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ongeBob SquarePants (born July 14, 1986) is the main protagonist of the animated series of the same name. He was designed by show creator and former marine biologist, the late Stephen Hillenburg. Stephen Hillenburg based SpongeBob on Bob the Sponge, a character he had created for his educational book The Intertidal Zone in the late 1980s.
SpongeBob is a childish, joyful, and clumsy sea sponge who lives in a pineapple with his pet snail Gary in the underwater city of Bik***ini Bottom. He works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, a job which he is exceptionally skilled at and enjoys thoroughly. He attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School, and his greatest dream in life is to receive his boating license. Unfortunately, he tenses up whenever he has to drive a boatmobile, and he drive***s recklessly. SpongeBob is very good-natured and loves to hang out with his best friend, Patrick. His teacher is Mrs. Puff and his boss is Mr. Krabs.
Like real sea sponges, SpongeBob has the ability to filter-feed (as shown in "I Had an Accident") and reproduce by budding (in "Pressure"). In The SpongeBob Musical, SpongeBob's exact species of sea sponge is identified: Aplysina fistularis, a yellow sea sponge that is commonly found in open waters.
SpongeBob appears in some form in every episode of the series, beginning with the series' debut episode, "Help Wanted." He is voiced by Tom Kenny, who is married to Karen Plankton's voice actress, Jill Talley.

Contents

1 Production details
2 Biography
3 Description
4 Health
5 Personality
5.1 Dedication to his job
6 Abilities and talents
7 Weaknesses
8 Family
9 Occupation
9.1 Alter-egos
10 Residence
11 Reception
12 Multiverse
13 Appearances in other media
14 Trivia
15 See also
16 External links
17 References
Production details
While Stephen Hillenburg worked as a teacher of marine science at the Ocean Institute in California, he created an educational book called The Intertidal Zone. The book was intended for children and taught about the behaviors of different sea creatures. Bob the Sponge, a natural sea sponge with sunglasses, was the "host" of the book.
Stephen Hillenburg revisited the concept of The Intertidal Zone in 1996 when he started sketching concepts for a cartoon series about undersea life. He wanted the title character to be an under-represented creature, with the rest of the main characters being iconic and easily recognizable sea animals: a crab, a whale, and a starfish. "What's the weirdest animal? The sponge came to mind," he recalled in 2012. As he drew a sea sponge character, he originally wanted to use the shape of a natural sponge, but later decided that a "squeaky-clean square" would better portray a nerdy personality.
An early colored sketch portrayed SpongeBob as wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. SpongeBob's look gradually progressed to brown pants that were used in the final design. SpongeBob was designed to be a kid-like character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis.
The character was initially going to be named "SpongeBoy," but the name was already in use by other products including a pencil. This was discovered after voice acting for the original seven-minute pilot was recorded in 1997. Upon finding this out, Hillenburg decided that the character's name still had to contain "Sponge" so that viewers would not mistake the character for a "Cheese Man," and decided to use the name "SpongeBob." He chose "SquarePants" as a family name since it referred to the character's square shape and it had a "nice ring to it."
When Stephen Hillenburg pitched SpongeBob to Nickelodeon in 1997, the network gave him an order: they would only produce the show if SpongeBob was a kid who went to school, like "Arnold from Hey Arnold! under the sea." Hillenburg was prepared to "walkout" on Nickelodeon, as writing SpongeBob as a school-aged child went against his creative vision. However, he came up with Mrs. Puff and her Boating School as a compromise, allowing SpongeBob to attend school as an adult. Hillenburg was very fond of the "way things worked out," as Nickelodeon's order brought in a whole new main character, "Mrs. Puff, who I love."
SpongeBob is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny had previously worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life, and when Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he approached Tom Kenny to voice the character. Hillenburg used Kenny's and other actors' personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob.
Tom Kenny first used the voice for SpongeBob for a minor female alligator character named Al on Rocko's Modern Life, who appeared in the episode "Dear John." This is also the first time Kenny and Stephen Hillenburg worked together. Hillenburg wanted Kenny to use that voice for SpongeBob, so he showed him a clip of Al in Rocko's Modern Life to remind Kenny of the voice. Kenny says that SpongeBob's high-pitched laugh was specifically aimed at being unique, stating that they wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker.
In SpongeBob SquarePants broadcast in non-English languages, the voice actors dubbing SpongeBob's voice use Tom Kenny's rendition of the character as a starting point but also add unique elements. For example, the French version has SpongeBob with a slight Daffy Duck-style lisp.
Biography
According to his driver's license in the episode "Sleepy Time," SpongeBob SquarePants was born on July 14, 1986. SpongeBob's license is seen again with this birthdate in "No Free Rides," but all further appearances of it remove the birthdate. He celebrates four respective unspecified birthdays in the episodes "I Had an Accident," "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler," "Waiting," and "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout." In the latter, he nearly reveals his age but is narrowly cut off by the episode's ending, making it a mystery. Stephen Hillenburg once joked that SpongeBob is 50 in "sponge years." Taking into account the average lifespan of a yellow tube sponge being just over 100 years, this would make him middle-aged. Jokes aside, Hillenburg explained that SpongeBob actually has no specific age, but that "he is old enough to be on his own and still be going to driving school," firmly confirming him to be an adult.
