Yahoo Lifestyle The "SpongeBob" Cast And Crew Shared The Episodes Closest To Their Hearts, And It May Be The Most Wholesome Thing You Read All Day
Throughout the past few months, I've been sitting down with the SpongeBob cast to celebrate the historic 25th anniversary:
Check out the rest of the series:
- Top 25 Best Episodes
- Sirena Irwin on Iconic Background Characters
- Carolyn Lawrence on Sandy Cheeks
- Clancy Brown on Mr. Krabs
- Bill Fagerbakke on Patrick Star
- Rodger Bumpass on Squidward Tentacles
- Mr. Lawrence on Plankton
- Tom Kenny on SpongeBob SquarePants
For the BuzzFeed interview series finale, I had the incredible opportunity to chat with some of the cast and crew while in town for the New York Comic Con.
From left to right: Mr. Lawrence (Plankton, Writer), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Vincent Waller (Executive Producer), Marc Ceccarelli (Executive Producer).
I asked two main questions throughout our conversation. My first question:
It's been 25 years of iconic quotes, hilarious episodes, and memorable moments. From the perspective of the people who voiced the characters and produced the show, is there a specific episode or scene that you feel the most personally connected to?
Carolyn Lawrence feels most connected to a special Sandy Cheeks moment at the end of "Texas."
Carolyn (Sandy): I think mine for Sandy is when Sandy was missing home. She realized the reality that home was with her friends and not necessarily what she had imagined it to be—I think that's pretty huge for me.
Vincent Waller and Tom Kenny's pick, "Mimic Madness," is a full-circle moment for Tom.
Vincent (Producer): The comedy moments are too many to keep track of because it's like trying to put your mouth over a fire hose to pick it. But one of my favorite scenes of all time is when in "Mimic Madness," SpongeBob is in the cave, and he can't stop mimicking everybody, and he does the song ["Who Am I?"]. Just talking about it makes me almost tear up. It is such a good piece, and Tom did such a good job of imitating everybody in song.
Tom (SpongeBob): That's one of one of those moments for me too, because it's kind of an encapsulation of this [ability] that I've always had, and used to get me in trouble, and people would go, "What's wrong with you?" All that stuff I was doing in second grade, where, you know, nuns were freaking out [Tom went to a Catholic school growing up] and calling my parents to have meetings—it actually all worked out! "(jokes) Those funny voices are never going to do you a lick of good Mr. Kenny!"
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): We won an Emmy for that one!
Mr. Lawrence's choice, "The Ghost of Plankton," was his final collaboration with Stephen Hillenburg [the creator of SpongeBob].
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): For me, being both a writer and performer, as soon as you said emotional connection, the episode I thought of was "The Ghost of Plankton." It's the last episode that Steve had an idea in the room—it just happened to be the last thing that he talked about. He just said something like, "I think Plankton should be a ghost." Then we immediately got into the idea because [Plankton] could go right through the safe wall, and he could grab the secret formula. I happened to be sitting next to him that day. We were talking about it and we all started fleshing it out. It became an episode that I got to write, and it's one of my favorite performances, too.
Connecting with that, it was the last thing Steve got to collaborate on, and I'm always going to remember it. It was just one of those things—and then it being about a ghost and all that.
Some of Rodger Bumpass's strongest connections are with the scenes when Squidward gets to sing.
Rodger (Squidward): Squidward is always getting the short end of the stick, except for "Band Geeks" and one or two other episodes. But, the times he has been called upon to sing, he actually does sing as well as I can sing. And that's a kind of a triumph. In there, for that brief moment, he's doing something well, and every so often, he gets to do it.
And in Sandy's movie [Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie], Carolyn tells me, I haven't seen it yet—
Carolyn (Sandy): My favorite part of the entire Sandy movie is Squidward's song.
Rodger (Squidward): Squidward can be a one-character-type situation, so when he breaks free, the audience likes it because it's fresh.
Tom (SpongeBob): I also always respected the show's writers and creators that they never really went back to that moment at the end of "Band Geeks" too often. It is such a winning moment that there's the temptation of, "Let's just do that again." They've been very, super sparing with it, which I think keeps it being special.
Rodger (Squidward): When Tom made the album The Best Day Ever [SpongeBob's 4th Soundtrack album], he gave me this song called "Superior," which is kind of a Broadway-Tango-type song, and you would like that too if you've never heard it.
BuzzFeed: My friend actually had The Best Day Ever album growing up! I remember listening to it at his house. (They all thought that was very cool.)
Bill Fagerbakke's choice returns to the beginning—the pilot episode "Help Wanted."
Bill (Patrick): I always respond to the pilot, which really was kind of an epiphany. I didn't understand the cartoon at first when we did it. I had no idea. And then we were making it—we even had a helium tank for the anchovies, and their noises (imitates anchovies 'e-e-e' noises).
Then I got the videotape of the pilot in the mail about eight months later, and I'd kind of forgotten I'd done it. I put it on and watched this magical thing, and I instantly realized I was watching one of the greatest cartoons I'd ever seen. It's eight minutes of this perfection with the characters, the way they work together, and the visual splendor. The rhythm, humor, and wit were so incredible.
I just went from not really being connected to it, to just being filled with gratitude. Something that's very important to me is the power of the ensemble—of everyone working together and so much talent coming together under this one vision—from this one special person who had this idea and envisioned it somehow. I still don't understand how that works, but [Stephen Hillenburg] envisioned how it would work together, and I got to be a part of it.
Marc Ceccarelli's choice is a live-action special from the 20th anniversary.
Marc (Producer): Speaking of ensemble, I'd say that one of my favorite moments working on the show was when we did the 20th anniversary special and did the live-action analogs of the characters.
