, Sleaze " and to perform Edmunds's cover of "Me & The Boys". The band also recorded a song entitled "Birdman" for an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast entitled " Pilot ". The group appeared in feature films, including Day of the Dead , Shakes the Clown , and 28 Days . Their cover version of " Down in My Heart " appeared in the series finale of Wilfred . NRBQ has

4361-417: The episode when Mr. Krabs uses even more profanity than SpongeBob and Patrick was inspired "by the fact that my [Drymon's] mother has a sailor mouth herself". The idea for the episode "The Secret Box" also came from one of Drymon's childhood experiences. Hillenburg explained, "Drymon had a secret box [as a kid] and started telling us about it. We wanted to make fun of him and use it." Almost every episode

4450-403: The family business. Another of SpongeBob's friends is Sandy Cheeks , a thrill-seeking and athletic squirrel from Texas , who wears an air-filled diving suit to breathe underwater. She lives in a tree enclosed in a clear glass dome locked by an airtight, hand-turned seal and is an expert in karate . Located across the street from the Krusty Krab is an unsuccessful rival restaurant called

4539-441: The film was finalized and the third season finished, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner. Although he no longer had a direct role in the series' production, he maintained an advisory role and reviewed each episode. It reached a point where I felt I'd contributed a lot and said what I wanted to say. At that point, the show needed new blood, and so I selected Paul [Tibbitt] to produce. I totally trusted him. I always enjoyed

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4628-425: The first three seasons, has said that Hillenburg wanted to surround himself with a "team of young and hungry people." Many of the major contributors to SpongeBob SquarePants had worked before with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life , including: Drymon, art director Nick Jennings , supervising director Alan Smart , writer/voice actor Doug Lawrence (often credited as Mr. Lawrence), and Tim Hill , who helped develop

4717-447: The following country singles: SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon . It was revealed as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999, and officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It chronicles the adventures of the titular character and his aquatic friends in

4806-426: The group served as the unofficial "house band" for The Simpsons for the season 10–12 period in which NRBQ fan Mike Scully was head writer and executive producer. NRBQ allowed several of their songs to be used on The Simpsons , including "Mayonnaise and Marmalade", written specifically for the show. The band also appeared in animated form and on camera during the end credits to perform the show's theme song during

4895-417: The main background characters for the show and are featured in almost every episode. They are each referred as "Incidental" followed by their given model number. Their names, jobs, personalities, relationships, voices, ages, and sometimes gender are inconsistent and tend to differ from each episode. There are 222 of these characters. Special (generally half-hour or hour-long) episodes of the show are hosted by

4984-452: The main character. Kenny originally used the voice of SpongeBob for a minor character on Rocko . He forgot how to perform the voice initially and did not intend to use it afterward. Hillenburg, however, used a video clip of the episode to remind Kenny of the voice. When Hillenburg heard Kenny perform the voice, he knew immediately he wanted it for his character. He said to Nickelodeon executives, "That's it—I don't want to hear anybody else do

5073-476: The name SpongeBoy—the character had no last name—and the series was to have been named SpongeBoy Ahoy! However, the Nickelodeon legal department discovered—after voice acting had been completed for the original seven-minute pilot episode—that the name "SpongeBoy" was already copyrighted. In choosing a replacement name, Hillenburg felt he still had to use the word "Sponge", so that viewers would not mistake

5162-519: The neighboring houses of SpongeBob , Patrick , and Squidward ; two competing restaurants, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket ; Mrs. Puff 's Boating School, which includes a driving course and a sunken lighthouse ; the Treedome, an oxygenated glass enclosure where Sandy lives; Shady Shoals Rest Home; a seagrass meadow called Jellyfish Fields; and Goo Lagoon, a subaqueous brine pool that

5251-539: The oceanographer Jacques Cousteau . Recurring guest characters appear throughout the series including: the retired superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy , who are idolized by SpongeBob and Patrick; a pirate specter known as the Flying Dutchman ; the muscular lifeguard of Goo Lagoon, Larry the Lobster ; and the merman god of the sea, King Neptune . There is also a large variety of characters who serve as

