Which makes it an excellent time to look back on some of the franchise highlights through the past two and a half decades.
Here are some of the most memorable collabs, from celebrities to sports stars to fashion designers to buzzy brands:
The brand’s all-time top food seller? Frankford’s Krabby Patties gummy candy, which is the #1 entertainment brand licensed candy on the market, says Kaufman, who adds the consumer packaged goods playbook is about creating ways to bring SpongeBob into fans’ lives throughout the day, and throughout the years.
“Roblox has emerged as one of the biggest gaming platforms in the world with almost 80 million daily active users, and we’re engaging that audience with SpongeBob Simulator. This is a fully immersive game that ties everything fans love about Bikini Bottom with the very popular simulator genre on the platform. It has had over 55 million visits to date, and we have more coming to gaming in virtual worlds soon that I’m really looking forward to but can’t talk about just yet. Our games and emerging media team has done a great job innovating in that space.”
Nautical Nonsense with Heart! SpongeBob SquarePants Celebrates 25th Anniversary
1999 was a big year for animation: While major features such as Disney’s Tarzan, Pixar’s Toy Story 2 and Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant opened in theaters, the TV and cable scene was also blazing with influential shows such as Batman Beyond, Family Guy, Futurama and Ed, Edd n Eddy.
But among the many animated shows that premiered 25 years ago, none has had the lasting power or pop culture impact as Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. Created by the much-loved former marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, the highly original, funny and easy-to-love series quickly became the animated show that everyone wanted to emulate but, frankly, never even came close to repeating its special kind of magic.
Sadly, Hillenburg passed away at 57 from ALS in 2018, but his legacy continues to shine today. The series is now in its 15th season on Nickelodeon, and its two spinoff series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and The Patrick Star Show, are faring well with audiences too. There have been three clever, successful movies — The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Sponge Out of Water (2015) and Sponge on the Run (2020) — and a new one (Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie) premieres on Netflix this month. The streamer also announced that another feature, Plankton: The Movie, is in the works for 2025. To date, SpongeBob has won six Annie Awards, four Emmys, two BAFTA Children’s awards and has also inspired an acclaimed Broadway musical that premiered in 2017. And the optimistic yellow sponge’s entertainment empire shows no signs of losing its global appeal.
As showrunners and exec producers Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller — CalArts grads who have been with the show since 1999 — see it, there’s no shortage of ideas or adventures for SpongeBob and his delightfully eccentric pals.
“It’s quite amazing as we now have crew members who grew up watching the show, so they’re taking all that knowledge and bringing [it] into the new episodes,” says Waller, who worked as a storyboard artist on such shows as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Duckman and Cow and Chicken before joining the SpongeBob team during its first season. He became the show’s creative director during Season 4, and in 2015, he became supervising producer and showrunner with Ceccarelli. “You put all the pain and the joy in your life into the show: That’s where comedy comes from, and nobody tells us, ‘Oh, that’s too weird … you can’t do that!”
Ceccarelli, a key member of the SpongeBob team since the start, agrees. “We’ve been so lucky, because this show, from its very inception with Steve [Hillenburg], has always been kind of about creativity and imagination. So, it allows us to take the lid off and just pour as much into it as we possibly can. We’re always trying new things to keep it fresh and alive with imagination.”
Of course, making audiences laugh has always been the show’s most important goal. “Our main mandate has always been to be funny,” adds Ceccarelli. “We don’t have to include messages or to teach children anything. We make a show that’s generally funny for a general audience, so everything’s laser-pointed on trying to find the funny in every scene. Each department’s goal is to make a scene funnier — from the writing to the storyboarding to the designs for the props. We’re making the show for ourselves first. We’re the test audience, and if it cracks us up, then we go ahead with it.”
Waller adds, “I can’t tell you how many times parents come up to me whenever we’re doing signings or when they just find out I’m working on the show and they tell us, ‘Thank you for making something I can watch too and not want to kill myself!’”
