0:00

There was only so much that you could do in this

0:02

and this range down here. Wow, Gary,

0:05

you know, and let me started getting more excited

0:08

and more up here and and and just like

0:10

whoa. Welcome

0:14

to SpongeBob binge Pants, Nickelodeon's

0:17

official podcast about all things SpongeBob.

0:19

I'm Hector Navarro and I'm Frankie

0:21

Grandang. Hello, everyone, Welcome

0:24

to the part one season finale

0:26

of SpongeBob Binge Pants.

0:29

And in this first part, we are talking to

0:31

the SpongeBob square pants himself,

0:33

Mr Tom Kenny, and

0:36

this is a fantastic conversation.

0:38

Tom talks about his experiences on Rocko's

0:41

Modern Live. We're going to talk about the

0:43

discovery of the voice that became SpongeBob,

0:46

his creative relationship with Stephen Hellenberg,

0:48

and his perspective on Steve's Beautiful

0:51

Mind is something that we cover during this

0:53

podcast, as well as Tom's

0:55

early impressions of SpongeBob and what

0:57

he loved about it, as well as we've

1:00

got viewers submitted questions

1:02

from Twitter by you, asked

1:04

by our listeners, So we're gonna get

1:06

into all of that and more in part one

1:09

of our Finally, Finally

1:11

finally here interview with Mr

1:14

Tom Kenny. Here we go. The

1:20

cool thing is, Tom, I had an opportunity

1:23

to interview you years ago for the Nickelodeon

1:26

Animation podcast. On that show,

1:28

you were telling me the story about how you auditioned

1:30

for Saturday Night Live and almost

1:33

got cast on the show but ended up not getting

1:35

it, and how that led you to SpongeBob.

1:38

And before SpongeBob, you were heffer on Rocko's

1:40

Modern Life and that show also had talent

1:43

like Stephen Hellenberg, Mr Lawrence,

1:46

Derek Drymond, they were all working on it and

1:48

more so, first question,

1:50

how did you go from Rocko

1:52

to SpongeBob? The Saturday Night Live

1:54

blow didn't directly lead

1:57

to Rocco, But you know, I have been a stand

1:59

up you know, I was making a living at that and

2:01

you know, pretty amazed that that was even happening,

2:04

you know, and uh, stand up was everywhere

2:06

right into the late eighties and early nineties.

2:08

But I wanted to be a voiceover guy. That's what that That's

2:11

the job that I really wanted since I was a kid and I was

2:13

loving stand up, but I was kind of maybe ready

2:15

for something else and maybe thinking this isn't what

2:18

I want, But maybe people don't get to do the

2:20

job the one I got. All these other

2:23

comedian friends that are going, I would kill to be where you

2:25

are. I'm going, jeez, how how come

2:27

I can't want what you're supposed to want. I'm

2:29

not wanting whatever you're supposed to want, which

2:31

is to have your stand up character lead to a sitcom

2:33

where it's like Tom Kenny in it all knew where are

2:35

my pants? You know, or whatever. But it did

2:37

kind of make me redouble my efforts

2:39

at trying to break into voiceover, which I had tried

2:41

a lot, and just it was hard

2:43

to make inroads in it. You know, I always auditioned

2:46

when I lived in San Francisco. There was a couple of voiceover

2:48

agencies, and I put on a nice little shirt and tie

2:50

and like walking around my tape, you know, knock on

2:52

their door. You know. What happened was through stand

2:55

up. Carlos ellis Rocky

2:57

great stand up. He had been cast as

3:00

the voice of Rocko the Wallaby

3:03

by Joe Murray and Joe

3:05

Murray's upcoming nicktoon

3:07

series Rocko's Modern Life. So

3:09

Joe Murray said to Carlos Hey is there anybody

3:12

that you think might be right to audition for this? You

3:14

know these guys Helfer, you know, and Carlos

3:17

one of those guys that I owe. I owe so much

3:19

too. There's there's a million of them in my life.

3:21

But he said, uh, you know this guy Tom Kenny.

3:23

So so me and Joe hit it

3:26

off. I auditioned for the character. I did an impression

3:28

of my then teenage a thirteen

3:30

year old nephew. It was kind of halfer and

3:33

it worked, you know, and so wow, now I'm

3:35

off to the races. And next thing I knew,

3:37

I was recording there in Burbank

3:40

with Carlos and Charlie Adler as

3:42

as Ed and Bev big Head. It was

3:44

just like revelatory.