5340-523: The oral exams he takes, but he panics and crashes when he tries to drive a real boat, hence failing the course multiple times. When Mrs. Puff endures one of SpongeBob's crashes or is otherwise frightened, she puffs up into a ball. An unseen figure called the French Narrator often introduces episodes and narrates the intertitles as if the series were a nature documentary about the ocean. His role and distinctive manner of speaking are references to

5429-463: The pilot) and was offered the role of story editor , but turned it down—he would go on to pursue a career as a family film director. In his stead, Pete Burns was brought in for the job. Burns hailed from Chicago and had never met any of the principal players on SpongeBob before joining the team. The execs from Nickelodeon flew out to Burbank , and we pitched it to them from the storyboards . We had squeezy toys, wore Hawaiian shirts, and used

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5518-412: The process for SpongeBob SquarePants —even though Nickelodeon was beginning to show a greater preference for script-driven cartoons. Another series' writer, Merriwether Williams , explained in an interview that she and Mr. Lawrence would write a draft for an episode in an afternoon and be done at 4:00 pm. The writing staff often used their personal experiences as inspiration for the storylines of

5607-513: The release of the upcoming album, Keep This Love Goin' , this line-up would take on the NRBQ name. He also explained that while he did have tendinitis, the real reason for the hiatus was his treatment for cancer. In May 2012, the group released a live album, We Travel the Spaceways , on Clang! records. During September 2012, bassist Donnelly was replaced by Scott Ligon's friend Casey McDonough. (As of 2021, Ligon and McDonough are also members of

5696-417: The role, Alan was shown an early drawing of the characters and noted that Pearl was much larger than the rest of the cast. She decided to reflect the character's size in her voice by making it deep and full in tone. She aimed to make it invoke the sound of whales' low vocalizations while also sounding "spoiled and lovable." In an interview with AfterBuzz TV , Alan said she knew Pearl "had to sound somewhat like

5785-485: The role. American actress Mary Jo Catlett, who is known for her live-action roles on television programs from the 1970s such as Diff'rent Strokes and M*A*S*H provides Mrs. Puff's voice. As of 2017, voicing Mrs. Puff has become her only regular television role; Catlett described herself as "basically retired" in 2013, since she feels that voicing Mrs. Puff requires less preparation than her performances in person. Lori Alan voices Pearl Krabs. During her audition for

5874-408: The same time when Hillenburg, Derek Drymon and Tim Hill were writing the pilot "Help Wanted", Hillenburg was also conducting auditions to find voices for the characters. Fagerbakke auditioned for the role of Patrick after Kenny had been cast. Fagerbakke recalled that during this audition, "Hillenburg actually played for me a portion of Tom [Kenny]'s performance [as SpongeBob], and they were looking for

5963-487: The series is the fifth-longest-running American animated series . Its popularity made it a multimedia franchise , the highest rated Nickelodeon series, and the most profitable intellectual property for Paramount Consumer Products . By 2019, it had generated over $ 13 billion in merchandising revenue. The series has run for a total of fourteen seasons, and has inspired three feature films: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Sponge Out of Water (2015), and Sponge on

6052-472: The series would continue after his death. In February 2019, incoming president Brian Robbins vowed Nickelodeon would keep the show in production for as long as the network exists. As of the ninth season, former writers and storyboard directors Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli act as showrunners. Hillenburg is still posthumously credited as executive producer in episodes as of 2024. According to writer and storyboard artist Luke Brookshier , " SpongeBob

6141-420: The series' episodes. For example, the episode " Sailor Mouth ", where SpongeBob and Patrick learn profanity , was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon's experience as a child of getting into trouble for using the f-word in front of his mother. Drymon said, "The scene where Patrick is running to Mr. Krabs to tattle, with SpongeBob chasing him, is pretty much how it happened in real life". The end of

