Nickelodeon will premiere a brand-new half-hour SpongeBob SquarePants special titled "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!" in 2020! The network announced the sponge-tastic news today during its "SpongeBob Appreciation Day" panel at New York Comic Con 2019.
Update (12/19) - Nickelodeon will premiere "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!" on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. (ET/PT)!
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In "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!", SpongeBob’s biggest fans wash up on the island above Bikini Bottom to celebrate SpongeBob Appreciation Day! Hosted by Patchy with appearances by Meghan Trainor, Jon Heder, and Rob Riggle. It'll also count down fan-voted SpongeBob moments.
Update (10/9) - In a sponge-tastic interview with The Beat, SpongeBob producers Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli spilled more info about the "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!" special!:
The Beat: The Patchy the Pirate Special was announced at the panel. Can you talk a bit more about that?
Ceccarelli: That was something that they wanted to do for the 20th Anniversary. They wanted to do a clip show. The Patchy Special is going to be a clip show where he’s stranded on the island and he’s reenacting sequences from his favorite episodes—
Waller: —for whatever celebrity is stranded on the island and has to suffer the clip show with this slightly crazed pirate.
The Beat: So is this all in puppets?
Waller: It starts on land and then goes into the thing you actually want to see.
During the "SpongeBob Appreciation Day" panel at NYCC, the cast and crew celebrated the legacy of the show's late creator Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away last November, and talked about SpongeBob memes. Check out some highlights from Nick's "SpongeBob Appreciation Day" NYCC 2019 panel below!:
SpongeBob SquarePants, which was recently greenlit for a 13th season, has reigned as the number-one kids’ animated series on TV for the last 17 years, while generating a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical which is now touring North America and a global fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants is seen in more than 208 countries and territories, translated in 55+ languages, and averages more than 100 million total viewers every quarter. SpongeBob SquarePants is created by Stephen Hillenburg and produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif.
Nickelodeon's is currently in the midst of the network's "Best Year Ever", a year-long global celebration of one of the most iconic TV series and characters ever created. The “Best Year Ever” launched with the premiere of “SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout,” an original mixed live-action and animated special earlier this summer, and leads up to the Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies theatrical, The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, coming May 2020.
From The Beat:
NYCC ’19: SpongeBob SquarePants panel teases Patchy the Pirate special
Plus, a birthday celebration!
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As “The Best Year Ever” for SpongeBob SquarePants nears it end, the cast and crew of the Nickelodeon show including Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs) and Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), along with co-executive producers Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli assembled in the Hammerstein Ballroom during NYCC at a panel moderated by Tara Bennett of SyFy Wire.
L-R: Vincent Waller, Marc Ceccarelli, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, Bill Fagerbakke, Tom Kenny, Tara Bennett
The SpongeBob panel began with the panelists answering 20 questions in honor of 20 years of the show that involved testing their knowledge of obscure show trivia such as the names of Sandy’s monkey bosses or how many times Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy have appeared (19 in case you were wondering).
Additionally, questions pertained to highlights of working on the cartoon. When asked about favorite gags, Waller is fond of a moment in the episode “Texas” episode when Sandy lassos Patrick and a mushroom cloud bursts in the background. Fagerbakke remembered delivering the line, “The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma,” and we see a carton of milk spilling.
When it comes to other actors in SpongeBob, Kenny praised Mary Jo Catlett, the voice of SpongeBob’s driving teacher Mrs. Puff, who just turned 81 and still an amazing performer at her age. Though younger fans are probably not well acquainted with the classic ’60s sitcom McHale’s Navy, they are probably more familiar with the show’s two leads Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway who voiced superhero parody characters Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in the world of SpongeBob. Sadly, both comedic actors have passed away but Kenny fondly recalled how Conway and Borgnine remained friends since the end of McHale’s Navy and their camaraderie was present in every recording session.
SpongeBob’s “Best Year Ever” has been somewhat bittersweet with the passing of the cartoon’s creator Stephen Hillenburg. Ceccarelli actually attended CalArts with him and admitted that Hillenburg’s student short was without a doubt the best one in the class. Lawrence noted his quiet confidence and missed seeing his sweet smile whenever she saw him at Nickelodeon. A humble man, Hillenburg didn’t care about money both when he did and didn’t have it.
Asked about celebrities they wish could sing any SpongeBob song, Kenny envisioned Johnny Cash singing “Best Day Ever.” As for what episodes they would put in a time capsule for future generations to discover, Waller would choose “Mimic Madness.” If it was possible, Kenny would put the entire panel.
After a live reading of the episode “Suds” an upcoming half-hour special, SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!, was announced. Debuting next year, the special will see SpongeBob’s biggest fans wash up on the island above Bikini Bottom to celebrate SpongeBob Appreciation Day! Hosted by Patchy the Pirate (Tom Kenny), this beach bash features appearances by pop star Meghan Trainor, cult movie star Jon Heder and actor Rob Riggle, and counts down some of the greatest fan-voted SpongeBob moments ever.
During the fan Q&A, someone inquired if SpongeBob would ever get his boating license to which the panelists answered if that ever happened, the show would have officially jumped the shark.
