April 10, 2025 • 46 mins
Are ya ready, kids??
We’re diving into a SpongeBob reference in Season 3 Episode 3, when Lorelai jokes about Rory using a SpongeBob cutout photo for her college app.
Carolyn Lawrence (aka the voice of Sandy Cheeks) joins us to talk about making SpongeBob, being live at the Super Bowl, and imagining Sandy in Stars Hollow!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I Am all In again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh that's just you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I Smell Pop Culture with Eastern Allen and iHeart Radio Podcast.
Hi everyone, this is Easton Allen. You heard Scott Patterson
say my name just a few seconds ago, and now
I'm saying my name. This is Easton Allen. This is
the sound of my voice. This is the I Smell
Pop Culture Podcast, a subsidiary of I Am all In
on iHeartRadio on iHeart Podcasts, one eleven productions, iHeart Media,
(00:42):
everything else. All those logos you see at the bottom
of our screen. This is such an exciting week here
we're talking to someone so cool and in case you're
just joining us for the first time, here's what we do.
You came here for Scott Patterson, You got me, Okay,
I'm sorry you heard his voice at the beginning. He
is not here. That's the last time you'll hear Scott
Patterson's voice. But I promise you we're gonna have a
lot of fun. We love the pop culture references in
(01:04):
Gomart Girls. We go so much deeper than just listing
them off. We are interviewing the people that created them,
that brought them to life, that made them pop culture
moments and this week, we are going under the sea.
We are going to venture to a pineapple under the sea.
We're going to talk to Carolyn Lawrence, who is the
(01:28):
voice of Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob square Pants. That's right,
SpongeBob SquarePants and Nickelodeon Treasure for twenty five years. SpongeBob
has been on the air in its fifteenth season. Here's
why we're talking about SpongeBob. Okay, I know you're hearing this.
You're going SpongeBob's cool. But why why Easton? Why tell me?
And I'm going to tell you why. Just a few
(01:49):
weeks ago, we talked to Robin Lively, who was in
The Karate Kid Part three, because she was mentioned in
season three, episode three application Anxiety Ladies and Gentlemen. We're
going back to that same not just the same episodisode,
this same scene. That's how jam packed Gilmour Girls is.
There are sony pop culture references in every scene. There's
like twenty per moment, so there's just an endless gold
(02:10):
mine here. We're going back to the beginning of the episode.
Rory and Laurel I are working on Rory's Harvard application,
and if you remember this, Okay, visualize it. I'm going
to act this out for you. They're sitting there and
going through the requirements for the application. Laurel I says, Oh,
they want a picture, how about the one of us
sticking our heads through the carved out holes of Johnny
(02:32):
Bravo and spongeboll SquarePants, And Rory says, there's the seriousness
I crave. So SpongeBob SquarePants is the fourth longest running
animated series of all time. And I should also note
that at whatever event they took this photo of which
I'd love to see. I don't think you ever get
to see it, but I would love to see that
picture of Rory and Laurel with the cartoon characters poking
(02:53):
their heads through. Johnny Bravo is a Cartoon Network property. Okay,
clashing brands here because we're going to the world Nickelodeon
for SpongeBob. And if you haven't seen Specible SquarePants, it
is a story of a lovable sea sponge living in
scenic Bikini Bottom with his friends Patrick Starr and Sandy Cheeks,
who is a Texan squirrel. Sandy Cheeks is a scientist.
(03:15):
She is wearing like she's wearing like an astronaut outfit.
So because she's a squirrel, she can't breathe underwater, but
she's a scientist. She's a good friend, she's fun loving,
she's such a fun character and an integral part of
SpongeBob and I mean part of it since the beginning.
So we're going to talk to the voice of Sandy here.
This is Carolyn Lawrence. She has been Sandy Cheeks in
(03:39):
every single thing Sandy's in, the video games, the toys,
the movies, the TV shows, everything. Carolyn is Sandy, and
we're going to talk to her right now. She is
right here. Carolyn, thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, thank you. It's so nice to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So the reason we're talking to you today Carolyn Lawrence
the voice of Sat Cheeks and SpongeBob square Pants, I mean,
one of the legendary characters in old cartoon history. In
see oh, the compliments will be coming hot and heavy.