6230-556: The show as a writer, director, and storyboard artist, to take over his role as showrunner to produce additional seasons. Hillenburg considered Tibbitt one of his favorite members of the show's crew, and "totally trusted him". On December 13, 2014, it was announced that Hillenburg would return to the series in an unspecified position. On November 26, 2018, at the age of 57, Hillenburg died from complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with which he had been diagnosed in March 2017. Nickelodeon confirmed via Twitter

6319-451: The show was renewed for a fifteenth season, which premiered in July 2024. SpongeBob SquarePants has won a variety of awards including six Annie Awards , eight Golden Reel Awards , four Emmy Awards , two BAFTA Children's Awards , and a record-breaking twenty-one Kids' Choice Awards . A Broadway musical based on the series opened in 2017 to critical acclaim. The series is also noted as

6408-400: The show's setting. Transitions between scenes are marked by bubbles filling the screen, accompanied by the sound of rushing water. The series features "sky flowers" as a main setting material. When series background designer Kenny Pittenger was asked what they were, he answered, "They function as clouds in a way, but since the show takes place underwater, they aren't really clouds. Because of

6497-537: The show. The series takes place primarily in the benthic underwater city of Bikini Bottom located in the Pacific Ocean beneath the real-life coral reef known as Bikini Atoll . Its citizens are mostly multicolored fish who live in buildings made from ship funnels and use "boatmobiles", amalgamations of cars and boats, as a mode of transportation. Recurring locations within Bikini Bottom include

6586-410: The soon-to-be syndicated comic strip, Citizen Dog . While he would later join SpongeBob as a writer, he lacked the time to get involved with both projects from the outset. Drymon has said, "I remember Hillenburg's bringing it up to Mark in our office and asking him if he'd be interested in working on it ... I was all ready to say yes to the offer, but Steve didn't ask; he just left the room. I

6675-498: The underwater city of Bikini Bottom . Many of the series' ideas originated in The Intertidal Zone , an unpublished educational comic book Hillenburg created in 1989 to teach his students about undersea life. Hillenburg joined Nickelodeon in 1992 as an artist on Rocko's Modern Life . After Rocko was cancelled in 1996, he began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series that same year, and in 1997,

6764-407: The upper hand and put the Krusty Krab out of business. Karen supplies him with evil schemes to obtain the formula, but their efforts always fail and their restaurant rarely has any customers. When SpongeBob is not working at the Krusty Krab, he is often taking boating lessons from Mrs. Puff , a paranoid but patient pufferfish . SpongeBob is Mrs. Puff's most diligent student and knows every answer to

6853-455: The voice of Queen Amphitrite in the episode " The Clash of Triton ". Voice recording sessions always include a full cast of actors, which Kenny describes as "getting more unusual". Kenny said, "That's another thing that's given SpongeBob its special feel. Everybody's in the same room, doing it old radio-show style. It's how the stuff we like was recorded". Series writer Jay Lender said, "The recording sessions were always fun ..." For

6942-595: The voice over" in 2009. He elaborated in a 2012 interview, saying, "I always enjoy the back-and-forth. [Talley and I] start to actually overlap so much talking to each other that [the voice directors] have to tell us, 'hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying!'" Carolyn Lawrence voices Sandy Cheeks. She was in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, with a friend who knew SpongeBob SquarePants casting director Donna Grillo. Her friend said to Grillo that Lawrence had "an interesting voice". Grillo invited her to audition and she got

7031-518: The voice. We've got SpongeBob." The network insisted on auditioning more actors, but Hillenburg turned them down; in the words of Tom Kenny, "one of the advantages of having a strong creator is that the creator can say, 'No, I like that—I don't care about celebrities.'" While Kenny was developing SpongeBob's voice, the show's casting crew wanted him to have a unique, high-pitched laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker . Fagerbakke voices Patrick Star and other miscellaneous characters. At