Ask about their involvement in the SpongeBob Musical, Ceccarelli and Waller were the only ones on the panel who had any involvement and admitted up until dress rehearsal even Hillenburg had doubts. Tom Kenny however did co-write the song “Best Day Ever” with Andy Paley that was included in the musical and felt a tremendous honor. Waller and Fagerbakke said they actually cried during the musical with Kenny describing the SpongeBob Musical as a harmonic convergence of the human experience encapsulating laughter, tears, and the human endeavor.
The SpongeBob panel came to a close with a giant Patrick Star brought out in honor of Bill Fagerbakke’s birthday and everyone in the audience singing a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to the voice of everyone’s favorite starfish.
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From The Beat:
NYCC ’19 Interview: SpongeBob producers talk 20 years of nautical nonsense
"It’s really easy to write humor for these characters because they’re deep and have so many facets to them."
The “Best Year Ever” for SpongeBob may have gotten off to a somewhat bittersweet start due to the tragic passing of creator Stephen Hillenburg almost a year ago, but the outpouring of love from fans worldwide cemented his legacy. With a Kamp Koral CGI animated spinoff announced as well as another season (not to mention a third movie), SpongeBob SquarePants isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At NYCC, The Beat had the chance to sit down with SpongeBob co-executive producers Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli and discuss the longevity of the show as well as a particularly unusual working experience with a guest actor on the show.
Taimur Dar: When did you start working on SpongeBob?
Vincent Waller: I was in Season 1 and Season 2, then split and came back on Season 4.
Marc Ceccarelli: I’ve been on it since Season 8.
Dar: How did you both end up taking on producer roles?
Waller: Stand in one place long enough and they put you in charge. We were both storyboard writers working on the show 13 years for me and 8 for you.
Dar: Any show that runs as long as SpongeBob is going to be completely different now than it was at the beginning. The Simpsons is a great example. How would you compare SpongeBob now to the first season?
Waller: The first couple of seasons were animated TV sized and on cell so they look different. Then from [Seasons] 4-9 it was digital so the cells were gone. They looked different. The models were locked down a little more which was a Steve [Hillenburg] thing to lock down the models and cut down on retakes. In the first three seasons there was a lot of animation movement and people flopping around. Having to constantly fix it was getting expense so they locked it down.
Then when we were away on the movie, it was a little less locked down because Steve looked at the expressions and said, “It’s funny!” And he started laughing and the rest is history.
Ceccarelli: I’d say the first few seasons had a kind of loosey-goosey kind of look to it because everything wasn’t really locked down yet. And you could see the individual artists’ hands. You could tell who had drawn that particular scene in the storyboard
Waller: The artists at that point were cleaning up their own board you could absolutely tell who did what show if you knew their art.
Ceccarelli: When we took over, we knew that the fans really liked those first few seasons a lot and we tried to figure out what were some of the things that they did in those seasons that made the show different than what it turned into over the years. And that sort of visual anarchy was something that we really liked and really appealed to us. So it’s something that we’ve really tried to bring back into the show. Sort of just that crazy no holds barred look of the show. And so now we’ve gotten back to a point where we can tell in the finished animation which storyboard artist did that particular sequence. We really like finding individual voices in the drawing end of the show. We like finding people who have a real ability to draw the characters in their own style while staying enough on model so there is enough uniqueness from scene to scene.
Waller: And an affinity for expressions. Show me an expression that I’ve never seen before for this particular emotion. And our crew has been really good at delivering that.
Dar: The Patchy the Pirate Special was announced at the panel. Can you talk a bit more about that?
Ceccarelli: That was something that they wanted to do for the 20th Anniversary. They wanted to do a clip show. The Patchy Special is going to be a clip show where he’s stranded on the island and he’s reenacting sequences from his favorite episodes—
Waller: —for whatever celebrity is stranded on the island and has to suffer the clip show with this slightly crazed pirate.
Dar: So is this all in puppets?
Waller: It starts on land and then goes into the thing you actually want to see.
Dar: I can’t help but be reminded of the ingenious ways The Simpsons handled their clip shows.
Ceccarelli: We’re doing a similar thing. We’re trying to find our own way into a clip show and make it as weird as possible.
Dar: What can you say about the 3rd SpongeBob movie?
Ceccarelli: We really don’t have as much to do with it because it’s being done over at Paramount. It’s so hard just to do all the things we’re doing on our show.
Waller: The last time Nickelodeon basically said, “We want to make a movie but you guys can’t stop production this time.” So we stayed put and they made a movie.
Dar: So do you keep the show fresh without jumping over the proverbial sharks?
Waller: Which we actually did intentionally in the “Shark vs. Pods” episode.
Ceccarelli: We get nervous when we see the same thing over and over again. We’re always our own biggest critics as far as trying to do new things. We’re always pushing ourselves. So it’s not that difficult to go in that direction if you want to see new stuff.
Waller: And we’re lucky enough to work on a show where they let us do that. SpongeBob does come up with cachets so as long as we’re doing things within the realm that they need it to be, we can get as wild as we can possibly get.
Dar: Tim Conway, the voice of Barnacle Boy, unfortunately passed away and Ernest Borgnine, Mermaid Man, a few years ago. Fans love those characters, so I’m curious if you plan to retire those characters are will they still be appearing?