3:47

Yeah, this is the job I always

3:50

wanted to do. This is what I wanted to do since I was six years

3:52

old. Stand ups cool, and writing is cool,

3:54

and being on cameras cool. It sure beats

3:57

working a real job, none of which I have

3:59

any qualified as to do. But you

4:01

know, this's got all I got. And uh it's

4:04

so cliche and cornball, but like

4:06

I really felt like I was home captain.

4:10

I've been turning my whole life for the day I got joined

4:13

the Krusty Crew and now I'm ready,

4:21

Like you said, Rocco is one of those Petrie

4:23

Dish shows where Joe

4:26

Murray had such a great eye for

4:29

talented you know, people who had

4:31

a knack for this stuff that

4:33

we're just starting out that he

4:35

uh, he hired all these guys. We hired

4:37

Hillenberg, and he hired DMan,

4:40

and he hired Nick Jennings and Robert

4:42

Skull And it was just

4:44

amazing to be in

4:46

that and so lucky for

4:49

me, and such great timing because

4:51

it was right at a time where creator

4:54

driven shows were a thing.

4:56

You know, Renny Snimpy had paved the way

4:58

and then all these other shows. Rocco was

5:01

able to ride that wave and be much different

5:03

from Rended Stimpy. But but still Joe

5:05

was the guy. It was very much his sensibility,

5:08

his view of the world. Rocco was him. Joe

5:10

was just amazing. He respected

5:13

our humor, you know, so he let us play around

5:15

and do stuff and sometimes it again in the

5:17

show. And the writers were also great. Mr Lawrence's

5:20

tenure on Rocco's Modern Life. Wow, that's

5:22

a big one for SpongeBob so Rocco

5:25

did lead directly to SpongeBob,

5:28

and that team of people was

5:30

just incredible. Look what all those guys

5:32

have done and worked on. It's pretty crazy

5:35

that there was this one little Nickelodeon

5:37

show. It was a pretty small pool, and SpongeBob

5:39

is a small pool still, so fascinating,

5:43

so wonderful. Here

5:45

we see Bikinea Buckam teaming

5:47

with life home of one of my favorite

5:49

creatures, SpongeBob square

5:52

Pads. Yes, of course, he lives in a

5:54

pineapple. You silly.

5:59

We've had so many on the show that have been

6:01

in the world, and we've heard so many different versions

6:03

of the beginning of this season

6:05

of SpongeBob. And one of the things that we heard

6:07

from one of our guests was that when

6:09

you were working on Rock Oh, you did some

6:12

crowdwala and that

6:14

Stephen remembered a weird voice that you

6:16

did from one of the Walla scenes,

6:19

and he asked if you would use that voice for SpongeBob.

6:21

Is that true? Yeah, yeah, it

6:23

is. There was a voice that I had heard somewhere

6:25

else and it was kind of fresh in my mind.

6:27

It just happened. I heard I heard somebody

6:30

talking. It was their real voice,

6:32

and like us, guys, do you just kind

6:34

of colate that stand ups and voiceover edgers

6:37

go, wow, I've taken that. You know, I've taken that. I gotta

6:39

remember that. And then a lot of times you just mashed

6:41

stuff up, you know you Hey, my uncle, and

6:44

then that guy that I rode on the Greyhound

6:46

bus with in nine six, and

6:48

then this weird character actor from nineteen thirty

6:50

two. I'm gonna mash them up and maybe

6:52

if I put them all together, it'll get me

6:54

a gig, you know. So it's all about getting the gig, even

6:57

no matter how many shows you're

6:59

on. Really, what you get addicted to is that

7:01

adrenaline of like auditioning and then

7:03

they go, hey, you got it? You know, yes, you

7:06

know, Like that's that's why people are like, why

7:08

do you still audition? You know? Foggerbox is

7:10

like, why do you work so hard? Man? Just chill

7:13

out, like I'm totally

7:15

SpongeBob but he's totally Patrick in real

7:18

life. But yeah, that that's uh

7:21

whatever. The question was, yeah,

7:24

no, so so Steve, so so I did

7:26

that voice and yeah we're just doing crowds

7:30

right right, and uh yeah, I just

7:32

did that guy and

7:36

Steven Steve remembered it. You know, like

7:38

like for me, it was kind of disposable. You know,

7:40

it's like, Okay, that's done. That will never come

7:42

in handy again. But it made people laugh today.

