NATE BURLESON:
00:00:09
Since that very first episode 26 years ago, SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends in Bikini Bottom have shown the power of humor and friendship. Now, he's back in theaters in a way that we have never seen in The SpongeBobMovie. Search forSquarePants. SpongeBob sets off to prove his bravery. He follows a cursed ghost pirate, the Flying Dutchman, to the depths of the underworld. Captain, this lubber is a complete barnacle brain. Are you sure he's the one? True, he don't have physical prowess or pirating ability. But the boy's got the very thing we need, staggering stupidity. He won't figure out the truth until it's way too late, when we finally break my curse. Break your curse. My curse. Your curse. [LAUGHING] What are we laughing about?
NATE BURLESON:
00:01:17
Mark Hamill, the voice of the Flying Dutchman, and Tom Kenny, the one and only voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, they are with us first on CBSMornings. Good morning, fellas. Good morning, team. How are you? Good. Good to see you. Tom, let's start with you. We just saw that clip from that very first episode. Since then, SpongeBob has went on to have over 300 episodes, been on Broadway, been in the booth, calling games for the NFL, another theatrical movie. What does this character mean to you? Well, he still looks the same. I don't. That's one big change from 26 years ago. But yeah, it really means a lot. It's this multigenerational thing. Mark and I have talked about this. When you're an actor or in show business, you're just carny people. You're just circus people, trying to stay employed. And you don't look at something lasting a quarter century and impacting kids who grow up on it and carry it into their adult lives--
NATE BURLESON:
00:02:18
Adulthood. --and then pass it on to their kids. It's this mindblowing thing. And lately, I've had a lot of people coming up to me and just saying, hey, I'm a millennial. I need SpongeBob really bad right now. Thank you. And that's kind of an interesting sociological deal that's just happening right now.
NATE BURLESON:
00:02:36
And, Tom, what would SpongeBob say about the love that he is receiving these days? Well, SpongeBob is all about the love. I say, thanks for the feels. But you know what was so funny is when we were watching it, Mark, how you go, and we're all adults because we're sitting here, and we're laughing. We're laughing at this because in a world where so many people are avoiding their feelings, you said this movie is all about feelings. Well, it's escapism at its finest. And I think at this time in our history, we need that. We need something-- it's therapeutic to just check your adulthood at the door and become a kid again. And one thing I loved about it is, there's all kinds of humor, visual and verbal for the kids, but they're throwing in things that adults will get.
GAYLE KING:
00:03:23
Yeah, I saw a Puffy reference, can't stop, won't stop. Whoa. But I'm curious, when you got the job years ago, the voice that they told you they wanted-- or what were you thinking, the voice you wanted? And the same for you, Mark, about the voice. Well, Stephen Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob, he came to me before he had even pitched it to Nickelodeon. He was thinking he had this pitch ready to show Nickelodeon. And he said, I have you in mind for this character. It's kind of mindblowing to think that SpongeBob at one point kind of just existed on pieces of paper and little Canvas boards in his desk. But--
NATE BURLESON:
00:03:56
A little DoodleBob, if you will. A little DoodleBob. But yeah, he showed it to me and said, what do you think this guy would sound like? This is his personality. He's half a boy and half a man. He's part adult. He's part kid. He's part Jerry Lewis, part Pee-Wee Herman, part Stan Laurel from Laurel and Hardy and just mix all that up and see what you come up with. And he liked what he heard. And yeah, I had the job. It was actually one of the easier jobs I've ever booked. So, Mark, you've been associated with some of the most iconic franchises, not just, obviously SpongeBob, of course, Luke Skywalker, Batman The AnimatedSeries. You're the voice of the Joker. Some people say you are the definitive Joker. I would say that. A lot of people-- I would say that, too. It's incredibly therapeutic for me to be in this space with the both of you. But how do you go about creating these unique voices? Well, one thing I love about voiceover, it turns everyone into a character actor because the idea of a character actor is you lose the actor and see only the character, and animation does that for you. So I had-- when I discovered voiceovers, where has this been all my life? Because I went to Broadway to try and break out of-- if you do one thing well, they want you to do it over and over and over again. Of course. And so I went to Broadway. I did six or seven shows. But my point is, when I really got into voiceover, I thought, oh my gosh, this is fantastic because, first of all, they're the most famous people you've never heard of. You work with people that you look at their resume, you can't believe how many characters they've done. But they have total anonymity. They can walk down the street, and nobody realizes it's them. But it's so liberating because you're not seen, and you'll make choices you wouldn't make if you were on camera.
NATE BURLESON:
00:05:40
Artistically. Well, yes, and with Joker. Some creative risks. Yes, exactly. It's kind of nice that this doesn't matter at all, at all. So you're kind of free of this whole shell. And if you can sound like the character, you can be the character. If I was going out for on-camera stuff, they go, middle-aged, dorky dad, maybe granddad at this point in his life. That's what you're going to play. You know what I mean? Because they pigeonhole you. But in voiceover, we play monsters, and robots, and good guys, and bad guys and every accent, every dialect. And it works. Like you said, it's being a character actor.
VLAD DUTHIERS:
00:06:20
You guys are some of the best in the business. My problem was no one believed-- they said, they treat that voice for the Joker. Do it. Do the voice. And you're in a grocery store. You can't do it if it's on cue because you are an actor. You're both actors. Mark Hamill, Tom Kenny.
NATE BURLESON:
00:06:35
You're like, just scan my groceries, man. We have a special on rutabagas in the produce aisle.
VLAD DUTHIERS:
00:06:40
Let me give a promo for your film. The SpongeBob Movie, Search for SquarePants is in theaters next Friday.
GAYLE KING:
00:06:44
We're talking about a movie.
VLAD DUTHIERS:
00:06:45
Yes, we are talking about a movie. It is produced by Paramount Pictures, which is part of our parent company.