Waller: They’ll still be in cameos but they won’t be speaking. We’re not talking to replace them. There was some talk about Ed Asner possibly doing it, but Steve didn’t want us to do that so we’re not going to. He did come up with the idea of SpongeBob and Patrick cosplaying and becoming their versions of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. You will be seeing them from time to time.
Ceccarelli: I like writing those episodes and keeping those characters’ memories alive and finding a new way to do it.
Waller: Who knew that Mr. Krabs was a secret comic book fan? We did!
Dar: There have been some big name guest stars on the show. Any particular favorites?
Ceccarelli: I loved Ed Asner. He played that old curmudgeon in “Whirly Brains.”
Waller: Before the day was out, I had my ass squeezed by Ed Asner! When you take a picture with Ed Asner, he will squeeze your ass right at the moment they take the picture! Thank you Ed, it was lovely!
[Laughter]
Dar: At the panel you mentioned that Hillenburg got to see the SpongeBob Musical before his passing, so I’m curious what were some of the last things he was involved in and saw?
Waller: I think the last episode he was at a [sound] mix for was “Pineapple RV.” I was very happy because he was laughing his ass off all the way through it. If we can get him to laugh then I know we’re sitting pretty!
Dar: Was he able to see the Birthday Special with the voice actors playing their respective characters in live-action?
Ceccarelli: No unfortunately, he didn’t get to see it but he knew that we were going to do that. He was really tickled by the idea.
Dar: You have Tom Kenny as the voice director on the series now. You previously had the amazing Andrea Romano as voice director so it’s clearly high caliber. Rob Paulsen is another veteran voice actor he’s stepped into the position of voice directing in Rise of the TMNT, so how did Kenny end up assuming the role?
Waller: We had Andrea on and off for awhile then it was just whoever was running the show. Sometimes I would direct. But coming up with the thought of getting Tom to direct was one of the best decisions we ever made. He comes in there and he’s he’s loaded for bear. He’s studied everybody’s parts, his parts he knows every little effort and thing that we’re going to need in the final product. And he’s just super focused and really good at it. .
Ceccarelli: He’s really funny too when he’s giving directions because he’s such a great improv comic. He’ll he’ll find the weirdest ways to pull a particular performance out of somebody. His. descriptions of the headspace that the character’s supposed to be in will often be funnier than anything that we’ve written. He came from stand-up. You can never turn that off. He’s just like. constantly improving even if it’s just for an audience of three people—us and the recording engineer.
Dar: So what’s next for SpongeBob?
Ceccarelli: We’re doing the spinoff Kamp Koral show which we’re having a blast writing. Putting the characters in this new location freed up the writers and they’ve come up with new ideas.
Waller: They’re not just in Bikini Bottom anymore. Suddenly we have this entire wilderness to play with and all the things that can inspire a story out of that.
Ceccarelli: It’s different dynamics with the characters because they’re a little younger.
Waller: But the comedy is not younger.
Ceccarelli: Yeah, it’s going to be for the same audience. In some ways it may be a bit more subversive because we’re doing the same kind of physical comedy with the younger kids.
Dar: Some animated shows like to have firm continuity while others play fast and loose with it. What’s your approach?
Waller: We play with it and then we mostly ignore it as far as canon and having a through story. The show you’re watching is what you should focus on and how it hooks up to that thing.
Ceccarelli: But we also do like to play with continuity and use that for humor. We pick and choose.
Dar: The running joke of the “My leg!” guy is a perfect example of that, which just had an episode devoted to that character finally giving him a name. How did that episode come about?
Ceccarelli: It was time. [Actor] Doug [Lawrence] is our head writer and that was his character that he’s had for years. Just recently we named the character and have been using him a lot more.
Waller: By that, he means the fans named him and we went, “That’s a good name for him. That’ll work!”
Ceccarelli: So once he had a name, we ended up using him more. That was how far we could push the “My leg” joke.
Waller: When we would do shows and veer away and follow characetrs like Fred we were encouraged to push the camera back to SpongeBob. But it’s been 20 years and everybody realizes that every character is popular. And people would like to follow characters like Patrick around and see what he does all day. [The episode] “Mall Girl Pearl” was the first episode where we literally had SpongeBob in the background and he’s shadowing Squidward.
Dar: Have you considered taking that further and doing an entire episode without SpongeBob?
Waller: I think everybody is ready for the other characters to have their moments in the sun.
Ceccarelli: It’s the SpongeBob show but it’s always been about this community in Bikini Bottom. The performers are so strong and the characters are written so well. There’s a lot of depth to each of the characters. It’s really easy to write humor for these characters because they’re deep and have so many facets to them.
Dar: Have you noticed any changes in the performances since the beginning?
Waller: We were just watching “Suds” and Clancy [Brown] barely sounds like a pirate. He sounds like Mr. Krabs but it’s not [imitates Mr. Krabs laugh]. When Tom started most of SpongeBob’s lines were almost whispery. Now he’s moved back.
Dar: Favorite episodes?
