Den of Geek: You went from working on Coach almost directly to SpongeBob SquarePants; did the role of Dauber on Coach influence your portrayal of Patrick? The audition for SpongeBob happened around ’97 and we first went to air in ‘99, but there was a big lag-time in there between the time we did the pilot and when Nickelodeon said “okay, we’ll take a few of those.” It’s not always done that way, so I was actually able to see a finished version of the pilot before we commenced on production of the series, which was really great. I had no idea what the pilot was going to be like; I wasn’t as experienced in anticipating what animation was going to look like or be produced like, so when I saw that version of the pilot it was just a real thrill. I realized, this is something really special. It was maybe only 8 minutes long, and I had my own little testing groups. When people would come to the house and they’d have their kids, I’d say “I want you to watch a little cartoon and tell me what you think,” and it was really fun to see people react to this cartoon. So anyway, I kind of stumbled my way in to that initial performance of Patrick and when I saw the pilot I realized from that point on where it needed to go and the juicy kind of potential of Patrick as a character. On that topic, how do you think Patrick has developed during your performance of him? Your two children, did they ever watch any of your voice over work when they were young? What was there reaction? SpongeBob debuted when they were five and seven; they were right in the wheelhouse for the cartoon so it was a great ride to begin and go on with your kids. It really became a part of our relationship, and occasionally they would come in and hang out when I did a session. In fact, my youngest daughter, who’s now 19, popped in for a session a year or two ago; she just wanted to watch.   Yeah, it is. And it’s affected their childhood in a fairly profound way in terms of other kids. I remember when my older daughter was 11 she changed schools. She went from a smaller public school in the Hills to a large public school where very few kids knew her. She had been there for a couple months and she came home one day and she said “I haven’t told anyone yet” which I thought was a very interesting and mature perspective on her part. She had already realized that when kids knew her dad was Patrick, it would affect the way that they saw her or would want to get to know her. So she wanted to get to know the new kids on her own terms. That’s very smart of her. I’m sure people recognize you from Coach, How I Met Your Mother, and other live action roles, but do children ever pick up that you’re Patrick?  [Laughter] I think that has happened a few times where people have heard me say something and put it together. But fortunately Patrick’s voice is different enough from mine that it’s not a constant thing. I haven’t actually thought about that, “what if Patrick was just my speaking voice?” [More Laughter] What is the recording process like for the show? For the series we’ll record an 11-minute episode in an afternoon and perhaps revisit it several months later to do some adr tweaks where they say “we need some grunts here, a different laugh here, we changed this line, et cetera.” But in terms of involvement for the performers it’s really minimal, especially in the face of comparing it to the extraordinary labor done by the storyboard artists and writers. Those guys are the real engine. We absolutely always record together as a cast. It works so much better. There’s just so much performance energy that happens. You can get the performance you need when doing it by yourself, but I believe that there is something remarkable that happens when people are working together that is unique to that. Do you have a favorite line or quote from the series? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZSXnrbs_k
And of course riding the hook, when he discovers the pleasure taken with teasing the fishing line and getting a ride up and then jumping off. SpongeBob chides him that it’s dangerous and we cut to Patrick and he’s got hooks stuck in each end of his mouth and says, “Does this look dangerous?” I thought that was a wonderful line too. Click here to learn how you can win a Patrick Star figure autographed by Bill Fagerbakke and Tom Kenny! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!