We’ve been loving the influx of new SpongeBob movies in recent years, and since the latest one, Search For SquarePants, is part of 2025 movie releases this weekend, it’s a great time to think about the property’s 25+-year legacy. When CinemaBlend spoke to the voice of SpongeBob and Patrick, Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, we learned a hilarious bit about what adult fans were scared of about the show growing up.
Remember Patchy The Pirate? Apparently It's Nightmare Fuel
Original fans of the SpongeBob SquarePants television series will remember the various appearances of the live-action character Patchy The Pirate and his pet parrot, Potty, throughout the show. If you didn’t know, Tom Kenny was actually the actor who played the pirate role. While talking to Kenny and Fagerbakke about Search For SquarePants, I brought up Patchy to ask the SpongeBob voice if he was shocked the character isn’t in the new movie centered on being a pirate. Here’s one thing he told us:
Patchy is fun. Now, I also hear from a lot of now grown up people who tell me when they were little, Patchy terrified them and they had nightmares about his face. He's like the Flying Monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. He freaked them out.
As a fellow grown-up fan of SpongeBob SquarePants who grew up with the show and Patchy The Pirate, I never would have guessed this response from Kenny, but apparently he’s heard it enough. Patchy scared a lot of kids for some reason!?! If you feel like going down memory lane, check out this compilation of Patchy:
Patchy has had a lot of great moments over the years, from his first appearance in the Season 2 Christmas special “Christmas Who?” to tons of other funny moments over the years.
Tom Kenny Talks Patchy The Pirate Being Left Out Of Search For SquarePants
Patchy may not have gotten a role in Search For SquarePants, but the new movie does give the Flying Dutchman his first SpongeBob movie role, with none other than Mark Hamill taking on the role Brian Doyle-Murray voices on the TV show. You can also look for an appearance from the voice of Mr. Krabs, Clancy Brown, who plays a live-action pirate at the top of the movie.
During our interview, Tom Kenny shared he’s all in for more Patchy in future SpongeBob projects. In his words:
If they would use Patchy more I sure wouldn't complain. So, I think we're gonna start that email campaign now to bring Patchy back. BPB: Bring Patchy back.
The voice of Patrick, Bill Fagerbakke, also shared his love for the character, sharing that the SpongeBob B.C. (Before Comedy) special from 2002 is one of his “favorite half hours of the show.” Kenny also shared this funny anecdote from playing Patchy The Pirate in real life:
I love doing Patchy The Pirate. I was Patchy last year in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on a float in the pouring rain, freezing cold. And then I watched a Macy's parade this year. They're like, it's a beautiful day in New York. And I'm like, ‘I hate you.’
I guess depending on your own reaction to Patchy the Pirate as a kid would probably determine whether you’ll be on the BPB train. Either way, Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke’s iconic characters get a lot of pirate fun in for The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants, out on Friday, December 19.
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