Ceccarelli: I’d have to say that my favorite is the stop-motion Halloween episode because I’ve always been such a huge fan of stop-motion. We were able to do both the Christmas and Halloween episode with Screen Novelties and they’re just amazing. What they bring to stop-motion is the animated their characters in a way that’s almost like 2D animation. There’s a lot of overshoots and squash and stretch with their characters which makes their 3D animation look like our 2D animation.
Waller: “Mimic Madness” has been my favorite since the 10th Season. But we’ve done so many since like “Plankton Paranoia” I just love.
Dar: Last question, what should fans look forward to in 2020 for SpongeBob?
Waller: Lots more great expressions from SpongeBob in 2D and of course the CG that’s come up. We’re going to see exactly where we can go with that.
Ceccarelli: There are a few more 22-minute specials coming up at the end of the 20th Anniversary celebration. Those are pretty special, cray episodes. One of the episodes has a lot of interesting musical moments. Another has a crazy sort of take on amusement parks and what’s underneath them.
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From Fox News:
‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ cast reflects on series turning 20: ‘Where did the time go?’
“SpongeBob SquarePants" is officially 20 years old.
The Nickelodeon creation, which launched July 17, 1999, has ruled as the No. 1 kids’ animated series on TV for the last 17 years. The beloved show has since generated a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base — just to name a few.
Fox News recently caught up with some of the cast at the New York Comic-Con to talk about this milestone. Carolyn Lawrence voices Sandy Cheeks, Bill Fagerbakke plays Patrick Star and Clancy Brown stars as Mr. Krabs.
Fox News: Can you believe it's been 20 years for "SpongeBob SquarePants?"
Carolyn Lawrence: I cannot believe it's been 20 years. What the heck. Where did the time go? It happened so fast! It's so interesting because it went really really quickly... I don't know, I can't explain it.
Bob Fagerbakke: With a lot of different careers people might expect to have a job for 20 years. Not obviously with actors because we're basically shiftless carnies you know. To have something that long is extraordinary. And trust me, any actor that dreams of someday having a job for 20 years is probably not in the right profession.
Clancy Brown: We were just saying that it doesn't feel like 20 years. People always talk about the very first time we did it and it feels like we just did it. We're not keeping track. As a matter of fact, we're only in Season 13. So it's been 20 years but it's Season 13. I don't trust math. Math is not right. Twenty years — forget that — we just did it. It's just started.
Fox News: Do you remember when you landed the part?
Lawrence: Yeah but I had no idea. I mean I was always excited to book a job. But who knew? I mean who knew it would be so crazy? So that was a wild turn of events.
Fagerbakke: I can't say I remember that moment. I certainly remember when I met [animator] Stephen Hillenburg during the audition. I could tell immediately that he was an extraordinary person. And then when I knew I would get to work with him, of course, I was happy too because at the end of the day you know if you can do strong material and work with good people, you can't really ask for anything more.
Fox News: Do you remember when you realized how big "SpongeBob" had become?
Lawrence: I think when I saw products at Target I was like, "What the what the what?" (Laughter.) I've done so many things but never something that would be that mass-marketed in that way.
Fagerbakke: Well, there was this sea change I think it was probably in Season 2 when Wall Street Journal did an article about it and we think the New Yorker. And all of a sudden, we were getting all this press. So that was really exciting because you're kind of just like in your little soundstage and those little studios and you're doing your thing. And as far as you know there are just some kids watching it and the kids at the elementary school when I pick my kids up, they're very excited. And then boom!
Clancy Brown: We kind of stopped doing it after the third season. We all thought that was the end. And I think when they came back and said well you know what guys I think we want to record more. And they actually paid us a little bit more. And that's I think that's when I realized wait a minute, they would never pay us more if they weren't making a hell of a lot of money.
Fox News: Does "SpongeBob SquarePants" go down as one of the best cartoons of a generation?
Lawrence: I think so. I think it's going to go down in history. It's so hard to think about like it's so surreal honestly. That it's still hard for me too to grasp how large it is. When I travel and you go to other countries and it's there and people are talking about it and. It's amazing and so if I think about it too much my head explodes. But yes I think it will.
Fagerbakke: We all were influenced by great cartoons like Looney Tunes, like the Warner Brothers and Chuck Jones. I mean that animation had a lot of impact on us. And if we can be thought of as being a classic cartoon that's a wonderful thing and certainly not something I can speculate about. I just love my job.
Brown: It's the best cartoon ever made and It will be the best cartoon ever ever ever. Until the end of Earth.
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More Nick:Brian Robbins Reveals More Details About 'SpongeBob' Spin-Off 'Kamp Koral'!
Originally published: Friday, October 4, 2019 at 22:26 BST.
Source: Nickandmore! (II); H/T: Anime Superhero Forum /@Action!, @kanc, TV Shows Fan, TV Guide.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon at NYCC and SpongeBob SquarePants News and Highlights!
Update (12/19) - Nickelodeon will premiere "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!" on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. (ET/PT)!
In "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!", SpongeBob’s biggest fans wash up on the island above Bikini Bottom to celebrate SpongeBob Appreciation Day! Hosted by Patchy with appearances by Meghan Trainor, Jon Heder, and Rob Riggle. It'll also count down fan-voted SpongeBob moments.
