Bill Fagerbakke: The Inner Machinations Of Patrick Star’s Mind (Pt 1)

Published Mar 31, 2022, 9:00 AM

Ever wondered how Patrick Star's mind really works? Bill Fagerbakke, the voice of Patrick, shares what it's truly like to tap into the beautiful, silly inner workings of Patrick’s mind. Bill also spills never-before-heard behind the scenes stories with our hosts, like using helium tanks in the pilot record session, what it’s like to laugh like Patrick, and the very moment his eyes were opened to the true genius of SpongeBob.

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In the laughter. It's interesting. You know, laughter can be if there's a lot of laughter in the show, you know, because you're not going, you're going, you know, if you do a lot of that, uh in a condensed amount of time, you feel it. Welcome to SpongeBob binge Pants, Nickelodeon's official podcast about all things SpongeBob. I'm Hector Navarro and I'm Frankie Granding. We are so excited today we're talking to I can't believe I'm saying this. The voice of Patrick Starr since the very beginning of SpongeBob square Pants, Mr Bill Fagerbacky is gonna be talking to us today. This is gonna be so exciting. I have so many questions. This is gonna be a blast. My favorite character, and SpongeBob a brilliant, genius, hilarious character. Let's get into it. Frankie, here we go. Who's ready. We're so excited to have you here and be with us. And thank you for agreeing to do a special ten hour podcast episode because we got a lot together, a lot of questions. Really cool of you, really cool. I am diapered. Let's let's do this. I would just like to ask right up top, like you have your own spinoff show, which happens to be, in my opinion, one of the wackiest and most fun times on television that there is. Right now, what was that phone call? Like, like you're getting your own spinoff show? Like that's crazy. It was terrifying. It was hard to think of Patrick without SpongeBob, and obviously SpongeBob is involved with the Patrick Show, but you know, it is a unit. There's a reason why one of my most prized little bits of merchandise Bobble is Uh. I think I was taking my daughter's in and get their ears pierced or something. That was one of those places. Uh, it's a change. And I just saw it, like the little SpongeBob stuff and there was a little necklace with a pendant when it's just SpongeBob and Patrick together. And I have that in my car on my rear view mirror hanging because that means a lot to me, because it says a lot about about the show, the nature of the relationship, the nature of friendship in general, and my my deep gratitude for having Tom Kenny as a co worker and friend. So I was anxious, but Vincent Waller and Martre Corelli. They told me about it, and I could just see how excited they were. And the writing reflects real organic invention on the parts of the writers and not just slogging through fulfilling episode orders. There really is a natural excitement on the part of the writer's and that's and that's just a remarkable thing to be involved with. I love the show, and also I think it's visually as beautiful as it sounds, so it's it's really awesome. A new gram ball. Did you say new Grandpa? Then come on downland. We've got through fed free rage. Grandpa's just waiting to read you a story, flather on about the war, or fall asleep watching your recital. Do you have to keep the versions of Patrick separate? You've got the Patrick Star Show, you've got his younger years in Camp Coral, and then you've got him in SpongeBob SquarePants. Or is Patrick the most consistent character in the world of SpongeBob. Well, it's an interesting point, and to a degree, I do kind of nurture the different versions, but it really is it's all in the writing, and the story brings the essence of that character as as it needs to be. It's a weird thing because I don't know if it's actually comes out in the tone of the voice or whatever. But it's just feeds my idea of performance. I guess if I think a little more light or innocence or something like that. You know, we're we're talking nuance. But this is a podcast, right, You're going to the Krusty Crab and get that job. I can. Don't you think a good love whose first words were may I take your order? Whoo? Made a spatula out of toothpicks? And what I did? Who's Who's Who's a big yellow duke with ready? I would love to ask when you auditioned for the role of Patrick Starr you were the Bill FAGERBACKI from Coach nine seasons under your belt, if you appeared in animated shows, TV miniseries, HBO shows, did any part of you think this show SpongeBob SquarePants might be too weird or crazy for me? No? I thought it might be too simple because of my cluelessness. You know, we just had storyboards. I'm not even sure. I have to think back here for the pilot. Did we have a full storyboard? We must have but because what I really remember those incredible drawings that Stephen Hellenberg showed us. Uh, and that's what really stuck with me. But I didn't understand the nature, not just the characters, but the real humor of it. Because until you see the visual sense of vibrancy and life and what is happening and what a complete world it is, I just thought whatever. And then we did the thing with the anchovies. Uh. We were actually had a Tanka helium and it was just it was just so weird and and it was you know, it was goofy. But it was four hour recording session and you know, and I had worked with Clancy before on various animated projects. I had worked with Tom Kenny before on a single episode of a cartoon, Dumb and Dumber, which was based on the movie. It was a Saturday Morning Hannah Barbara cartoon. And