Syracuse native, ‘SpongeBob’ actor says 2024 Super Bowl was first he watched
When Syracuse native Tom Kenny delivered commentary as “SpongeBob SquarePants” during the 2024 Super Bowl broadcast on Nickelodeon, it was the first time he had ever watched the Super Bowl. Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, and Bill Fagerbakke, the voice of Patrick Star, joined Syracuse University alumnus Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson for the simulcast of the NFL championship featuring animated graphics that made it look like the football game was being played in the cartoon world of Bikini Bottom.
According to Rolling Stone, the live special worked. The Super Bowl had its largest audience ever, thanks in part to millennial nostalgia and parents looking to get their kids involved, and clips have continued to go viral on social media days later. But it wasn’t without risk: Kenny told the magazine that he’s not much of a football fan and admitted Sunday’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers was his first time watching the big game.
“The sum total of my football knowledge could fit in Plankton’s jockstrap,” Kenny told Rolling Stone. “When they brought up I was doing it, I said, ‘I really don’t know much about football,’ and they said, ‘That’s fine because the concept is going to be that the SuperBowl at Allegiant Stadium is just dropped into Bikini Bottom and it’s this crazy, unfamiliar, alien thing to SpongeBob.”
According to the publication, about 200 people worked on the telecast, adding information and graphics in real time while Eagle and Burleson sat in front of a green screen alongside Kenny and Fagerbakke, wearing augmented reality gear that animated them live. Sandy Cheeks, Larry the Lobster, Dora the Explorer and other characters also made appearances.
Highlights included Nickelodeon referring to Travis Kelce as “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend,” jokes about the low score in the first half, and Kenny poking fun at Leonardo…
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