So strap in here. You're a you're a hero to us.
So in season three of Gilmore Girls, they they reference SpongeBob.
(04:20):
I mean, you know, Gilmore Girls known for their pop
culture references, and Rory and Laura I on if you remember,
but it's there. Rory's filling out her Harvard application and
they want a photo and Laura I says, should we
include the one of us posing in the SpongeBob like
cut out? When you I mean, you must hear SpongeBob
(04:40):
and Sandy get referenced like all the time on TV
shows like that, Like how does that feel when you
see that happen?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's always exciting, Like there's never a moment where that's
not exciting. It's always such a shock too. You'd think,
like twenty five years in it wouldn't be surprising, but
I'm still like, oh, they just said us, like, it's very.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Have you ever like, have you ever posed with like
a Sandy like character like a theme park or something?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Oh? Yeah, Well, the one I remember the most is
I went to a SpongeBob event at the Mall of
America in Minnesota years ago, and they had all the
brown characters there and whoever was in the suit with Sandy.
I didn't get to meet the person inside the suit,
but whoever, they were amazing and we had so much fun.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh my, what a compliment. I mean Sandy herself saying
that that complimenting that performance. I mean, I hope they're
listening that performer out there. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, whoever you are, please post.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. So something I love is that like stars hollow
does feel I mean, Sara's hollow in Bikini Bottom share
so many similarities. I wanted to ask you, like, do
you who do you think would be like the bikini
bottom analog to some of our Gilmour Girl's characters. I mean, like,
(05:58):
is Luke mister krabs? Is that what we're thinking here?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know what? As he was saying that, I was
trying to think of it, and I was like, well, wait,
or would he be kind of a less enthusiastic SpongeBob. Yes,
everybody kind of circle around him. And my cat is
now talking to us as well, because it's just that
kind of day. And I thought, if you if your
viewer saw anything it looked like a rat, it was
my cat. She's hairless, so don't be worried. There's no
(06:26):
rodents running by except squirrels. So and then I was
thinking about Kirk, like could Kirk be he's kind of
a squid word and that he's an enigma?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yes, I was having the same thoughts.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I was like, who would be, who, Yes, that's a
crossover I would love to see. But we'll get more
into a more Gilmore stuff in in a minute here.
But I'm I'm so curious. I was going back into
your turning the pages of Carolyn Lawrence's life, and I was, I,
I'm so curious, Like you, you have a dance background,
(07:03):
and I don't know if a lot of people know that,
but I mean, you're a classically trained dancer. How do
you go from dancing to voice acting? I mean, how
does that transition happen?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
That was one of those random moments in life. So
when I was with Gus Giernano's in Chicago, that's a
dance company, we used to have what is called a
company class, So that basically is a class that's open
for any traveling dancers. Dancers are in town doing a
musical or they're whatever they're doing that they can come
and take a company class to stay fit and on
(07:36):
top of things and feel good. And there was this
one man who used to come take company class and
he was not a dancer, but he was always welcome.
His name was Steve, and we just don't really liked him,
Like even if the whole class is going this direction
and he's going that direction where we're like what I
(07:57):
read Seve. But he came up to me day and
he said, I work at Universal Recording, and you have
a really interesting sound, and we haven't been able to
find a voice for this particular product. It was a
line of stuffed animals and do you want to audition?
And I was like sure. I had no idea what
(08:18):
that even entailed. Honestly, I didn't know voice for something
that people do. I didn't really even understand what he's
asking of me. I was just like, it's an opportunity.
Let's go, and and I booked that. I did like
three or four different voices.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I know I was a lamb and a duck. I
don't know if I was anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Did you have to like say, did they give you lines?
Like do you remember what you had?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So it was like a stuffed animal that kids could
cuddle with and it would say nice things if they
were afraid to go to sleep, like if they were
afraid of the dark or whatever. It was very sweet.
I don't remember any of the exact lines, but it
was probably something hopefully soothing. And when I looked that job.
