Spongebob Squarepants is one of the more iconic kids shows on Nickelodeon, and it’s only gotten bigger as the original fans have grown up and introduced their own kids to Spongebob, Patrick, Sandy, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward.
We got the chance to sit down with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, the voice actors for Spongebob and Patrick, respectively, and ask them how it feels to be a part of such a monumental franchise. Generations of Nickelodeon fans watch the show, and new episodes are coming out almost every week, so how do they keep up with it all?
“It’s great,” Kenny said. “It started out as children’s television, but now all those children are grown up. So the Comic-Con experience has really changed for us. It’s still little kids holding their parent’s hands because Spongebob is still on … and new episodes are on everyday. But people who have a deeper – years and years and years long – relationship also come to these Cons now, so it feels really good.”
“It’s great because I really love what we do,” Fagerbakke added. “People of all walks of life just open themselves up to [it] and that’s really cool. It’s kind of a privilege.”
But these guys didn’t just break into voice acting with Spongebob Squarepants. They have been working together for quite a while! Fagerbakke recalled an episode of Dumb and Dumber they did together for Hannah Barbara, but neither of them remember ever seeing it air.
“There was a short-lived Dumb and Dumber animation iteration,” Kenny said. “I don’t know if it ever aired. He was the Jeff Daniels voice match and I can’t remember the name [of mine] but he was a bad guy based on Ross Perot –which at the time was topical, so that will tell you how freaking long ago it was.”
Check out the complete interview below!
A big thank you to Tom, Bill, and Nickelodeon for taking the time to chat with us!
Check out some of our other San Diego Comic-Con coverage, and see some of our favorite moments on Instagram and Twitter, #PWSDCC!
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