7120-472: The way he captured the SpongeBob character's sense of humor. And as a writer, you have to move on—I'm developing new projects. — Stephen Hillenburg , The Washington Post When the film was completed, Hillenburg intended it to be the series finale , "so [the show] wouldn't jump the shark ." However, Nickelodeon wanted more episodes. Hillenburg appointed Paul Tibbitt , who had previously served on

7209-528: Was "Loop de Loop", which was used in the episode "Your Shoe's Untied". While working as a staff artist at the Ocean Institute, Hillenburg entertained plans to return eventually to college for a master's degree in art. Before this could materialize, he attended an animation festival, which inspired him to make a slight change in course. Instead of continuing his education with a traditional art program, Hillenburg chose to study experimental animation at

7298-760: Was (and still is) a member of power-pop band The Incredible Casuals . On April 30 and May 1, 2004, the group celebrated its 35th anniversary with concerts at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts . The shows featured every former and current member of the band, as Ferguson, Gadler, Staley, Sheehan and Anderson came back for a NRBQ reunion. After the Halloween engagement at Shank Hall in Milwaukee in 2004, NRBQ went on hiatus. Adams had developed stage 4 throat cancer. During this time, Ardolino and

7387-418: Was [how it brought] in a new character, Mrs. Puff, who I love." Until his death in 2018, Hillenburg had served as the executive producer over the course of the series' entire history and functioned as its showrunner from its debut in 1999 until 2004. The series went on hiatus in 2002, after Hillenburg halted production on the show itself to work on the feature film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie . Once

7476-438: Was also instrumental in SpongeBob ' s genesis. Kenny has called him "one of SpongeBob's early graphics mentors". On weekends, Kenny joined Hillenburg, Jennings, and Drymon for creative sessions where they recorded ideas on a tape recorder. Kenny performed audio tests as SpongeBob during these sessions, while Hillenburg voice acted the other characters. Hill contributed scripts for several first-season episodes (including

7565-500: Was described by Nickelodeon official Albie Hecht as, "a performance [he] wished [he] had on tape". Although executive producer Derek Drymon described the pitch as stressful, he said it went "very well". Kevin Kay and Hecht had to step outside because they were "exhausted from laughing", which worried the cartoonists. In an interview, Cyma Zarghami , then-president of Nickelodeon, said, "their [Nickelodeon executives'] immediate reaction

7654-434: Was pretty desperate ... so I ran into the hall after him and basically begged him for the job. He didn't jump at the chance." Once Hillenburg had given it some thought and decided to bring Drymon on as creative director, the two began meeting at Hillenburg's house several times a week to develop the series. Drymon has identified this period as having begun in 1996, shortly after the end of Rocko's Modern Life . Jennings

7743-775: Was the frontman of the band the Wildweeds , which had success with the song "No Good To Cry", which he wrote. Between December 1971 and December 1993, he was the lead guitarist in the rock band NRBQ , also releasing several solo albums. He also played electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards 's 1973 album Have a Good Time for Me . In the 1990s, Anderson shifted his focus to country music, writing hit songs for such artists as Carlene Carter , Vince Gill , Diamond Rio and Trisha Yearwood , as well as Tim McGraw 's number 1 hit " The Cowboy in Me " and several album cuts. Anderson has also released six solo albums. Anderson has written or co-written

7832-477: Was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before". Zarghami was one of four executives in the room when SpongeBob SquarePants was screened for the first time. Before commissioning the full series, Nickelodeon executives insisted that it would not be popular unless SpongeBob was a child who went to school, with his teacher as a main character. Hillenburg recalled in 2012 that Nickelodeon told him, "Our winning formula

7921-453: Was to use Post-it notes . Most of the dialogue and jokes are added during this stage. Brookshier has likened this process to how cartoons were made "in the early days of animation ". The decision to eschew scripts for storyboards is one that Hillenburg made early in the series' development. Rocko's Modern Life had also used storyboarding derived from short outlines, and having worked on that series, Hillenburg felt strongly about adopting

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