On July 17th, 1999, Nickelodeon officially introduced the world to SpongeBob SquarePants and became a phenomenon, delighting kids and parents everywhere. We recently talked to Rodger Bumpass, the voice of Squidward Tentacles, while he attended FAN EXPO Canada in Toronto.
First, he talked about how he got into the voice-acting business and developed the voice of Squidward for a soon-to-be worldwide hit show.
Rodger Bumpass: Well, it all began in puberty when my voice dropped like crazy, and I decided to get into broadcasting. I apparently had this announcer’s sound, so I majored in radio and TV in college. I got more interested in acting in my college years, so I went straight to New York, got involved with that, came out to Los Angeles, where I realized, hey, I can do voices, why not try that? It really just gravitated into my bread and butter over the years. I wish I had a more interesting story to tell you, but that’s just how my little pathway was.
Already a veteran of over ten years in the voice acting world, there was nothing really special at the time in the part of Squidward, just another audition that turned out to be anything but…
Rodger Bumpass: Yeah, it was just another audition. You went to your agent’s office, who obviously had a small recording facility. You read the thing, and then you went home and forgot about it, and that’s what I did with this. I got the part, did the pilot, got a copy of it and took it home, played it for my family, and they all fell asleep. No one knew this particular show would be as big as it got to be, so it was a wonderful pony to ride, as they say.
SpongeBob SquarePants would indeed become a very big show, capturing the attention of not only kids but multiple generations. This still amazes and surprises Rodger to this day.
Rodger Bumpass: It boggles the mind; it was just so unexpected in terms of how it caught on. Sometimes, there’s a show, or a project, or a band like The Beatles that just comes along at the right time for the group of people. We came along as cartoon shorts, we’re kind of like the old Looney Tunes, we’re kind of a throwback in that respect. We do cartoon animation the way it used to be: you get hit with a frying pan, and your face takes the shape of a frying pan, that kind of exaggeration and surreal quality.
We used that to the limit, and we were silly, not really heavy on plot, just gags and antics and stuff. I think that appealed to little kids, just like Looney Tunes did because of its color and animation, and older kids because they got a joke now that they didn’t get when they were five, and adults, the same thing.
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The voice of the character, and finding that voice, is so important, and for Rodger, finding the voice of Squidward Tentacles was really not that hard to do.
Rodger Bumpass: It really wasn’t hard to find his voice. When you go to an audition, they give you a verbal breakdown describing him — sarcastic, artistic, frustrated — and then I saw the picture of him. He has a big honking nose, and I thought it would be somewhat nasal in the back of the throat.
When it came time for his signature laugh, Stephen Hillenburg came to me and said, “We’re going to do an animation thing when he laughs. We’re going to do the nose in an accordion fashion, so there has to be a kind of rhythmic quality to his laugh.” So, I came up with what is Squidward’s laugh and Stephen said, “That’s it, let’s go.”
Over the years, FAN EXPO Canada has hosted many great voice actors, giving fans access to the actors behind their favorite characters. Rodger enjoys the opportunity to meet the fans.
Rodger Bumpass: You see, this is the point of gratifications, we don’t have audiences when we work. When we can see the effect on people, their childhood, their children, and grandchildren now. To be a part of something that had a legacy like this — an iconic American institution that this one little show has become — it’s really wonderful to be a part of that, I’m very, very grateful.
