When Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, was growing up in Syracuse, N.Y., his best friend was edgy comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. They were recently reminiscing about those childhood days when they both dreamed of Hollywood.
"Remember when we were in high school?" Goldthwait said. "We were talking about whose careers we wanted to have when we grew up. I said John Belushi, and you said Mel Blanc."
In a sense, both got their wish.
While Goldthwait's comedic star soared early, Kenny's career was more of a slow climb, from headlining standup gigs to appearing in sketch-comedy shows such as Fox's The Edge and HBO's Mr. Show. But since breaking into cartoon work, he's become one of the most prolific voice actors in town.
In addition to Nickelodeon's SpongeBob, he gives life to the mayor, the narrator and assorted other characters on the Powerpuff Girls, the voice of Dog on Catdog, and has a role in comic-book maven Stan Lee's Stripperella cartoon coming to TNN in the spring. Kenny's also done work for Futurama, Johnny Bravo and Rocko's Modern Life. He's edging into Blanc status in the animation world, and Kenny -- whose choice for a fifth-grade essay on a "famous American" was Looney Tunes' director Chuck Jones -- couldn't be happier.
"A lot of voiceover people want to be on sitcoms or they want to be a pop singer," mused Kenny. "I spent a lot of time and energy trying to tunnel into the prison that they're trying to tunnel out of."
Yet because of that "prison," doors are springing open for Kenny all over:
With SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg, Kenny is about to begin writing the SpongeBob feature film.
The roots-rock band NRBQ, whose fans include Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, has asked Kenny to sing as SpongeBob on a forthcoming tribute album that also will feature the likes of R.E.M. and Bonnie Raitt.
Kenny recently spent large blocks of time hanging out with and interviewing Jonathan Winters and Sid Caesar for a forthcoming DVD about the legendary comedians' 40-year friendship. "Every time Jonathan put on a different hat, he'd be off on another 30-minute routine," marveled Kenny.
The key to that "prison," of course, is the positive-thinking little yellow sponge who flips burgers at the Krusty Krab and whose best friends are an air-headed starfish named Patrick and a Texan squirrel named Sandy Cheeks. For the uninitiated, SpongeBob is an innocent in an undersea world awash in jaded characters like his neighbor Squidward and his money-hungry boss Mr. Krabs. And that cheerful naivete is a main reason SpongeBob's popularity crosses all age boundaries and makes it one of the most popular shows on cable, Kenny said.
"He's pretty multi-layered despite the fact that he's a cartoon character," Kenny said. "He's energetic and works very hard. If his feelings are hurt, he'll fall apart emotionally. He's unrelentingly nice -- in a way that almost becomes abrasive to characters around him."
Sometimes, SpongeBob's abrasiveness is intentional -- but that's usually improv by Kenny and the cast that gets edited out of the show.
"We have some really twisted outtakes," Kenny chuckled. "When you're locked in a windowless, airless room with a sponge, a starfish and a squirrel, you'd be amazed at what comes out of your mouth. It's like a Shirley MacLaine thing, channeling someone who isn't you."
More than anything, Kenny says, he sees the SpongeBob-Patrick friendship as a throwback to old-time comedy duos like Laurel and Hardy or Jackie Gleason and Art Carney.
"The humor is simple and funny," Kenny said. "SpongeBob and Patrick are like a comedy team in the old school. They're broad characters, but there's more under the skin than you'd suspect. And you know how they're going to react to certain situations. Let's face it, waiting for Ralph Kramden to blow his top is half the fun."
While the Wall Street Journal raised questions about SpongeBob and Patrick in a recent article that pointed up the show's popularity in the gay community, Kenny says he felt the insinuation was a stretch.
"I had heard that gay viewers enjoy the show in the same way that lots of people -- college students, parents and children -- like the show," he said. "I thought it was rather silly to hang an entire article on that. I don't think it's a case of it being a gay-friendly show -- It's a human-being-friendly show. They're all welcome.
"I hope they all buy the merchandise," Kenny added with a laugh.
Patrick Kampert writes for the Chicago Tribune.