Update (10/9) - In a sponge-tastic interview with The Beat, SpongeBob producers Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli spilled more info about the "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!" special!:
The Beat: The Patchy the Pirate Special was announced at the panel. Can you talk a bit more about that?
Ceccarelli: That was something that they wanted to do for the 20th Anniversary. They wanted to do a clip show. The Patchy Special is going to be a clip show where he’s stranded on the island and he’s reenacting sequences from his favorite episodes—
Waller: —for whatever celebrity is stranded on the island and has to suffer the clip show with this slightly crazed pirate.
The Beat: So is this all in puppets?
Waller: It starts on land and then goes into the thing you actually want to see.
During the "SpongeBob Appreciation Day" panel at NYCC, the cast and crew celebrated the legacy of the show's late creator Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away last November, and talked about SpongeBob memes. Check out some highlights from Nick's "SpongeBob Appreciation Day" NYCC 2019 panel below!:
We're READY. SpongeBob @NY_Comic_Con panel TODAY at 10:30AM at the Hammerstein Ballroom #NYCC— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
Happy Birthday to the voice of Patrick, Bill Fagerbakke! pic.twitter.com/sCl6H3wHSn— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
We’re READY. SpongeBob #NYCC panel starts NOW pic.twitter.com/QzPjTqj84L— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
Yes, the voice of Sandy Cheeks is fist pumping #NYCCpic.twitter.com/qt1naQhWXc— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
“That made me HOWL.”— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
Bill Fagerbakke, the voice of Patrick, talks the first time he read the script for “the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.” #NYCCpic.twitter.com/XqvUCgbcHt
— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
“He cared about being creative, he cared about the world.” Tom Kenny, voice of SpongeBob, reflects on the legendary Steve Hillenburg #NYCCpic.twitter.com/7fx3DFFyP8— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
wHo eLSe loVes SpONgeBoB mEMes?#NYCCpic.twitter.com/zE98HKHhi7— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
when you give Patrick a Patrick cake on his birthday...— SpongeBob (@SpongeBob) October 4, 2019
Happy Birthday Bill Fagerbakke! pic.twitter.com/nAPBlKsydf
SpongeBob SquarePants, which was recently greenlit for a 13th season, has reigned as the number-one kids’ animated series on TV for the last 17 years, while generating a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical which is now touring North America and a global fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants is seen in more than 208 countries and territories, translated in 55+ languages, and averages more than 100 million total viewers every quarter. SpongeBob SquarePants is created by Stephen Hillenburg and produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif.
Nickelodeon's is currently in the midst of the network's "Best Year Ever", a year-long global celebration of one of the most iconic TV series and characters ever created. The “Best Year Ever” launched with the premiere of “SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout,” an original mixed live-action and animated special earlier this summer, and leads up to the Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies theatrical, The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, coming May 2020.
From The Beat:
NYCC ’19: SpongeBob SquarePants panel teases Patchy the Pirate special
Plus, a birthday celebration!
L-R: Vincent Waller, Marc Ceccarelli, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, Bill Fagerbakke, Tom Kenny, Tara Bennett
L-R: Vincent Waller, Marc Ceccarelli, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, Bill Fagerbakke, Tom Kenny, Tara Bennett
The SpongeBob panel began with the panelists answering 20 questions in honor of 20 years of the show that involved testing their knowledge of obscure show trivia such as the names of Sandy’s monkey bosses or how many times Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy have appeared (19 in case you were wondering).
Additionally, questions pertained to highlights of working on the cartoon. When asked about favorite gags, Waller is fond of a moment in the episode “Texas” episode when Sandy lassos Patrick and a mushroom cloud bursts in the background. Fagerbakke remembered delivering the line, “The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma,” and we see a carton of milk spilling.
When it comes to other actors in SpongeBob, Kenny praised Mary Jo Catlett, the voice of SpongeBob’s driving teacher Mrs. Puff, who just turned 81 and still an amazing performer at her age. Though younger fans are probably not well acquainted with the classic ’60s sitcom McHale’s Navy, they are probably more familiar with the show’s two leads Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway who voiced superhero parody characters Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in the world of SpongeBob. Sadly, both comedic actors have passed away but Kenny fondly recalled how Conway and Borgnine remained friends since the end of McHale’s Navy and their camaraderie was present in every recording session.
SpongeBob’s “Best Year Ever” has been somewhat bittersweet with the passing of the cartoon’s creator Stephen Hillenburg. Ceccarelli actually attended CalArts with him and admitted that Hillenburg’s student short was without a doubt the best one in the class. Lawrence noted his quiet confidence and missed seeing his sweet smile whenever she saw him at Nickelodeon. A humble man, Hillenburg didn’t care about money both when he did and didn’t have it.
Asked about celebrities they wish could sing any SpongeBob song, Kenny envisioned Johnny Cash singing “Best Day Ever.” As for what episodes they would put in a time capsule for future generations to discover, Waller would choose “Mimic Madness.” If it was possible, Kenny would put the entire panel.