7:45

And uh, Steve Steve was

7:48

Steve was amazing. I mean, the way his mind

7:50

worked. That has been the running

7:52

theme of Frank and I getting to do this show and

7:55

just like rewatching the first season and

7:57

talking to all of you guys, the running theme

8:00

Tom has been like Stephen Hillenburg was

8:02

this amazing, amazing guy who was

8:04

the absolute perfect person to create this

8:06

show and to collect everybody

8:08

and just so so cool to hear it

8:11

from literally every person we meet

8:13

that he was just the guy. That's true, and

8:15

that's who he was naturally, but

8:17

he was also a learner. You know,

8:19

he also learned things. It's not just like, oh

8:21

I have all the I just naturally have all these abilities

8:24

that comes easy to me. You know. He looked at Joe

8:26

Murray and saw what Joe did. And Steve

8:28

was the creative director on the show, you know, I

8:31

believe, And then when it came time for him

8:33

to pitch his own show or the door

8:35

open for him Hey, if he got anything, show

8:37

it to us. He had learned, you know, his learning cap We

8:39

all had our learning curve on on

8:41

Rocco, and I think Steve

8:44

saw what he would do the same,

8:47

and maybe a couple of things that maybe he would do

8:49

differently, you know, just just because he's a

8:51

different guy and was a slightly different

8:53

sensibility. Totally. The amazing

8:56

thing to me about Steve was that his his

8:58

right brain and his left brain,

9:01

we're both proteantly hurt.

9:04

Julian. Yeah, his right brain,

9:06

the creative side, could move mountains,

9:09

and then like his his get business

9:11

done side was also incredibly

9:14

acute. That's a really unusual split

9:17

for people to have. I mean, you're

9:20

either one or the other, you know what I mean, You're

9:22

either have my right brain flake creative

9:25

and I do the best I can with the other stuff.

9:27

Or you know, I'm a business guy and I'm a bean counter

9:29

and I'm an abacus with legs. I just

9:31

count money or make deals or whatever.

9:34

And Steve was like all of

9:36

it. It's incredible. Steve and I hit

9:38

it off on Rocco, like I could make

9:40

him laughing, and I think he I

9:42

think he liked my sense of humor, and we would also

9:44

talk about stuff you know that wasn't cartoons,

9:47

and you know whatever, politics and science

9:49

in the real world and comedy and shows

9:52

and just everything, you know, the way you

9:54

talked to somebody you click with. And then once

9:57

Rocco ended, people kind of went their separate

9:59

ways. And then Steve started pitching Smudgebob and

10:01

he you know, he called me in and

10:03

after that we got very close. Split word

10:05

wit. Now you dropped

10:07

this little piece of paper. Yeah, so what I

10:10

just figured you probably wanted back. What's

10:13

the big deal? It's only garbage, garbage

10:16

like squid word. In the right

10:18

hands, this paper is a gold

10:20

mine of entertainment, a spectacular

10:22

afternoon of underwater fun bag.

10:29

You gotta remember, like, just remember the Smudgelob

10:31

started with a guy drawing something out a little piece

10:33

of paper. I love that.

10:35

I love that it ended. It ended with a

10:37

guy saw something in his head and he drew

10:39

it on a piece of paper. That's really where

10:42

everything starts and where it all matters.

10:44

It's all ideas, So respect

10:46

your ideas. Don't poo poo or short

10:49

change your ideas,

10:51

you know, like like yeah, it's kids,

10:53

don't think about it. That way because they just see old cartoons,

10:56

you know, they think, I think they just sprang

10:58

out of Steve's head like Zeus or something.

11:00

Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a lot

11:02

of blood, sweat and tears. And it all

11:04

starts with an idea.

11:07

When he had me over to his apartment

11:09

to show me, um this thing that he was thinking

11:12

of pitching. It was in that little box

11:14

that he had. You know, all of SpongeBob was contained

11:16

in that little box in his desk. You

11:18

know, I need to get out. It's amazing, I would

11:20

say, it's it's an ark of the Covenant, you

11:22

know. Don't look at him marrying, you know,

11:25

and uh, it's

11:27

beautiful. No no no, no, no, no no.

