SpongeBob and Patrick Voice Actors Are ‘Just as Giddy About This Job as We Were 25 Years Ago’: We Wouldn’t Trade ‘With the Biggest Movie Stars in the World’
In Cannes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the “SpongeBob SquarePants” franchise at Mipcom, SpongeBob and Patrick voice actors Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke joined Variety for a discussion about representing their show abroad, all the new ways their characters are being brought to screens and why they’re both “just as giddy about this job as we were 25 years ago.”
Variety: You guys were just at New York Comic Con and have done a lot of traveling with this show over the years, but is it still special when you get to go abroad and see “SpongeBob” get attention at events like Mipcom?
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Fagerbakke: We were on the show for probably 15 years or more before we started to go abroad to somewhere really cool and have some fun.
Kenny: We do a lot of press junkets, interviews and things like that. I do a lot of Comic Cons. It’s always fun to walk around the streets of a place like this, though, at a huge market, and see the giant billboards for other stuff, and then see Spongebob, who is just this oddball weirdo compared to all these posters of beautiful men and women FBI agents holding handguns or wearing chainmail and wielding swords. I love being the odd man out, being kind of anomalous.
Fagerbakke: It’s true. If I appear at something like this and there is a stain on my tie, I don’t sweat it.
Both of you had successful performing careers before “SpongeBob,” but what has it meant to you and the other artists on the show to have something like this in your lives consistently for a quarter of a century?
Fagerbakke: We’re like transitory carnies that are always just waiting for our next job. When you’re lucky enough to get a job, you just keep asking, “How many more months of rent can I cover?” When something like this goes on for a few years, you have to figure out and prepare for the future because it would be moronic to expect it to go on forever.
Kenny: It’s interesting because there are people like us who have been on the show for years. For some, it’s basically the only job they’ve ever had, and “SpongeBob” was the first or second show they worked on. They started in their 20s, and now they’re crusty middle-aged professionals. In my case, Steve showed me the bible for the show in ’96, and we did the pilot in ’97. So it’s been nearly 30 years, and I can divide my lifespan into pre- and post-SpongeBob.
Fagerbakke: For me, it was a bit of a flip because I started in theater and did that almost exclusively for five years. Then, I did about 12 years of TV and was lucky enough to get offered some animation voiceover opportunities. There was a breakdown sent out to me for a dog character on a Saturday morning cartoon that said it should “sound like Dauber from ‘Coach.'” That was how specific it had to get for me to get into voice acting. I remember thinking, “Oh, but what if I don’t get it?”
Are there other things you want to do that are made possible because you have this stability?
Fagerbakke: No (laughs). I’m done. I’m doing this magnificent job until my voice box is laid out on an examination table somewhere.
Kenny: It’s amazing to be here doing this still. So much of our time and energy is spent on “SpongeBob,” which I totally love. I never became resentful or regretful that I wasn’t doing other things. This has just always felt like the right thing to do. I think we’re both good at it and good at representing the brand. We’re proud of the show and we love it, so we never have to fake it when we do press and say, “It’s a great show.” That’s a gift, too.
Fagerbakke: Sorry to interrupt, but let me ask Tom a question right now. Sir, are you still auditioning?
Kenny: I audition non-stop. I’ve always hustled. Our agent is always asking me, “What’s with Bill? I can’t get him to audition for anything.” But he’ll call me and say, “Hey, there’s a radio spot for the Wisconsin lottery that pays $100; it’s an hour-and-a-half drive from Los Angeles,” and I’m like, “I’ll do it!” You know what I mean? I just love doing it. I don’t have other hobbies; I just like doing voiceovers, so I’m always auditioning for stuff. I end up in a lot of weird places.
Over the years, the “SpongeBob” franchise has experimented with all sorts of different mediums and art forms. There have been movies, video games and spinoffs. You appeared as live-action versions of yourselves for the 20th anniversary; for the 25th, you’re getting holiday specials, and “SpongeBob” will appear in a stop-motion special. Are there other formats that you’d like to see the “SpongeBob” franchise experiment with?
Fagerbakke: Personally, as long as it honors the original nature of the characters, I don’t care.
Kenny: For me, it’s fun to just be a passenger on the “SpongeBob” ride. The spinoffs, the Broadway show, the Super Bowl broadcasts, all these things are happening, and it means the franchise never gets stagnant, you know? It’s still fun to play these same characters that we started 25 years ago because they’re constantly coming up with new ways to reach people. We’re just as giddy about this job as we were 25 years ago. Neither of us would trade jobs with the biggest movie stars in the world.
Fagerbakke: And that says it all.
At New York Comic Con last weekend, Nickelodeon and Paramount announced a two-season renewal for “The Patrick Star Show,” shared a clip from the upcoming half-hour 25th anniversary special “Snow Yellow,” and sneak peeked an early look at “SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas,” a stop-motion holiday special coming later this year.
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