After a live reading of the episode “Suds” an upcoming half-hour special, SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy’s Beach Bash!, was announced. Debuting next year, the special will see SpongeBob’s biggest fans wash up on the island above Bikini Bottom to celebrate SpongeBob Appreciation Day! Hosted by Patchy the Pirate (Tom Kenny), this beach bash features appearances by pop star Meghan Trainor, cult movie star Jon Heder and actor Rob Riggle, and counts down some of the greatest fan-voted SpongeBob moments ever.
During the fan Q&A, someone inquired if SpongeBob would ever get his boating license to which the panelists answered if that ever happened, the show would have officially jumped the shark.
Ask about their involvement in the SpongeBob Musical, Ceccarelli and Waller were the only ones on the panel who had any involvement and admitted up until dress rehearsal even Hillenburg had doubts. Tom Kenny however did co-write the song “Best Day Ever” with Andy Paley that was included in the musical and felt a tremendous honor. Waller and Fagerbakke said they actually cried during the musical with Kenny describing the SpongeBob Musical as a harmonic convergence of the human experience encapsulating laughter, tears, and the human endeavor.
The SpongeBob panel came to a close with a giant Patrick Star brought out in honor of Bill Fagerbakke’s birthday and everyone in the audience singing a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to the voice of everyone’s favorite starfish.
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From The Beat:
NYCC ’19 Interview: SpongeBob producers talk 20 years of nautical nonsense
"It’s really easy to write humor for these characters because they’re deep and have so many facets to them."
The “Best Year Ever” for SpongeBob may have gotten off to a somewhat bittersweet start due to the tragic passing of creator Stephen Hillenburg almost a year ago, but the outpouring of love from fans worldwide cemented his legacy. With a Kamp Koral CGI animated spinoff announced as well as another season (not to mention a third movie), SpongeBob SquarePants isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At NYCC, The Beat had the chance to sit down with SpongeBob co-executive producers Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli and discuss the longevity of the show as well as a particularly unusual working experience with a guest actor on the show.
Taimur Dar: When did you start working on SpongeBob?
Vincent Waller: I was in Season 1 and Season 2, then split and came back on Season 4.
Marc Ceccarelli: I’ve been on it since Season 8.
Dar: How did you both end up taking on producer roles?
Waller: Stand in one place long enough and they put you in charge. We were both storyboard writers working on the show 13 years for me and 8 for you.
Dar: Any show that runs as long as SpongeBob is going to be completely different now than it was at the beginning. The Simpsons is a great example. How would you compare SpongeBob now to the first season?
Waller: The first couple of seasons were animated TV sized and on cell so they look different. Then from [Seasons] 4-9 it was digital so the cells were gone. They looked different. The models were locked down a little more which was a Steve [Hillenburg] thing to lock down the models and cut down on retakes. In the first three seasons there was a lot of animation movement and people flopping around. Having to constantly fix it was getting expense so they locked it down.
Then when we were away on the movie, it was a little less locked down because Steve looked at the expressions and said, “It’s funny!” And he started laughing and the rest is history.
Ceccarelli: I’d say the first few seasons had a kind of loosey-goosey kind of look to it because everything wasn’t really locked down yet. And you could see the individual artists’ hands. You could tell who had drawn that particular scene in the storyboard
Waller: The artists at that point were cleaning up their own board you could absolutely tell who did what show if you knew their art.
Ceccarelli: When we took over, we knew that the fans really liked those first few seasons a lot and we tried to figure out what were some of the things that they did in those seasons that made the show different than what it turned into over the years. And that sort of visual anarchy was something that we really liked and really appealed to us. So it’s something that we’ve really tried to bring back into the show. Sort of just that crazy no holds barred look of the show. And so now we’ve gotten back to a point where we can tell in the finished animation which storyboard artist did that particular sequence. We really like finding individual voices in the drawing end of the show. We like finding people who have a real ability to draw the characters in their own style while staying enough on model so there is enough uniqueness from scene to scene.
Waller: And an affinity for expressions. Show me an expression that I’ve never seen before for this particular emotion. And our crew has been really good at delivering that.
Dar: The Patchy the Pirate Special was announced at the panel. Can you talk a bit more about that?
Ceccarelli: That was something that they wanted to do for the 20th Anniversary. They wanted to do a clip show. The Patchy Special is going to be a clip show where he’s stranded on the island and he’s reenacting sequences from his favorite episodes—
Waller: —for whatever celebrity is stranded on the island and has to suffer the clip show with this slightly crazed pirate.
Dar: So is this all in puppets?
Waller: It starts on land and then goes into the thing you actually want to see.
Dar: I can’t help but be reminded of the ingenious ways The Simpsons handled their clip shows.
Ceccarelli: We’re doing a similar thing. We’re trying to find our own way into a clip show and make it as weird as possible.
Dar: What can you say about the 3rd SpongeBob movie?
Ceccarelli: We really don’t have as much to do with it because it’s being done over at Paramount. It’s so hard just to do all the things we’re doing on our show.
Waller: The last time Nickelodeon basically said, “We want to make a movie but you guys can’t stop production this time.” So we stayed put and they made a movie.
Dar: So do you keep the show fresh without jumping over the proverbial sharks?
Waller: Which we actually did intentionally in the “Shark vs. Pods” episode.