When it comes to the series’ stunning longevity, both Waller and Ceccarelli both believe that the unique characters dreamed up by Hillenburg a quarter-century ago play a big part in keeping the spark alive.
SpongeBob SquarePants Best Episodes
Must-Sea SpongeBob: [...] “Chocolate with Nuts,” “Pizza Delivery,” “The Fry Cook Game,” (second row) “Welcome to The Chum Bucket,” “Band Geek,” “Rock Bottom,” (third row) “Frankendoodle,” “The Algae’s Always Greener” and “Graveyard Shift” are some of the best-loved episodes of the series throughout its 25-year run.
“SpongeBob is completely undaunted in anything and everything he does,” says Waller. “He is naive and has this pure heart, and just like Steve, he is always striving to make the world a better place. Plus, all the other characters are just the perfect supporting cast. It’s like there’s truly something for everybody, and we have the best cast I’ve ever worked with. It’s so completely well rounded, and you’re hitting all the bells as you go along.”
Ceccarelli says, “The fact that you have such a pure-hearted character at the center of it makes the show a completely uncynical, positive experience, even though a lot of the humor points out society’s foibles. But at the same time, you’re always looking at it through these rose-colored glasses worn by this naive, special little character.”
Waller believes that the late 1990s and early 2000s was a special time for TV animation because creators were allowed to run free with their ideas. “I might have a stilted point of view, but there was a big cartoon explosion that happened after Ren & Stimpy. People actually saw what you could get when you actually let cartoonists have the power and run with it; they’ll give you gold.”
SpongeBob Super Bowl and Christmas
Making Waves: ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ has often charted new waters, including (top) live-hosting Super Bowl LVIII with animated characters and the stop-motion special “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” (2012).
Voices of a Generation: The show’s voice stars — [...] Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence — have been bringing their iconic character to life for a quarter century!
“That’s what blew my mind when I was at CalArts,” recalls Ceccarelli. “When Ren & Stimpy came out, I was in the live-action program, and I thought, ‘Boy, did I make a big mistake!’ I should have been in the animation program. That’s why it took me 10 years to claw my way into animation!”
When asked about their favorite memories of working with Hillenburg, the two animation veterans have similar answers. Waller says, “Just hearing him laugh was the best. It wasn’t easy. It was hard to make him laugh. As they say, a laugh from a comedy writers’ room is a ‘HA!’ That’s like other people’s falling over and dying laughing.”
“Exactly, because we’re all kind of like comedy scientists,” explains Ceccarelli. “You are all putting the special formulas together. It’s great when you hear that a joke gets unprompted laughter.”
The duo has some important words of advice for animation hopefuls who want to have a long and rewarding career. Waller offers an easy mantra. “Draw, draw, draw!” he says. “And don’t be a jerk to work with!”
Ceccarelli adds, “What I’ve found out about this business is that it’s filled with really intelligent, thoughtful people, but they’re also really kind. It’s really a unique bunch of people. So, if you’re going to join this group of people, try and be the best version of yourself.”
“Remember that it’s always a group effort,” says Waller. “The great thing is that everybody gets to add something. Other people call it cleanup, but we call it plusers, because they’re not just making it a nicer drawing: They’re also adding more storytelling elements to the action or making the acting and comedy come through the action. Every job in the pipeline is important.”
Stephen Hillenburg on SpongeBob’s Beginnings
‘I think that the attitude of the show is about tolerance. Everybody is different, and the show embraces that. The character SpongeBob is an oddball. He’s kind of weird, but he’s kind of special.’
— Stephen Hillenburg (Wall Street Journal, 2002)
The Intertidal Zone
I had written an educational comic book about tide pools called The Intertidal Zone, which had a talking sponge …The original name was Spongeboy, but I couldn’t use that because it was copyrighted by a mop company.