Rodger (Squidward): It was like The Twilight Zone. I was behind the cash register, and Bill was in front of me, looking up at the menu, going, "Uhhhh," and I'm hearing (sings the melody of the Twilight Zone theme).
Tom (SpongeBob): Yeah, that was just an out-of-body experience!
My second question:
We all know SpongeBob looks forward to his next shift at the Krusty Krab. What is something you continue to look forward to as you work on SpongeBob?
The cast enjoys recording in the studio together and finds it more challenging to record separately.
Carolyn (Sandy): It was hard during COVID when none of us could be together because it was so unusual. We had been in the studio for so many years that I look forward to those moments when we're back in the studio together again.
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): Yeah, then we can see one another and play off of each other.
Carolyn (Sandy): Yeah, exactly—and bother each other; it feels like we're in elementary school!
BuzzFeed: I can imagine it's more difficult to feel that 'natural' chemistry when recording separately instead of together.
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): We're really good at playing these characters now because it's been a long time, and so there's a sincerity underneath. Knowing everybody and just being around them, you know, I've seen you guys be human. It's just another thing that brings the characters to light because we know what we were just saying before we're doing this line. There's more emotion to it automatically because we just know each other that way.
Rodger (Squidward): There is more creativity, more camaraderie, and more teamwork when you are physically in the same place—and it's the same thing with us in the studio. We did fine during COVID recording remotely, but I really feel the camaraderie and the creativity when we're in the room together.
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): And that's how it started. It was like that for a long time.
Tom Kenny looks forward to doing the job he's always wanted to do.
Tom (SpongeBob): The part of the job I look forward to, for me, is just the fact that I have a profession and an occupation that I really like, and it's the one I always wanted to do. It still feels like I've found a magic lamp or a lottery scratcher or something like that. You know, I never went to college. I never had a plan B; my only passion was being funny, and that was what I found exciting.
There's always doubt when you come from a place that's not a show business hotbed. The fact that you'll ever be able to monetize that and make it work—it still blows my mind that I don't have a job that I hate. I talk, I make funny voices, and I don't have to unload a truck today, you know, which is what I was doing before. So, it's good. I love it. I love all of it. I wouldn't trade places with anybody.
Tom Kenny compares the cast's chemistry in the recording booth to playing in a band together for a long time.
Bill (Patrick): Tom is our session director, and his deep knowledge of everything in this [SpongeBob] universe was critical to us being able to sustain a level of quality when we were isolated remotely.
Carolyn (Sandy): Oh, 100%!
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): We felt at ease because, knowing Tom and everyone all this time, we all have our own kind of language.
Tom (SpongeBob): It's like we've been playing in a band together for a long time—like I can look at the guitar player and kind of know what he's gonna do. It's fun. We know what the mission is and what the intent is, and we're all on the same page. There's nobody going, "So what is this show about? Who are the characters? What kind of humor is this show?"
Sometimes, when outside people come in, they need to be brought up to speed on that or not brought up to speed. We'll go, "Here's what we need," and we'll get it. But, you know, we've played in the same 'band' for a long time. It's a pretty big band!
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): I remember when Scarlett Johansson was in the first movie [voice of Princess Mindy]. We all got in the room for the first time. We were all there, and we had a scene to do, and she was at the end of the scene. We could see her right through the glass because everybody was in separate booths. She watched us, and her head was doing this (looks side to side). She was just ping-ponging all over the place, and she couldn't believe the level of intensity we were bringing to the room.
Scarlett Johansson recording the voice of Princess Mindy for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
From a production perspective, Marc and Vincent always look forward to the writing meetings.
Marc (Producer): Vincent and I are in a lot of meetings every day, but the ones that I really love the most are the writing meetings. When ideas are coming from nothing, everybody's bouncing off of each other, and you're just watching the episode sort of get born.
Vincent (Producer): I love the writing sessions, and sadly, because we're doing so much now, we don't get to go to the records anymore. But that was my second favorite. The writing session is fun, coming up with it, and then these guys take it to another level once they get it. It's magic. It's like, holy crap.
Tom (SpongeBob): It's like there's a fleet of SpongeBob ships and they're the two admirals. So I can't imagine the workload.
Vincent (Producer): But at the end of the day, one thing my wife says is, "All I hear coming from your room is laughter all day"—and it's true.
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): That's what makes it new every day, is that we go into these meetings, we know we're gonna laugh, and we know we're gonna have fun with each other. Just having fun together in the room creates ideas for shows, like if something just happened to somebody who comes into the meeting going, "Oh, you're not going to believe this."
Marc (Producer): The thing I was best at in school was daydreaming, just like zoning out and not doing what I was supposed to be doing. To think that I found a career using it—
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): Now we're daydreaming out loud!
Tom (SpongeBob): I'm so grateful that jobs exist where daydreaming is actually rewarded!
Mr. Lawrence used to doodle on the school desks growing up, and the janitors would leave the drawings.
Bill (Patrick): Did you all doodle in class? (Marc, Vincent, and Mr. Lawrence all nod their head)
Mr. Lawrence (Plankton): I drew on the desks. It was a nice little tribute by the janitors of the school. They would leave my drawing on the desk—they wouldn't wash it off. You could see the smear of borax going around it. I was always like, "Wow! They liked it!" Every once in a while, going past one of the janitors, I'd get a (does a thumbs up). I was completely honored!
BuzzFeed: That was incredible insight to hear, thank you all so much!
Tom (SpongeBob): Thanks Andrew!
Thank you to the incredible SpongeBob cast for sharing your memories with me over the past few months and to Nickelodeon for helping coordinate. This has been a dream come true, and I hope the articles have provided some fun insight into 25 years under the sea.
Have any SpongeBob memories you would like to share? Let me know in the comments!