11:29

And I'm glad to hear that everybody

11:31

else was acknowledging that and feeling

11:34

the same as me, because I

11:36

guess why wouldn't they. It's it's yeah, will

11:38

you show me? But inside your secret bol

11:41

SpongeBob, it's for me to

11:43

know and for you to never find

11:45

out. What was your first impression when you

11:47

looked into the ark? Did you see the next twenty

11:50

plus years of your life ahead

11:51

of front of your eyes? Like this is it?

11:55

Camera crashes into my eyes, got

11:59

to me fifty years. I

12:04

think this is gonna work. I think this is

12:06

gonna work. Stephen, this is great. Tom

12:08

Kenny as Old Man Walker as SpongeBob. I

12:11

didn't see the next uh twenty five

12:13

years of my life, but but I did love

12:15

it. I've always been a big cartooning fan. I

12:17

don't draw myself, but but I a

12:19

lot of my idols our cartoon is a lot of my

12:22

heroes have been cartoonists, like creative

12:24

heroes, and so many of the guys that I

12:26

worked with started out as cartoonists,

12:28

not animators. You know. Peter Hannon

12:31

from Cat Dog was like a print cartoonist.

12:33

Joe Murray was a print cartoonist.

12:35

I always love that stuff. When Steve showed me those graphics,

12:39

it really was kind of revelatory, like

12:42

you really did see it all. I think that's why it was such a

12:44

great pitch, because I

12:46

saw it, and you know, Okay, there's

12:48

this house, that's where he lives, that's how he dresses.

12:50

That drawing of him eager to please and

12:52

and ready to roll, and and what do

12:54

you need like that drawing set

12:56

at all? And then there were the other characters

12:59

good Word and Mr Crabs and yeah, Sandy,

13:01

you know they looked a little bit different but not appreciably

13:04

so. And the houses, the buildings,

13:06

the architecture, Bikini bottom, it

13:08

was all there. Steve told me how Mr.

13:10

Krabs was based on a real boss that he had

13:12

had at a restaurant job that he had worked,

13:15

and uh, I don't know that squid

13:17

word was based on anybody in particular, but just kind

13:19

of an amalcolm of all the naysayers

13:22

and negative people that you run into in your

13:24

life that are too brother, you're

13:26

you know, you're still doing that, you know, and

13:29

uh got a lock with that, and uh,

13:31

you know, hometown people and SpongeBob

13:34

was a mix of people that Steve

13:37

knew and also comedy archetypes. Archetypes

13:39

you know, the naive guy that hangs

13:41

around with the even dumber guy who they drive

13:44

everybody crazy with their positivity. Yeah,

13:46

I mean those are all really classic

13:49

never fail been around

13:51

for five years for a reason,

13:54

tropes, and he did something

13:56

with those things and just turned him into

13:58

something super different that kind

14:00

of made people go wow. Because I remember

14:03

when we did the pilot. After we did the pilot and

14:05

I had it on a little VHS tape that

14:07

that Steve gave me, and I took it home and

14:09

I showed it to my folks, and my

14:11

folks are could not be further from show business.

14:13

My dad was an accountant for an air conditioning

14:16

company, and my mom was a housewife in

14:18

Syracuse, New York. And my dad

14:20

was never never, he never said this kind of

14:22

stuff, you know, but he looked at he said, I

14:25

think that's that's really fun.