Ceccarelli: We get nervous when we see the same thing over and over again. We’re always our own biggest critics as far as trying to do new things. We’re always pushing ourselves. So it’s not that difficult to go in that direction if you want to see new stuff.
Waller: And we’re lucky enough to work on a show where they let us do that. SpongeBob does come up with cachets so as long as we’re doing things within the realm that they need it to be, we can get as wild as we can possibly get.
Dar: Tim Conway, the voice of Barnacle Boy, unfortunately passed away and Ernest Borgnine, Mermaid Man, a few years ago. Fans love those characters, so I’m curious if you plan to retire those characters are will they still be appearing?
Waller: They’ll still be in cameos but they won’t be speaking. We’re not talking to replace them. There was some talk about Ed Asner possibly doing it, but Steve didn’t want us to do that so we’re not going to. He did come up with the idea of SpongeBob and Patrick cosplaying and becoming their versions of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. You will be seeing them from time to time.
Ceccarelli: I like writing those episodes and keeping those characters’ memories alive and finding a new way to do it.
Waller: Who knew that Mr. Krabs was a secret comic book fan? We did!
Dar: There have been some big name guest stars on the show. Any particular favorites?
Ceccarelli: I loved Ed Asner. He played that old curmudgeon in “Whirly Brains.”
Waller: Before the day was out, I had my ass squeezed by Ed Asner! When you take a picture with Ed Asner, he will squeeze your ass right at the moment they take the picture! Thank you Ed, it was lovely!
[Laughter]
Dar: At the panel you mentioned that Hillenburg got to see the SpongeBob Musical before his passing, so I’m curious what were some of the last things he was involved in and saw?
Waller: I think the last episode he was at a [sound] mix for was “Pineapple RV.” I was very happy because he was laughing his ass off all the way through it. If we can get him to laugh then I know we’re sitting pretty!
Dar: Was he able to see the Birthday Special with the voice actors playing their respective characters in live-action?
Ceccarelli: No unfortunately, he didn’t get to see it but he knew that we were going to do that. He was really tickled by the idea.
Dar: You have Tom Kenny as the voice director on the series now. You previously had the amazing Andrea Romano as voice director so it’s clearly high caliber. Rob Paulsen is another veteran voice actor he’s stepped into the position of voice directing in Rise of the TMNT, so how did Kenny end up assuming the role?
Waller: We had Andrea on and off for awhile then it was just whoever was running the show. Sometimes I would direct. But coming up with the thought of getting Tom to direct was one of the best decisions we ever made. He comes in there and he’s he’s loaded for bear. He’s studied everybody’s parts, his parts he knows every little effort and thing that we’re going to need in the final product. And he’s just super focused and really good at it. .
Ceccarelli: He’s really funny too when he’s giving directions because he’s such a great improv comic. He’ll he’ll find the weirdest ways to pull a particular performance out of somebody. His. descriptions of the headspace that the character’s supposed to be in will often be funnier than anything that we’ve written. He came from stand-up. You can never turn that off. He’s just like. constantly improving even if it’s just for an audience of three people—us and the recording engineer.
Dar: So what’s next for SpongeBob?
Ceccarelli: We’re doing the spinoff Kamp Koral show which we’re having a blast writing. Putting the characters in this new location freed up the writers and they’ve come up with new ideas.
Waller: They’re not just in Bikini Bottom anymore. Suddenly we have this entire wilderness to play with and all the things that can inspire a story out of that.
Ceccarelli: It’s different dynamics with the characters because they’re a little younger.
Waller: But the comedy is not younger.
Ceccarelli: Yeah, it’s going to be for the same audience. In some ways it may be a bit more subversive because we’re doing the same kind of physical comedy with the younger kids.
Dar: Some animated shows like to have firm continuity while others play fast and loose with it. What’s your approach?
Waller: We play with it and then we mostly ignore it as far as canon and having a through story. The show you’re watching is what you should focus on and how it hooks up to that thing.
Ceccarelli: But we also do like to play with continuity and use that for humor. We pick and choose.
Dar: The running joke of the “My leg!” guy is a perfect example of that, which just had an episode devoted to that character finally giving him a name. How did that episode come about?
Ceccarelli: It was time. [Actor] Doug [Lawrence] is our head writer and that was his character that he’s had for years. Just recently we named the character and have been using him a lot more.
Waller: By that, he means the fans named him and we went, “That’s a good name for him. That’ll work!”
Ceccarelli: So once he had a name, we ended up using him more. That was how far we could push the “My leg” joke.
Waller: When we would do shows and veer away and follow characetrs like Fred we were encouraged to push the camera back to SpongeBob. But it’s been 20 years and everybody realizes that every character is popular. And people would like to follow characters like Patrick around and see what he does all day. [The episode] “Mall Girl Pearl” was the first episode where we literally had SpongeBob in the background and he’s shadowing Squidward.
Dar: Have you considered taking that further and doing an entire episode without SpongeBob?
Waller: I think everybody is ready for the other characters to have their moments in the sun.
Ceccarelli: It’s the SpongeBob show but it’s always been about this community in Bikini Bottom. The performers are so strong and the characters are written so well. There’s a lot of depth to each of the characters. It’s really easy to write humor for these characters because they’re deep and have so many facets to them.