Like real-life sea sponges, SpongeBob started life as a free-floating larva, as shown in "Gramma's Secret Recipe." During this time, he had a blobby, amorphous shape.
He lives with his pet sea snail Gary in a large pineapple-shaped house on 124 Conch Street, Bikini Bottom. His next-door neighbor, Squidward Tentacles, who lives in an Easter Island head, is constantly annoyed by his antics. SpongeBob is oblivious to this and believes Squidward to be his friend. Beside Squidward's house is the home of SpongeBob's best friend, Patrick Star, who lives under a rock.
SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, Bikini Bottom's most popular restaurant, where he is a fry cook and prepares all food served at the restaurant, most notably Krabby Patties.
In "Help Wanted," SpongeBob applied for this job. He says that it has been his lifelong dream to join the Krusty Krew and that only now is he "ready." When he applies for the job, Squidward and Mr. Krabs, wanting no part of him, send him on a fool's errand for a "hydro-dynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbo drive." While he is out searching for one at Barg'N-Mart, several hundred hungry anchovies arrive and overwhelm Squidward and Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob soon returns, having found a hydrodynamic spatula, and saves their lives by feeding the anchovies, showing off his amazing cooking skills in the process.
SpongeBob's house is an orange pineapple with fully furnished windows and doors and has a gas pipe. When he first moved to Bikini Bottom, he viewed many different houses, but none seemed to his liking. Just as he was about to give up, a pineapple from a boat above the water falls into the sea and lands onto the space that was Squidward's garden where Squidward was still gardening. SpongeBob loves the house and buys it, leaving Squidward in misery by losing his garden and having SpongeBob living next to him. However, in The Patrick Star Show episode "Who's a Big Boy?," SpongeBob bumps into his future house as a teenager while it's still under construction and already under the water, along with Squidward's house.
While not working, SpongeBob spends much of his time playing with his best friend, Patrick Star. The two have known each other since their early childhood, and are members of the "Best Friends Forever Club." Their usual activities include jellyfishing, bubble blowing, and various others. The two's antics are of constant annoyance to their next-door neighbor, Squidward, and he has been repeatedly put into harm's way as a result of their actions. This is shown when SpongeBob innocently sends DoodleBob to prank Squidward, only for the drawing to beat up Squidward in "Frankendoodle." Because of their annoyance, Squidward has tried to move away numerous times, but always ends up returning.
Despite Squidward claiming to hate SpongeBob and Patrick, they are completely oblivious to this and believe they are his best friends. Squidward is usually shown to dislike SpongeBob in particular, but the two share a close relationship. Squidward has hinted that he likes SpongeBob a lot more than he lets on. In "Graveyard Shift," he admits this when he tells SpongeBob, "No matter what I've said, I've always sort of liked you!" Also, in "SB-129," he misses SpongeBob after becoming trapped in a blank dimension. In "Dying for Pie," he shows sadness over SpongeBob being set to explode at sunset from eating the exploding pie, although this doesn't happen since SpongeBob kept the pie in his pocket the whole time and didn't eat it.
One of SpongeBob's good friends is a squirrel from Texas named Sandy Cheeks, who wears a special suit and helmet to survive underwater. When SpongeBob first met Sandy, she invited SpongeBob to her airtight home, and SpongeBob, not knowing what air is, accepted. After giving in to his need to breathe water, SpongeBob and Patrick got bowls of water to wear over their heads from Sandy, which they typically wear whenever they visit the treedome. Sandy enjoys SpongeBob's company and they enjoy doing extreme sports together, most notably karate.
SpongeBob's skills in karate are shown to vary quite considerably; for example, in "Karate Choppers," he equals and even outmatches Sandy in skill. However, at most other times he is so weak to the point where Sandy can send him flying a considerable distance with a single punch, which happens in "No Weenies Allowed." In "Karate Island," Sandy openly states that her karate skills are better than SpongeBob's by "a country mile."
Another of SpongeBob's friends is Mr. Krabs' whale daughter, Pearl Krabs. According to "Bossy Boots," Pearl thinks SpongeBob is "full of style," "oozes fashion," and most importantly, "is a great pal." Pearl goes to prom with SpongeBob in "The Chaperone" to make her feel better over being dumped by her boyfriend. In "Tunnel of Glove," it is revealed that Pearl's classmates think SpongeBob is her boyfriend, and SpongeBob inadvertently supports this by saying "Well, I am a boy, and I am her friend." The two then go on the Tunnel of Glove ride together. In "A Cabin in the Kelp," Pearl uses SpongeBob as a way to prank the Gal Pals, as her suspicion detects that the titular group will prank her first and is utterly saddened by the fact SpongeBob is missing. She is later delighted about how SpongeBob is safe but is just lost within a forest.
SpongeBob attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School, where he is taught by his idolized teac