Link Tank: Eva Longoria on the Joys of Joining Only Murders in the Building

Not only will Eva Longoria play herself in season 4 of Only Murders in the Building; she’ll also play a version of Selena Gomez’ Mabel. “The new installment of the series starring Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez has the trio heading to Los Angeles when they learn a Hollywood studio wants to turn […]

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Of all the colorful characters who inhabit Bikini Bottom, outside of SpongeBob, Patrick Star and Squidward may be the two who have inspired the most memes. Their human voice actors, Bill Fagerbakke and Rodger Bumpass, respectively, know all too well about their show’s prominence on social media and TikTok. Just don’t ask them what memes even are.

“You lost me when you said the word ‘meme,’” jokes Bumpass, who voices the cynic Squidward, in a Zoom interview with Den of Geek. “I really don’t have a great definition of what a meme is. The phrase ‘bumper sticker’ comes to mind.”

“It’s an interesting thing to ponder,” adds Fagerbakke, the voice of SpongeBob’s best friend and lovable oaf, Patrick Star. Fagerbakke is even less plugged-in than Bumpass, who at least has a verified Instagram account. Fagerbakke believes any memetic success is owed to the show’s late creator, Stephen Hillenburg. “It all starts with Stephen and who he was as a human being. He was a really gentle, lovely, ferociously creative soul. It all starts there.”

SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon on July 17, 1999. In the 25 years since, the show has become more than an evergreen pop culture phenomenon. On the internet, the outlandish adventures of an impossibly optimistic sea sponge (voiced by Tom Kenny) and his friends—or barely tolerant coworkers, in the case of Squidward—have inspired too many memes to count. There’s Mocking SpongeBob, there’s Primitive SpongeBob, there’s Savage Patrick, there’s Blurry Mr. Krabs, there’s Unsure Squidward, there’s It’s Not My Wallet, there’s I’mma Head Out, there’s Imagination—it’s all barely scratching the epipelagic zone. 

But how and why is SpongeBob SquarePants a meme generator? How is this show so flexible and adaptable that it encompasses the hopes, dreams, fears, and woes of multiple generations? 

There are a few obvious answers that m