Dar: Have you noticed any changes in the performances since the beginning?
Waller: We were just watching “Suds” and Clancy [Brown] barely sounds like a pirate. He sounds like Mr. Krabs but it’s not [imitates Mr. Krabs laugh]. When Tom started most of SpongeBob’s lines were almost whispery. Now he’s moved back.
Dar: Favorite episodes?
Ceccarelli: I’d have to say that my favorite is the stop-motion Halloween episode because I’ve always been such a huge fan of stop-motion. We were able to do both the Christmas and Halloween episode with Screen Novelties and they’re just amazing. What they bring to stop-motion is the animated their characters in a way that’s almost like 2D animation. There’s a lot of overshoots and squash and stretch with their characters which makes their 3D animation look like our 2D animation.
Waller: “Mimic Madness” has been my favorite since the 10th Season. But we’ve done so many since like “Plankton Paranoia” I just love.
Dar: Last question, what should fans look forward to in 2020 for SpongeBob?
Waller: Lots more great expressions from SpongeBob in 2D and of course the CG that’s come up. We’re going to see exactly where we can go with that.
Ceccarelli: There are a few more 22-minute specials coming up at the end of the 20th Anniversary celebration. Those are pretty special, cray episodes. One of the episodes has a lot of interesting musical moments. Another has a crazy sort of take on amusement parks and what’s underneath them.
###
From Fox News:
‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ cast reflects on series turning 20: ‘Where did the time go?’
“SpongeBob SquarePants" is officially 20 years old.
The Nickelodeon creation, which launched July 17, 1999, has ruled as the No. 1 kids’ animated series on TV for the last 17 years. The beloved show has since generated a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base — just to name a few.
Fox News recently caught up with some of the cast at the New York Comic-Con to talk about this milestone. Carolyn Lawrence voices Sandy Cheeks, Bill Fagerbakke plays Patrick Star and Clancy Brown stars as Mr. Krabs.
Fox News: Can you believe it's been 20 years for "SpongeBob SquarePants?"
Carolyn Lawrence: I cannot believe it's been 20 years. What the heck. Where did the time go? It happened so fast! It's so interesting because it went really really quickly... I don't know, I can't explain it.
Bob Fagerbakke: With a lot of different careers people might expect to have a job for 20 years. Not obviously with actors because we're basically shiftless carnies you know. To have something that long is extraordinary. And trust me, any actor that dreams of someday having a job for 20 years is probably not in the right profession.
Clancy Brown: We were just saying that it doesn't feel like 20 years. People always talk about the very first time we did it and it feels like we just did it. We're not keeping track. As a matter of fact, we're only in Season 13. So it's been 20 years but it's Season 13. I don't trust math. Math is not right. Twenty years — forget that — we just did it. It's just started.
Fox News: Do you remember when you landed the part?
Lawrence: Yeah but I had no idea. I mean I was always excited to book a job. But who knew? I mean who knew it would be so crazy? So that was a wild turn of events.
Fagerbakke: I can't say I remember that moment. I certainly remember when I met [animator] Stephen Hillenburg during the audition. I could tell immediately that he was an extraordinary person. And then when I knew I would get to work with him, of course, I was happy too because at the end of the day you know if you can do strong material and work with good people, you can't really ask for anything more.
Fox News: Do you remember when you realized how big "SpongeBob" had become?
Lawrence: I think when I saw products at Target I was like, "What the what the what?" (Laughter.) I've done so many things but never something that would be that mass-marketed in that way.
Fagerbakke: Well, there was this sea change I think it was probably in Season 2 when Wall Street Journal did an article about it and we think the New Yorker. And all of a sudden, we were getting all this press. So that was really exciting because you're kind of just like in your little soundstage and those little studios and you're doing your thing. And as far as you know there are just some kids watching it and the kids at the elementary school when I pick my kids up, they're very excited. And then boom!
Clancy Brown: We kind of stopped doing it after the third season. We all thought that was the end. And I think when they came back and said well you know what guys I think we want to record more. And they actually paid us a little bit more. And that's I think that's when I realized wait a minute, they would never pay us more if they weren't making a hell of a lot of money.
Fox News: Does "SpongeBob SquarePants" go down as one of the best cartoons of a generation?
Lawrence: I think so. I think it's going to go down in history. It's so hard to think about like it's so surreal honestly. That it's still hard for me too to grasp how large it is. When I travel and you go to other countries and it's there and people are talking about it and. It's amazing and so if I think about it too much my head explodes. But yes I think it will.
Fagerbakke: We all were influenced by great cartoons like Looney Tunes, like the Warner Brothers and Chuck Jones. I mean that animation had a lot of impact on us. And if we can be thought of as being a classic cartoon that's a wonderful thing and certainly not something I can speculate about. I just love my job.
Brown: It's the best cartoon ever made and It will be the best cartoon ever ever ever. Until the end of Earth.
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More Nick:Brian Robbins Reveals More Details About 'SpongeBob' Spin-Off 'Kamp Koral'!
Originally published: Friday, October 4, 2019 at 22:26 BST.
Source: Nickandmore! (II); H/T: Anime Superhero Forum /@Action!, @kanc, TV Shows Fan, TV Guide.
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