that was the first time I ever saw Tom. And of course he's unforgettable, you know when you see him. And then and then I walk in and I didn't know who was doing anything, and I walk in, Oh, there's that guy. There was a cool guy from that one episode a few years ago. So the pilot, I had no idea. I had to see the finished pilot before I understood the enormous beauty, wonderment and delight of the cartoon. I didn't and the universal appeal like right, I couldn't see that far, Frankie. Yet, all I could see was what I hadn't seen, which was Stephen Hillenburg is a genius. Be The sequence that really knocked me out was the tiny Tim song when he's in the kitchen making the crabby patties. That's what I like. It all just came crashing down on me like the tsunami delight. It was so so wonderful. And you know, I shut off my VCR and I called my young children in and I said, sit down, you're gonna watch this. This is so and it all went, It all went from there. Did you just mention that you had a tank of helium in the studio and you were the voices of the angels? Yeah, right, you know, which, of course, you know, we didn't even really need. And I don't know where that came from. I don't know if it's for bolting, I don't know, but we just everyone had a balloon full of helium from this tank and and yeah, yeah, that was nuts. Yeah, said it was the weirdest six hundred dollars I've ever You were talking about Bill, how like you hadn't quite seen the genius of what the whole SpongeBob world was until you saw the finished product. How long did it take for you to kind of lock into the character of Patrick. Was there a specific point or was it something where like he was kind of fully formed from the beginning and you just brought him along for the ride for whatever the show needed. Well, there was you know, there was the immediate basic recognition of what Steve was looking for, you know, and he had a very temple description. I mean, you know, this guy's the balance is SpongeBob. And he had Tom recording. In the audition, he had played a cassette of Tom, who had already recorded what was then SpongeBoy, And so I got to hear that and I certainly understood what he was talking about. It was almost like a musical thing, and also like an energy type of thing, or a Yin and Yan kind of thing. And it's even like the elements, you know, like Patrick is very much of the earth and SpongeBob's of the air and fire, and you know, so I understood it in a basic way, and Coach was like nine years of preparation for Patrick, but just being able to bring a general sense of what Steve was looking for. I guess it definitely has developed as time has gone by, because that's the joys of perform warming is that the characters are alive and they have discoveries. Yeah, is there a specific discovery that you can think of that you made as Patrick or like, you know in season two or three that you were like, Wow, this is another layer to him that I didn't even think that I would be playing. The deep childlike completeness of their friendship really hit me on I want to say it was the bubble stand, which would have which have been season one, I thought, I just it really touched me when I saw how Steve wrote that and that the interaction between the two characters, I thought, that's really that's really lovely, you know, and and and and there's a fearlessness to doing that. SpongeBob has a great line that anyone on earth could see that what great friends we are. And I really appreciated that, And I think that that nudged me creatively, certainly in a great inspired way. And when SpongeBob when he sets up the bubble stand and it's a quarter morning to you, sir, would you care to blow a bubble? How much? Is it only egg? Quarter? Sounds reasonable? I'm going to need to a quarter one quarter. That kind of friendship right where even helping his friend to just give him the quarterback like he's is going to do it, you know, no matter what. That's great. So we've mentioned briefly the beauty that is Patrick's mind, and it is one of the most mysterious parts of the SpongeBob world. He says it himself, the inner mechanitions of my mind are an enigma. It's like this character. Sure he's dumb, but he has this mass of imagination and he lacks awareness mostly, but he also has a specific wisdom to him. There's so many sides to Patrick. What for you, Bill is the most fun part of this the different sides to Patrick, of the mysterious sides to him, is it playing his moments of genius, his pure idiocy, his insatiable appetite, his belligerent side, like what for you? Is a joy? Well, certainly discovery when when the characters are discovering something and when when they're having adventures together, that's so much fun. I always for me, this this is all about the nature of a child's spirit, and that to me is my my duty, that's my obligation to represent that and to keep that alive in me. And really doing an episode of the show is it is like therapy. And I do get to kind of lose myself in this part of my own identity and brain that hopefully everyone has that is a connection to your earlier self and to a greater sense of innocence and play and excitement and discovery. I feel like, Bill, if anybody on this planet is able to achieve a higher level of being, it's got to be you because of that Patrick like therapy that you're talking about. Do you find that you are kind of more zen? Do you find that in your normal life you can kind of just go right back to your inner child because of playing Patrick all these years. Oh, that's interesting. There is a certain facility there. And I was fortunate enough to be a parent and raised two daughters, and the girls