When I pitched the show, I made this special seashell. You could pick it up and hear me singing: “Spongeboy, Spongeboy!” I also made an aquarium with Patrick planted on the side, SpongeBob sitting on a barrel and Squidward inside. I wore a Hawaiian shirt. I don’t know what they thought of it. Eventually, we pitched with a storyboard. The executive, Albie Hecht, walked out — then walked straight back in and said: “Let’s make this.”
From a 2016 interview with Stephen Hillenburg by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in The Guardian (full article here).
Keanu Reeves’ cameo as a tumbleweed in ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run’ (2021) is one of many celebrity guest appearances in the franchise’s history.
Seafaring Stars!
Throughout the years, SpongeBob SquarePants has welcomed a wide variety of stellar guest voices to Bikini Bottom. Here’s a handy list of actors, musicians, comedians and celebrity personalities that lent their voices during each season of the show. (Repeat guest spots are not included.)
Season 1— Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Don Newhouse, Brian Doyle Murray, Ghastly Ones, Junior Brown, John O’Hurley, Jim Jarmusch, John Lurie, Charles Nelson Reilly
Season 2 — Ween, The Capsules, Brad Abrell, Corky Carroll, Marion Ross, Pantera, John Rhys-Davies, Frank Welker
Season 3 — Steve Kehela, Rodney Bingenheimer, Lux Interior, Kevin Michael Richardson, Martin Olson
Season 4 — Amy Poehler, Stew, C.H. Greenblatt, Robin Sachs, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, Pat Morita
Season 5 — Patton Oswalt, Mark Hamill, Gene Shalit, David Bowie, John DiMaggio, Marion Ross, Garnett Sailor, R. Lee Ermey, Gene Simmons, Shannon Tweed, Ray Liotta, Andrea Martin, Christopher Guest
Season 6 — Alton Brown, Bruce Brown, Johnnn Depp, Davy Jones, Ian McShane, Dennis Quaid, Dee Snider, Rosario Dawson, Eddie Deezen, Craig Ferguson, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, LeBron James, Pink, Robert Smigel, Robin Williams, Gregg Turkington, Sebastian Bach, Victoria Beck
Season 7 — Burt Ward, Adam West, Laraine Newman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kristen Wig, Amy Sedaris
Season 8 — Chris Elliott, Rich Fulcher, John Goodman, Andy Samberg, Johnny Knoxville, Michael McKean
Season 9 — Biz Markie, Frank Ferrante, Bob Barker, Aubrey Plaza, Betty White, Henry Winkler, David Leader, James Arnold Taylor, Jon Hamm
Season 10 — Ed Asner, J.K. Simmons, Steve Buscemi, Joe Pantoliano, Peter Browngardt
Season 11 — Jeff Garlin, Keith David, Brian George, Lewis Black
Season 12 — Fred Tatasciore, Maurice LaMarche, Maria Bramford, Bobby Cannvale, Charlie Adler, Lana Condor, Lilli Cooper, Vernon Davis, Gilbert Gottfried, Ed Begley Jr., Jack Griffo, Rob Gronowski, Tiffany Haddish, David Hasselhoff, Heidi Klum, Kel Mitchell, Kal Penn, Daniella Perkins, RuPaul, Jojo Siwa, Danny Skinner, Ethan Slater, Jason Sudeikis, Sigourney Weaver, Nyasha Hatendi
Season 13 — Christopher Guest, Brad Garrett, Jeffrey Kombs, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly, Rhys Darby, Mark Dacascos,
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie — Alec Baldwin, David Hasselhoff, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — Antonio Banderas, Matt Berry, Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist, Eric Bauza, Tim Conway, Eddie Deezen, Nolan North, April Stewart, Cree Summer, Billy West
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run — Awkwafina, Tiffany Haddish, Reggie Watts, Aaron Smith De Niro, Tyler Peterson, Keanu Reeves, Snoop Dog, Danny Trejo, Rick Pasqualone, Antonio Raul Corbo, Jack Gore
SpongeBob memes
Nick’s Marine Meme Machine
As a cultural touchstone of the earliest “Internet Native” generations, SpongeBob SquarePants has inspired innumerable memes drawn from fan-favorite episodes and character moments. Some of the most-viewed SpongeBob entries on Know Your Meme include (left to right):
- [...] Ight Imma Head Out (episode “The Smoking Peanut”), Confused Mr. Krabs (“Patty Hype”), Mocking SpongeBob (“Little Yellow Book”)
- [...] Surprised Patrick (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie), Imagination (“The Idiot Box”), Savage Patrick (“Nature Pants”)
- [...] You Like Krabby Patties, Don’t You Squidward? (“Just One Bite”); Handsome Squidward (“The Two Faces of Squidward”); Caveman SpongeBob/SpongeGar (“SB-129”)
From Bikini Bottom to the top: Inside SpongeBob’s pop culture reign
How a happy little sea sponge soaked up our attention to create a $16 billion franchise.
When SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999, there was no indication it would become the global phenomenon it is today.
At the time, the underwater adventures of a perennially cheerful sea sponge fit squarely into Nickelodeon’s canon of madcap cartoons from the ’90s and early aughts—think: Rocko’s Modern Life, The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Angry Beavers, CatDog, Invader Zim, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
None of those shows likely rings a bell unless you grew up in a specific generation. And yet, 25 years after its debut, SpongeBob SquarePants has reached the level of brand recognition akin to cultural touchstones such as Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes, and Hello Kitty.
Not only is the show and its characters highly recognizable—they’re cooler than they’ve ever been.
Hip to be Square
SpongeBob SquarePants sits at a unique intersection of digital and physical pop culture. According to the song lyric database Genius, characters from SpongeBob SquarePants have been referenced in hip-hop lyrics hundreds of times. Those same characters have dominated internet culture with a steady stream of memes and GIFs.
All the while, SpongeBob has been a mainstay in fashion and art. Look to the 2013 capsule collection with Pharrell Williams’s brand Ice Cream; a 2014 collection from Moschino; and sneaker collabs with Vans (2018), Nike (2019), and Puma (2023). Visual artist and designer Louis De Guzman and reggaeton superstar J Balvin teamed up in 2021 to create SpongeBob SquarePants-themed art, apparel, and home goods.
And just this year, Supreme released racing jackets and shirts; design and fashion brand Cactus Plant Flea Market and retailer Uniqlo put out their own SpongeBob SquarePants collection; as did Stella McCartney for her kidswear line.
All of this has turned a yellow sponge and all his nautical nonsense into a pop culture muse and a $16 billion global brand powerhouse.
A Big Yellow T-Shirt Becomes a Hot Topic for Adults
Pam Kaufman, president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products, and experiences at Paramount, joined Nickelodeon in 1997 as vice president of marketing and promotions. She had a front row seat when SpongeBob SquarePants hit the airwaves in 1999 to a somewhat tepid response.
“It did okay,” Kaufman recalls. “That was during a time when it was okay to keep a show on without getting blockbuster ratings. It gave shows time to build and breathe.” Fast-forward to Seasons 3 and 4, when things started to shift.
Vincent Waller, executive producer of SpongeBob SquarePants, initially joined the show in 2000 as a writer. He got into the habit of doodling characters from shows he was working on and leaving them in public places, on restaurant checks, and the like. While in Shanghai around Season 3 of SpongeBob SquarePants, he handed a kid a SpongeBob drawing, thinking he wouldn’t know who the character was.
“He looks at it and he starts screaming and runs off into a building,” Waller says. “I found out later he was yelling ‘Sponge Baby! Sponge Baby!’ in Chinese. And then 15 kids came pouring out of the building, and I just stood there drawing these [sketches for] little kids.”
Stateside, Kaufman was getting calls from fans wanting merch. At the time, she led a small consumer products business that launched off the success of the network’s show Rugrats. Soon, audiences were asking for goods from a certain sponge—a demand that Kaufman says was by no means a guarantee.
