<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> SpongeBob SquarePants has featured the voices of Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Carolyn Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett and Lori Alan since it began . Stephen Hillenburg started developing the SpongeBob concept into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, which he directed . While creating the show and writing its pilot episode in 1997, he and the show's then - creative director Derek Drymon were also conducting auditions to find voices for the show's characters . </P> <P> For the voice of SpongeBob, the main character, Hillenburg approached Kenny, who previously worked with him on Rocko's Modern Life . Drymon said, "Steve (Hillenburg) wanted to find an original sounding voice (for SpongeBob)." Hillenburg utilized Kenny's and other people's personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob . The voice of SpongeBob was originally used by Kenny for a minor character in Rocko's Modern Life . Kenny forgot the voice initially as he created it only for that single use . Hillenburg, however, remembered it when he was coming up with SpongeBob and used a video clip of the episode to remind Kenny of the voice . Kenny says that SpongeBob's high - pitched laugh was specifically created to be unique . They wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker . Voice acting veteran Clancy Brown voices Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob's boss at the Krusty Krab . For the character, Brown uses a voice that he describes as "piratey" with "a little Scottish brogue ." According to him, his Mr. Krabs voice was improvised during his audition and it was not challenging for him to find the correct voice . Bumpass provides the voice of Squidward Tentacles, and other characters . Squidward was "a very nasally, monotone kind of guy", said Bumpass . He said that the character "became a very interesting character to do" because of "his sarcasm, and then his frustration, and then his apoplexy, and so he became a wide spectrum of emotions". </P> <P> Mr. Lawrence had met Hillenburg previously on Rocko's Modern Life . When working on the pilot episode of SpongeBob, Hillenburg invited him to audition for all of the characters . Since other voices had been found for the main cast already, Lawrence started out by voicing a variety of minor characters . This included Plankton, who was initially only set to appear in one episode . Mr. Lawrence stated in an interview with Thomas F. Wilson that Nickelodeon executives told Hillenburg, "' we could stunt - cast this . You know, we could have Bruce Willis do this voice .' And Steve was just like,' it's Doug (Lawrence), don't you hear it? This is the character! This is the guy!"' Jill Talley, Tom Kenny's wife, voices Karen Plankton . Being a Chicago native, she uses a Midwestern accent for the character . Electronic sound effects are underlaid by the series' audio engineers to create a robotic sound whenever she speaks . Talley and Mr. Lawrence often improvise their characters' dialogue . In 2009, Lawrence called improvisation his "favorite part of the voice over ." He elaborated in a 2012 interview, saying, "I always enjoy the back - and - forth . (Talley and I) start to actually overlap so much talking to each other that (the voice directors) have to tell us,' hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying!"' </P>

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