were five and seven when the show debuted, so it really was a part of my parenting experience and it remains as such. And I try and keep that. So if I see four year old, I have so much fun because I want to go where that four year old is and I want to bring as much fun as I can. And I think that's related to what you're talking about. Do you ever freak out the four year olds by just going into the Patrick voice? No? No, no, no, no no? Uh an eight year old? Nine year old? Sure, four year old? No, yeah, you don't. They just get consternated. They you know, it doesn't it doesn't match up with their proced realities. Right of course. They just look at you like you're a big dummy and you're not Patrick. Shut up, you're not Patrick. Maybe the parents want you to like get into it and sa no. Maybe I'll say I've been to bikini Bottom or something. You know, Patrick, ch sounds like this, doesn't he you know? But no, that's precious. You don't mess with that. Yeah. So do you use it ever on the eight in the nine year old as like a party trick? Well, I do love to. If I'm passing someone in an airport or there's on the street or something, if there's some kid wearing I'll just go nice shirt and just keep walking. I don't I don't. I don't want to. I'm not looking to engage. I just want to like have a reaction that maybe makes the kid wonder. I've heard Tom say that you guys have been hanging out in public somewhere and people come up to and they go, you're SpongeBob and then he goes, yeah, and there's Patrick right there, and he like freaks people out there like, oh my gosh, they're hanging out too. Yeah, that's great, that's pretty amazing. Yeah, whoever's the owner of the white Sedan? You laugh your lights on? What? So? We were talking a little bit about your ability to play dumb and funny. Is there is there a trick to that or is there something that you thought about what as you were doing it? You know, maybe even it stemmed from being on coach and then you took that into SpongeBob. There is there a specific philosophy behind that that just makes it so funny but yet at the same time so dumb. Well, I I always have to go back to the material you're working with. That's the foundation of everything. And I stumbled in theater when I was in college, so I come at it from the kind of clich organic theater actor's perspective. So I wanted to be as close to my life experience while also being within the framework of a narrative. And the union of those two things is what what makes I guess the art of it. And then Tom brings his own dynamics. You know, Tom coming from the world of stand up comedy and his deep love of animation and in the history of animation, which is just without parallel, he brings that to it, and and the two things just they just work out. I just want to plug into it. And it sounds cliche, but I just make it as real as I can. And it's part of the secret to the secret sauce of the show is that you into Cray Crabby Patty. Formula of the show is that you and Tom and the entire cast, like you guys can't do anything but commit a hundred percent. The level of commitment in the performances. It's insane and so fun and so entertaining. Are you ever tired by it? Does it ever hurt? Like vocally? Do you ever get like I'm done? You know, like I have to be careful? Yeah, I know. It's very demanding physically, it seems weird, but it definitely is. And uh I I can be exhausted at the end of the session. I'm on my feet and Tommy is too, and we're both, I think, very physical when we're recording the show. For me, it is really important to have the background of theater training and and all the work you do in terms of the process of creating sound. Whereas tom is just frankly, some kind of freak from another planet. I don't know if anyone could do what he does as long as he does, and with incredible range, and it's astounding and power. Yeah, boy, it can be tough. Yeah, do you want to talk about power? Frank and I we know how loud you can yell, Bill like you've had to get at some high levels with Patrick even again bubble stand even blowing bubbles and going yea, all right, Yeah, it's it's in the laughter. It's interesting, you know, laughter can be if there's a lot of laughter in a show, you know, because you're not just going, you're going. You know, if you do a lot of that in a condensed amount of time, you feel it you ever passed out? Bill, Holy moly, you get that's a great Jerry Van do you say, get thin headed. That's great, and you know and the screaming when he put the poster up with SpongeBob on it. We're gonna show you this picture again and you tell us if you've seen this guy. Understand. Okay, horrible look when SpongeBob is taking his driver's test and he's got the intent in his head and it's testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, So you're sponge too bad. I read you loud and clear, already moments Patrick, Patrick at it at an eleven every episode. Man's great. All right, everybody, you just heard part one of two of our interview with the voice of Patrick Bill Fagerback. Can't wait for part two to come out. This has been so much fun, Frankie. That was an amazing conversation so far, and it's just gonna get better. So make sure you tune in next week on Thursday, we will be concluding this unbelievable interview, so we'll hear you then, wink. Don't forget to check in every Thursday for new episodes of SpongeBob Binge Pants wherever you get your podcast, and if you like what we're cooking up over here, spread the word write a review, and most importantly, keep watching cartoons. Thanks and we'll see you next week. Bye one.

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