“Not everything that’s a hit is merchandisable and works in consumer products. One of the biggest shows in Nickelodeon history is The Fairly Odd Parents, and that never translated to consumer products—ever,” Kaufman says. “Hey Arnold!—massive hit. Never translated.”
Back then, Kaufman didn’t see a show like SpongeBob SquarePants translating into toys because it didn’t fit the classic play pattern at the time, which leaned more toward interactivity and gaming (RoboSapien, Beyblade, Nintendo DS, Pokémon, etc.) or fashion dolls (Bratz, My Scene Barbies).
The first piece of SpongeBob SquarePants merch was a bright yellow T-shirt with SpongeBob’s face on it. More notable is the fact that the shirt was sold in Hot Topic, a store known more for its goth and alternative wares. Kaufman says they were intentional in launching at Hot Topic and not a more kid-friendly retailer because they noticed co-viewing of the show among parents and children was exceedingly high.
That crossover appeal was intentional. Marc Ceccarelli, executive producer of SpongeBob SquarePants, joined the show in 2010 as a writer and storyboard artist and says the main goal in the writer’s room was to make each other laugh.
“We’re basically making cartoons for a bunch of adults who still like watching cartoons,” Ceccarelli says.
The world of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob’s underwater hometown, was largely inspired by show creator Stephen Hillenburg’s background as a marine biologist. His take on ocean life was highly stylized, from the retro Hawaiian aesthetic of Bikini Bottom to the show’s colorful cast of characters.
“Each of the characters is really well defined and unique in a way,” Ceccarelli says. “You look at a lot of shows, and they have this signature art style where all the characters kind of feel like variations of the same character. Whereas in SpongeBob, each character is designed for their personality. I think that makes the characters feel even more real and fleshed out than many other shows.”
This emphasis on unbridled creativity is part of the reason the show has so many fans in fashion and culture. After Williams reached out to Nickelodeon for what wound up becoming the 2013 capsule collection for his Ice Cream brand, it kicked off a still-occurring string of collabs in fashion and beyond. Last year, Xbox launched a custom-designed console. Even the United States Postal Service has gotten in on the craze with a series of SpongeBob SquarePants stamps.
“We learned from SpongeBob that we don’t have to be so precious about a character,” Kaufman says. “It can translate into different art styles.”
As flexible as SpongeBob’s intellectual property may be, Kaufman says they do reject a number of offers. Some of those do’s and don’ts, including no seafood restaurant tie-ins, came from show creator Hillenburg, who died in 2018 of complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“He just wanted the character to maintain its authenticity,” Kaufman says. As run-down as that word has become, it’s critical to Kaufman and her team to ensure the show maintains the essence of what Hillenburg created.
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| SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg with the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, in Los Angeles, 2002. [Photo: Kevin Winter/ImageDirect] |
Positive vibes only
At the core of SpongeBob SquarePants is SpongeBob’s unwavering positivity. The secondary characters and their unique relationships to SpongeBob lend the show a relatability despite its offbeat humor. The foundation Hillbenburg set has remained the focus, even as SpongeBob has expanded into theme parks, restaurants, Broadway, and beyond.
“SpongeBob’s good nature is the hook,” says Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation. “The world and community that SpongeBob has created, Bikini Bottom, is a mirror of our own, and perhaps a more fun and playful mirror of our own. That allows us to look introspectively and see the joy of living.”
Maybe that’s part of the reason why SpongeBob’s brand continues to resonate with generation after generation. For kids, there’s no shortage of ridiculous antics to keep them entertained. But for older audiences, there’s something to be said for such a perpetually cheerful and silly character existing in a real world that consistently feels anything but cheerful and silly.
“You hear this over and over and over again in research: ‘I just love him. He makes me so happy,’” Kaufman says. “Our goal has always been to put SpongeBob out there in the world in an experiential way that will make people feel fun and happy. That was the strategy—to keep building experiences where people can be part of them.”