14:27

I think that's really got a shot at me. It

14:30

made them laugh, you know. Yeah, Yeah, they

14:33

loved it, you know, and they're just like I said, they couldn't

14:35

be further They weren't looking at it like development

14:37

executives. They're just people that

14:39

watched it. And that's what made SpongeBob

14:43

hit was just that visceral

14:45

initial reaction, regular people

14:47

watching it and going for reasons

14:49

I can't fully collate

14:52

or articulate. I love

14:54

this Hi Captain

14:56

one hydro Dynamic spachelt with portin starb

14:58

taps about drive right up, sir, carry

15:01

on, we'd never see that

15:03

lumber again. You're terrible

15:06

hydrow. What Steve

15:13

did say that he took a lot of SpongeBob's

15:16

aspects from my personality, you know,

15:18

like hyperactive and eager

15:21

to please, and you know, yeah, capity,

15:23

what do we need to do here? You know, along with a bunch of other

15:25

stuff that he took from elsewhere. But I

15:27

think one of the reasons that he picked

15:30

me to voice SpongeBob was

15:32

that he felt that I understood

15:35

the character. When he showed me that stuff, I was

15:37

like, I know this guy, and I loved since

15:39

I was a cartooning family, I was saying, I love

15:41

the graphics, and you know, it was kind of simultaneously

15:44

classic and new. It

15:46

look like Looney Tunes, looked like under sixties

15:49

underground comics look like uh

15:51

something, also totally new and fresh.

15:53

It really did jump off the

15:56

paper in a way that a lot of pitches don't.

15:58

I didn't see it last yours, and

16:00

I could look at it in in two

16:03

D on a piece of paper and

16:05

totally picture what the show would look

16:07

like, feel like

16:10

like I could see the animated version of

16:12

it when I looked at it on paper, and

16:14

and obviously other people could too, because I

16:16

think that was the strength of the pitch. You know, in

16:18

his bible, Okay, Patrick, it's all on

16:20

the technique, like this

16:23

spin around, stop, double

16:25

take three times, then

16:30

have a last as

16:41

we wind down this part one of this

16:43

fantastic interview. Before we go into part two,

16:45

we have some fan curated

16:47

Twitter questions for you. This is a segment

16:50

that we're calling asked Me

16:52

Anything, asked

16:55

by Pandemonium and Brianna

16:58

Gift underscore. How do you feel

17:00

SpongeBob's voice has changed over

17:02

the years. I guess every character's

17:04

voice morphs and changes over the Yeah,

17:07

I think he was a little he was a little more down

17:09

here when he when he started, maybe maybe because

17:11

he was a little more in the grown up world and

17:13

you know, sort of working at the you

17:16

know, working at the restaurant and stuff. And then

17:18

sort of without us noticing his voice

17:21

kind of as he became more childlike

17:23

in the scripts and as he became

17:25

more of a kid in some of the stories.

17:28

Yeah, he just started just he just

17:30

sort of sort of there was just there

17:32

was only so much that you could do in this and

17:35

this range down here, Wow, Gary,

17:37

you know, and then he started getting more excited

17:40

and more up here and and and just like

17:42

wow, I think he became more

17:45

hyperactive, more child and and just

17:47

just I think I felt like I needed someplace to

17:49

go where I have more wiggle

17:52

room. As his character developed, as

17:54

he got more layers. And obviously

17:56

when you're doing a pilot and you're and you're doing

17:58

the first season or something as a little defer, you're always

18:00

thinking and tweaking. And I guess the way

18:02

that like Daffy Tucker, Bugs Bunny or Homer Simpson

18:05

or whatever like sound different but season

18:07

three than they did in season one. They don't

18:09

even really notice it. You know, nobody notices

18:11

it. It's just sort of like erosion. Yes,

18:14

I'm okay. You

18:17

know you're the first sacredit

18:19

to ever visit. I can'd

18:21

imagine. Why can

18:23

I get you anything? What would

18:26

be nice? Next question? This

18:28

was asked by uh two

18:31

questions that are sort of similar enough. They were asked

18:33

by two fans. This one was from at

18:36

Jove Robot Face and at pocket

18:38

Frogs. They asked, what's the most memorable

18:41

line that you've said in SpongeBob.

18:44

What I love about SpongeBob is that once

18:46

one of those catchphrases becomes

18:49

kind of iconic, they are

18:51

sort of reticent to reuse

18:54

it again. Like those lines,

18:56

you don't they don't use them over and over Hey that word.

18:58

Let's have him say that all even I'm

19:00

ready, yeah, you know, it doesn't get overused,

19:03

you know, and say I'm ready. You know, he'll

19:05

say it here and there. But that was kind of like the

19:07

first words he uttered, you know, when he when he

19:10

he slammed out of his pineapple and that pilot

19:12

ready, I'm ready to ready,

19:18

I'm ready eddie Eddie Eddie, Eddie,

19:20

eddie eddie eddie ready. But

19:23

um, it's funny. The ones that people ask

19:25

for are sometimes surprising.

