Tom Kenney & Bill Fagerbakke: 'People Find SpongeBob SquarePants & Patrick Star Fun To Hang Out With'

(CBS Local)-- Paramount+ is now streaming and fans of SpongeBob SquarePants will be delighted to know that there is a brand new movie and TV series available right now. "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run" is a film about SpongeBob and Patrick Star searching for SponeBob's beloved pet snail Gary after he goes missing and "Kamp Koral" provides a new look at the gang when SpongeBob was just 10- years-old.

Tom Kenney and Bill Fagerbakke have been the iconic voices of SpongeBob and Patrick for decades and they talked with CBS Local recently about the new SpongeBob content and how these roles have changed their lives.

"If a genie showed up with a wish to give me the best gig in the world, this would be it," said Kenney, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "We had a drive-in premiere of the film and just seeing Bill's two daughters there, I remember when they were little kids at the premiere party in 1999 or whatever. SpongeBob has been a constant in our lives for so long. He seems to fill that function in a lot of lives."

"One of the core things for me, aside from it being such a marvelous job with wonderful people, is my children were five and seven when it debuted," said Fagerbakke. "I got to see the show through their eyes and through the eyes of their friends. It really added another layer to parenting, which continues to delight me to this day."

Kenney and Fagerbakke still remember the seven minute pilot of the show they did for Nickelodeon that they watched back on a VHS tape. The animated series has become one of the most iconic TV shows of all-time and the actors are still blown away at how the show continues grow after being on the air for over 20 years.

"You're just amazed that there are new wrinkles to be added," said Kenney. "SpongeBob keeps going into new areas. There are new countries that are just getting SpongeBob. Today is always somebody's on-ramp onto the SpongeBob highway. Parents would come up to me and say I want to thank you for saving me from Barney the dinosaur. People find SpongeBob and Patrick fun to hang out with."

"One of the things that really struck me early on was parents saying I really appreciate I have something I enjoy watching with my kid," said Fagerbakke. "Being a parent, I understood that and I got it. That struck me.

Stream "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run" and "Kamp Koral" on Paramount+ right now.