I have always been a weird kinda guy. My favorite recent TV shows have been “Strangers With Candy,” Sifl and Olly," and “TV Funhouse.”
But I just don’t get Spongebob Squarepants. All my weird friends think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. I just don’t see the humor. The characters do weird stuff. OK, I get it. Why is it funny?
hrh
Damned if I know.
Whenever I think of nerds and the sea in that precise combination, it just makes me depressed that there’s never been and will probably never be a Monkey Island animated series.
I enjoy it for several reasons:
Spongebob is voiced by Tom Kenny, who I think is hilarious (former Mr. Show cast member, Heffer of Rocko’s Modern Life.)
Patrick is incredibly cool because he’s not smart and isn’t afraid to show it (he’s just a big goofy character.)
Hi Op…fooled you, didn’t I?
Plankton is one of the funniest cartoon villains today, just because his plans are usually ridiculous.
Sometimes, you just need to laugh at something without investing a ton of energy in it. That, and Squidward’s droll delivery of everything is kinda funny.
Basically, its #5 from brianjedi’s list. You aren’t supposed to think about it. You’re just supposed to zone out and laugh at the stupidity of it - its the absurdness itself that you laught at.
Heck, I spent two years of my life developing the SBSP PS2 game, and I still don’t get it.
The innocence, the subversive humor, the creative animation, the hark-to-nostalgia, all of it makes Spongebob great.
My neice is into SpongeBob, and I asked my sister “what” he’s supposed to be. She said he’s just kind of a cute little guy. He’s drawn rather poorly, so I can’t watch him.
Yes, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid, but there’s something stupidly brilliant about a show that’s animated when under water, and live-action when out of the water, and the out-of-the-water Sponge Bob is just a square yellow kitchen sponge on a stick. No face, no arms, no clothes, just a sponge.
It also has a subversively catchy theme song, which is fun to sing (or yell) along with.
My youngest sister loves it. My daughter loves it. To me, it’s annoying and not funny. But then, I’m an old grouch, ya know? No biggie - I just don’t watch it.
Anybody else who doesn’t get it? Yes, I’m afraid so- and worst of all, it’s my wife.
She very rarely likes the things that make me laugh hardest… then again, she thinks Robin Williams is hysterical, so I guess the problem goes both ways.
I still haven’t fully removed all the daggers she stared at me the first time I had her watch “South Park” with me! I’m entirely serious- while I waslaughing hysterically at Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo, she was glaring at me contemptuously and re-evaluating our relationship (“can I possibly love someone who thinks THIS is funny?”).
Shewasn’t QUITE so contemptuous when she saw me laughing at
Spongebob, but it was close.
I heard a rumor it was a “gay thing”. Hell if I know, I’ve never seen it.
Somebodys gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes.
SpongeBobSquarePants:PINK!
PatrickStar:YELLOW!
SBSP:PINK!
PS:YELLOW!
rrrrrriiiiiiiiippppppppp…
PS:pink?
SBSP:yellow?
…
PS to SBSP: you know they were white when i bought them.
now come on, who doesnt crack up after that line.
for those of you who don’t watch, PatrickStar and SpongeBob were fighting and were using each other’s colors as insults. Their pants rip off and reveal that each other’s undies is the color of their best friend. Patrick tells Sponge that his undies were originally white and not yellow. That’s funny! A lot funnier watching than explaining.
Any cartoon that brings in Jim Jarmusch as a guest (playing himself) has to be looked at in several different ways.
I love it. Kids love it. But if you try to read too much into it, then you’ve lost its charm.
Not to hijack, but… there’s a Canadian show called ‘Untalkative Bunny’ that has a similar kind of unexplainable appeal. (It’s mellow and quiet, though, while Spongebob is a little too frantic for my tastes.) The main characters are all animals, none of whom can speak. Bunny in particular is very emotive and expressive, even without words and even considering how badly-drawn he is. There are a number of short skits per half-hour show, with plotlines ranging from the overly simplistic (Bunny frightens himself while listening to a scary radio play in bed) to the surreal (Bunny goes surfing, falls off his surfboard, and ends up visiting an underwater kingdom of sea slugs).
Again, it loses something if you try to read too much into it; I think this kind of cartoon is appealing to grownups because it reminds them of when they were kids, and could watch TV without thinking too much. This one in particular is very unstressful and soothing-- I suspect Spongebob appeals to the same audience, but a different part of their brains.
I am addicted to the theme song. Sometimes when someone asks me if I’m ready I say “Aya aye Captain!”. I also tell people to get on the deck and flop like a fish.
Patrick Starfish just cracks me up! The Valentines Day episode, the one where he goes on a rampage at the amusement park because he never received a Valentines Day present from SpongeBob, made me laugh so hard it hurt!
Heart on stick must die!!! Growl!!! LOL!!
And the voice of Patrick is done by Bill Fagerbakke, who played Dauber, the big blond doofus from Coach
My personal favorite Spongebob moment occurred when he was trying to make an ice-cream sundae. He doesn’t have any of the ingredients, so he’s substituting liberally – ketchup for chocolate sauce, for example.
He’s about done, and discovers he doesn’t have any peanuts. He says, “I know – I’ll check the one place I always find peanuts!” He opens a door in his house, and you realize he’s in the bathroom.
Then you notice he’s looking at a wilted peanut plant on the top of the toilet. The plant, of course, has produced no peanuts.
I fell off the couch laughing at that.
I don’t know why I like SpongeBob. I just do.
Untalkative Bunny might have surfaced (no underwater spongey pun intended) in the States once. Was he the same Untalkative Bunny who once got an offer to subscribe to a newspaper…over the phone?
And what’s the deal with the bathroom/peanuts gag? Everyone says it’s so funny, and I get a lot of dirty jokes, but what’s the deal with this one? Penis? Pee and nuts*?
[sub]*In my mind, the “nuts” in this case would be nuggets of feces. My mind works that way when it comes to bathroom-related things. When I was young, I thought “WC” stood for “Wee and Crap.”[/sub]