19:28

You know. They'll come to you at a comic on and they'll just go,

19:30

you know, my sister's favorite

19:32

line is are you feeling it now? Mr?

19:34

Crabs? You know what? I go, that's

19:36

her favorite line? And I go, yeah, you know, so

19:39

uh yeah, there's the Yeah,

19:41

there's a lot of them, you know, could you say

19:43

he was none by one? You know,

19:45

it's like it's like, wow, that's twenty

19:48

seasons, that's your favorite line, and they're like, yeah, I

19:50

love that. It's but you know, the writers

19:52

then and now we just appreciate

19:54

them so much like giving us funny stuff

19:56

to say. It's cool, especially now is

19:59

as we get into the quarter century mark,

20:01

it's cool to have this mix of like old dogs

20:03

and new blood you know who are and a lot

20:05

of the new blood his generation Sponge that

20:07

grew up with SpongeBob. I've

20:10

just made up that generation Sponge. I'm trying to make that

20:12

a thing. It is pretty crazy,

20:14

Like people recognize you, I know what years

20:17

they were born, more likely which span of

20:19

years they were born. If they recognize me, it's

20:21

because you were born between this year and that year.

20:23

Most of my favorite lines are other people's lines

20:25

on the show. You know, is mayonnaise an instruments?

20:28

Mayonnaise an instrument? No,

20:31

Patrick, mayonnaise is not an instrument.

20:33

This is a really obscure one. But Patchy

20:35

the Pirate in one of the earlier appearances,

20:39

a potty of the parrot of the Marionette

20:41

parrot is bugging them and

20:44

he just looks at me, goes you, I'm ignoring,

20:47

and uh so it's funny.

20:50

I've never heard anyone else love that life, but I use

20:53

that one a lot, you know what I mean? Still,

20:56

yeah, with my kids when they're you I'm

20:58

ignoring. It just comes in handy. It's

21:00

like Borchpelt Pirate. You know, you are

21:02

regarded so if I could

21:05

make a line more iconic than it is, it

21:07

would be you. Ain'm ignoring

21:17

you, I'm ignoring I

21:19

just found that line so funny, and I've never found

21:21

anybody else who even remembers it, you know.

21:25

Asked by Resurrected to seven

21:28

one, what's your favorite part about

21:30

being SpongeBob SquarePants. Wow,

21:34

It's given me the chance to do a job that I really

21:36

love consistently for

21:38

years and years and years, and that's really

21:40

what you want. Most people aren't crazy

21:42

about their jobs. So I feel like animation

21:45

in general and SpongeBob

21:48

in particular, has given me an

21:50

opportunity to just do something I love

21:52

doing and just making a product that you're

21:54

proud of. We try super hard

21:56

to keep the quality super

21:59

high and just give it as much love

22:01

as if it was like it was, And

22:03

I know Mark check re Relli and Vince Waller

22:06

feel the same way, and they're the guys in

22:08

charge and make it a product that

22:11

really it just makes people laugh.

22:17

There you have at everybody. Part one of our

22:19

discussion with Tom Kenny.

22:21

That was so fantastic. I love

22:24

getting that confirmation Frankie that

22:26

the original voice the inspiration for SpongeBob

22:29

came from him doing a weird little voice

22:31

background character in Rockout's

22:33

Modern Life. It was awesome, Wailla.

22:35

It came from wall of voices. And also I would

22:37

like to compliment us on not freaking

22:39

out too much while we were in I

22:42

can't stress enough. You know this everything happens

22:44

for a reason theme motif

22:46

that keeps coming up throughout these interviews

22:49

that we've had on our show over and over again,

22:51

and especially you know with SNL everything

22:53

happens for a reason. He didn't book that gig

22:55

and it put him in a draw a

22:58

new gear in his voice over

23:00

career. He said, I hit that even harder

23:02

when I didn't get SNL, and it led

23:05

me to booking Rocko and SpongeBob.

23:07

So there you go. Just amazing and more

23:10

coming from Tom Kenny. That was only part

23:13

one, so don't go anywhere. Next

23:15

week we will be releasing part two

23:17

of this incredible two part Tom Kenny

23:19

interview, So see you next week. Bye,