I was like, wait a minute, you can make money
doing this because the life of a dancer is really
(09:06):
really hard. And I was smart enough to know that
while I have some talent, I wasn't going to be
a version of call, you know what I mean. I wasn't.
I wasn't going to be somebody who's like dancing for
the rest of my life probably and making a great living.
I might be working really hard the rest of my life,
(09:26):
but it would probably be a struggle. So so yeah,
that's how that came about. Total random you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Know, It's so interesting how the universe works that way sometimes,
Like and I know that, like your your career kind
of you did some acting in front of the camera
before you became just this voiceover superstar that you are today.
But when you were growing up, did you like make
funny voices? Was that something you would do?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
No, So I'm the anomaly in the voice world, because
I know a lot of voice actors are are They
were like the Hams of the class, and they were
always yeah, that was their trajectory. I was, well, people
thought I was painfully shy. I wasn't. What I was
(10:14):
was somebody who liked to observe. So I was somebody
who really liked to watch everything going on around me
instead of being engaged in it. So I was pretty
quiet actually, which I think is why this thing worked
for me, because I didn't have to talk to anybody,
and I didn't have to really I felt protected in
(10:34):
it somehow.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that makes sense. It makes a lot of sense.
And also, I mean being an observer that helps me
understand like how you're so in my opinion, how you're
so good at creating these characters with your voice. I
mean because you're like you're observing all these people around you,
how they act, how they operate, and you can build
that to make your characters. It's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. Yeah, and you tuck things away, right like you
at the grocery you see somebody You're like, oh, I
have to save that for later.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So like when you were you come out to LA
from you were grown up or in Chicago, dancing in Chicago,
and then you come out to LA and like, you know,
you score a role on Wings Carry in the City,
the weird science TV show. Uh, what was that? Like,
did you enjoy acting in front of the camera. Is
that something that you were into yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So moving to LA I had that young like, oh
my gosh, I should should pursue at all, right, because
why not. I came out here to pursue dancing and
instantly knew that that wasn't going to work because at
the time, music videos didn't want a classically trained dancer.
They wanted something that I wasn't, so so that dream
(11:51):
got dashed pretty fast. But then yes, I had the
opportunity to start doing some on camera stuff, and then
I had that moment of like, oh, maybe this is
a good path for me, right because it is fun.
Even though I'll be honest with you, it was so
stressful for me as somebody who kind of likes to hide.
Oh yeah, doing on camera work was really I was
(12:13):
always so happy when it was done that I had
done it, but the process of it was really challenging
for my well being. I got really, I would get
really really. I don't know about most of your listeners
and viewers, but like when you're doing a sitcom and
you're just a guest star, you're working with a cast
(12:35):
that's been together, they know each other that there's like
a certain rhythm, right yeah, and you're just coming in
with your couple of lines and leaving. It's kind of
like jarring.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, Like you don't you don't have a lead up.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You're just in and you do your think and you leave.
So I would be backstage like waiting for my moment.
But then you've got all these people in your head.
The director wants you to do this, the producers are
standing there asking you to do something else. The writers
sometimes come up and they have a different opinion, and
they're all telling you different things right before you have
(13:07):
to go in and do your moment.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
And you're your guest starts, so you want to do
a good job. You know, you want to like nail it,
and you have no power.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You're a guest. You can't like, excuse me, I need
clarity on my character or.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
What I like it, Like, what's my motivation here?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And I think because I was young and insecure, I
had a lot of struggle in that. I'm sure other
actors don't. Like maybe other actors that are more secure
in their being just go, oh, be quiet, I'm gonna
go do my thing. But that's not where I was at.
So I loved it, but it was really stressful. Point
(13:44):
being that when voiceover really started taking over. I was like, Okay,
let's do that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah and it uh. I mean, it seems like you're
ramped up pretty fast. How did you In nineteen eighty nine,
you scored the role of Sandy Cheeks, the iconic Sandy
Sandra Cheeks on Spendral SquarePants. How did that happen? How
did you get that role?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Like?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
What was the process of bringing you into that show?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
All right? So as you were talking about the universe,
because I truly that's how I speak about our world,
right is the universe. Everything in my life has been random,
every single thing, and SpongeBob was one of them. Because
I had been auditioning and getting called back and doing
well in the community, but not really booking that big
(14:36):
thing that's going to give you, like consistency of income.
