Speaking over the phone, Tom Kenny sounds lot more like an overworked middle-aged dad than the hyperkinetic voice behind one of TV's biggest cartoon hits ever, Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" -- now marking its 10th anniversary on the air.
But Kenny -- who also voices the controversial Skids robot in the "Transformers" movie sequel and a talking toy chain saw under development by Fisher-Price -- is always a can of Red Bull and an enthusiastic request away from sliding into the relentlessly upbeat undersea sponge at the center of Nickelodeon's gargantuan hit, even as he compares starring in a hit TV show with surviving a terminal disease.
"'SpongeBob' has hung on for so long it's almost like you beat this terminal disease -- marketplace malaise," he says, laughing. "And every day's a bonus round."
Beating the odds, "SpongeBob" has racked up $2 billion in annual merchandising sales and a regular berth among the most-watched cable shows each week without compromising its eccentric, creative vision.
Nickelodeon celebrates the anniversary with 50 hours of programming this weekend. I spent some time dissecting "SpongeBob SquarePants" with the guy -- outside of creator Stephen Hillenburg -- who knows him best.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Can you believe the show has been on for 10 years?
A: It's not like I would have been disappointed that it went away after three or four years -- that's usually the lifespan in the marketplace. You do 52 episodes, which gives them enough to rerun it forever. I always loved the character and loved the show right from the very beginning.
Q: What have you learned from the show's success?
A: You can't try to sit down with test tubes and beakers and try to create a gigantically worldwide popular show. You never know what's going to resonate. "SpongeBob" was created in a resolutely unscientific way -- without regard to demographics of flow charts or market share. It was an artistic, funny guy with an interest in oceanography and comedy ...
Q: Do you have any idea why the show is so successful?
A: It was made to be a funny show and an enjoyable show, but not a gigantically profitable merchandise juggernaut. ... It's a hopeful show, a funny show that was kinda edgy and comedic, and a kids' show -- that had this hopeful protagonist married to animation that was pretty high quality for cable TV. ... Because they're not people and they're not critters you're overly familiar with, they seemed new.
Q: You've said it helps that the cartoon doesn't explain too much.
A: That's also a smart decision Steve made early on. I know that was a fight for him -- not explaining everything in the early stages of the show. In a world where the audience expects every 't' to be crossed. He was always explaining to people that he didn't need to explain. Is SpongeBob a kid or an adult? ...Where are his parents? Well, I don't know. They're just comedy archetypes -- you don't need to know why (Charlie Chaplin's) Little Tramp is unemployed -- he just is.
Q: When some conservatives said SpongeBob might be gay, you seemed to enjoy the controversy.
A: I think it's just misguided -- I think it's people who are scared of the world. They're standing on the parapets, always looking for invaders, and you start hallucinating and seeing stuff that isn't there. "It's part of a worldwide conspiracy to inculcate our children into thinking alternative lifestyles are OK." You can instantly put that stuff to bed by making it look ridiculous. The Three Stooges all slept in the same bed -- but unless you're a twisted person, you don't think Moe and Larry are getting it on. They're childlike characters -- adults who act like kids in the grownup world, and that's just funny. If we had all this righteous indignation about health care and education, think of how much we could get done.
Q: Does it feel surreal to be the voice of a worldwide cartoon phenomenon?
A: We're about to do these Nickelodeon cruise ships -- they just started it last year. It was hugely successful. Me and a bunch of musicians, do music from the show -- we do "Best Day Ever" and "Where's Gary?" -- I've written those songs. And that's the amazing thing, the cruise line was unprepared for -- I don't think they expected the middle-aged cartoon-voice guy who is not seen to cause such pandemonium. I told them: "You guys are going to need to have somebody walk me from place to place on the boat." And they said, "Really?" And when it went down, the security people had to abandon the guy in the Backyardigans costume who was hyperventilating to get me out of the room. We're doing an East Coast cruise, where they will probably fly me in on a helicopter to join after it's in progress. They had a SpongeBob car in the NASCAR race. We're even supposed to ring the bell at the stock exchange.
(deggans(at)sptimes.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
Must credit St. Petersburg Times
Post new comment