Clancy Brown & Carolyn Lawrence On SpongeBob SquarePants: 'Never Thought It Would Last 20 Years'

(CBS Local)-- In 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants started as a seven minute pilot on Nickelodeon and today it is one of the most iconic television shows in the world that is now streaming on ViacomCBS' new platform Paramount+. Fans of SpongeBob, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Sandy Cheeks and Mr. Krabs can stream a brand new movie about the gang right now called "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run" and a new series called "Kamp Koral," which goes back in time to life for a 10-year-old SpongeBob at summer camp.

CBS Local caught up with Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence, the iconic voices behind Mr. Krabs and Sandy and both are incredibly excited for fans to check out the next chapter of the SpongeBob SquarePants story on Paramount+.

"People should be excited about something new and wonderful to sink yourself into during COVID," said Lawrence, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "The family can get together and enjoy this epic, crazy movie. It's a fun ride and having the show is good, wholesome fun. We need some good, wholesome fun."

"The movie is always a different experience than the series," said Brown. "Kamp Koral is kind of a perfect thing to have these days. It takes place at summer camp and none of us can go to summer camp. None of us can be outdoors and all of this show takes place outdoors, under the sea of course. It's all outdoors and it's like going to camp in a cartoon."

Brown has done over 200 episodes of the epic series, while Lawrence has been featured in over 180 episodes since the show first came on the air in the late 1990s. Both actors say that the program has changed their lives and careers in profound ways.

"It's an anomaly in our industry," said Lawrence. "It rarely ever happens and it also brought me most of my closest friends. I've met amazing people on our show and we have such a phenomenal team and that warms my heart. On a personal note, I was able to become a single parent and the only reason I was able to become a single parent is because the show gave me that life. I'm blessed on every level you could think of."

"I was thinking I wanted to be doing more voiceovers because I wasn't doing that much of it," said Brown. "My daughter had just been born and she was maybe two or three years old at the time. I wanted to stick around town and this was a job that was in town. I really wanted to get it and didn't think it would go on for 20 years. My daughter is a grown-up and making her own living now. I was just thinking I would love to get this gig, so I can spend more time with my family."

Stream "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run" and "Kamp Koral" on Paramount+ and watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.