SpongeBob Voice Tom Kenny Talks About His Childhood

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s real estate section comes one of the more informative profiles of SpongeBob voice Tom Kenny that I can recall reading.

Kenny’s stories about growing up in the pre-Internet Seventies should make anyone thankful for living in an era when we can instantaneously learn about topic that interests us:

“I watched a lot of cartoons on our black-and-white TV. They left a deep impression on me, though at the time, I had no idea which ones were in color: My family didn’t buy a color set until 1976. In grade school, I became curious about the voices on the cartoon shows. I noticed names like Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, June Foray, Don Messick and Bill Scott in the credits. One day, my Aunt Kathy gave me a Stan Freberg comedy album. When I turned over the jacket and read the credits, I recognized several names from TV. That’s where I first saw photos of the people who did all the goofy voices. They were adults and looked surprisingly like everyday people. They became my role models—proof that comedy and odd voices could constitute viable employment.”