“Unmasking the Undersea Phenomenon: The Surprising Secrets Behind SpongeBob SquarePants’ Creation!”
Patrick Wasn’t Always The Starfish He Is Today
While Hillenberg and creative director Derek Drymon were developing a pilot to pitch to Nickelodeon executives, they originally wanted to create a road-trip situation involving SpongeBob and Squidward (it wasn’t used for the pilot, but would later become the episode “Pizza Delivery”).
Hillenberg came up with the idea that the guys would go to a roadside bar, the owner of which was a starfish with a “huge chip on his shoulder because he was pink.” This early conception of Patrick was also supposed to be a bully, but that obviously didn’t stick.
SpongeBob Was Inspired By Pee-Wee Herman And Jerry Lewis
SpongeBob isn’t exactly a boy, but he’s not exactly a man either. Sort of an adult with childlike tendencies, SpongeBob’s characteristics were carefully thought out by creator Stephen Hillenburg.
Tom Kenny, who voices the character of SpongeBob, recalled what Hillenburg told him while the show was still in development: “He’s not quite an adult, he’s not quite a kid. Think a Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis kind of child-man… Maybe he mentioned Ed Norton from The Honeymooners, but Pee-Wee Herman, Jerry Lewis and Stan Laurel were go-to’s for us.”
SpongeBob Is Square Just For Laughs
As with any cartoon, the main characters went through many versions of themselves before coming to life. SpongeBob was inspired by the main character in Stephen Hillenburg’s comic The Intertidal Zone. Spongeboy, as he was called, was shaped like an actual sea sponge.
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