When I met the casting director named Donna Grillo on
a sidewalk in Lespheelz when I was with my friend
Quentin Flynn, who's a big voiceover guy, wonderful talented, like
incredibly beautiful man, and she said, you have an interesting sound.
(14:58):
Are you an actress? And I was like, yes, everybody
in LA is an actor. She said, long story short,
we have a little conversation, and she said she'd call
me in on something she was working on. And I
didn't believe her because a lot of people talk a
lot of whatever and it never comes to anything and
soiling and it was SpongeBob. She called me in on SpongeBob.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Wow. So okay, So when you like, when you come
in to do that, do they I'm so curious how
much of the character they had kind of figured out
at that point, Like did they tell did they tell you, like, oh,
she's a squirrel from Texas? We want that accident?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, right, you get you get like it's a one sheet,
So you get a one page piece of paper and
it has usually a drawing of the character or picture
of the character or whatever the artist sees in their mind,
and then a little paragraph of dialogue and then like
points about her. Yes, she's a squirrel, she's from Texas,
she's a scientist, she knows karate, And they give you
(15:58):
like all those pieces and then you use your imagination
to come up with what you think that would sound like.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I love it and developing the sound of Sandy is
just such a great voice. I love the character so
much and like you can't help but smile when you
listen to Sandy Cheeks, where did you draw from in
your own life to get like the accent is so
good too. I mean, I thought you were from Houston, honestly,
like funny, So how did you develop that character? Well?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I thought about I thought about what she looked like first,
because she's got book teeth, and so you got to
have the teeth. And then I thought about what people
from the South had like that that thing that sounded smart.
I don't know how else to explain it, like trying
to find like an example of something like and I
(16:50):
thought of Holly Hunter.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wow, And so yeah, she was the inspiration.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Hi, Holly.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
But also it's interesting in that different actors work differently, Right.
There are voice actors out there who have all these
characters within them that they apply to a role, right
that they have characters that they've been playing with at
home that they just can't wait till the right role
comes along that they can put it in, right. Yeah,
And I'm the opposite Mine comes from. It has to
(17:22):
be something in the script has to work for me interesting,
or I've got nothing like.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You can't just come up with a voice. They don't.
It doesn't work that way for me.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean that's so pure. I think like that. It
feels like this like inspiration and the character itself kind
of speaking to you and like helping you come over
the way that I love it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, And I've had a lot of auditions where I
have to be like, hey, guys, I got nothing. I
got nothing, this one I don't have. I'm so sorry.
I can't just make something up. There's nothing for you.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
What were the early days of making SpongeBob, Like like
the first season, you know, it kind of like recording
those first few episodes, like did you have you? Did
you have any idea of that people were gonna love
it as much as they did? I mean, were you
having a lot of fun?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I had no idea. I was so focused on my
enthusiasm for being employed and being awestruck at the talent
around me because most people on the show had like
a huge wealth of credits and like they were incredibly
well known already in the industry well way right, So
(18:34):
I'm this room full of like phenomenal people and I'm like, whoaw.
But it was really fun because right from the get go,
we just jelled really well, we just all got It's
like when you meet friends at school or something like,
it just felt good. It just kind of worked.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
That's awesome. I love to hear that. That makes me
so happy. I was. I mean, it would also be
fun if you're like, oh, Tom Kenny is the worst
guy in the business. I hate him. I can't stand
in the side of him.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You don't know what No, honestly, you know what it is.
It's like it's like your family, right, you love your family. Yes,
you have those moments of like, ugh, uncle Joe, like
we don't know him, right. So our cast after all
this time is like that. We're like total family, all
the love, but we definitely all have our quirks.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Too, of course.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I mean, I mean you're in your fifteenth season,
twenty five years of Spongebow. That's incredible. How and I'm
curious how the experience for you has changed over those years,
like and like has the character Sandy changed for you?
Like have you like discovered different parts about her that
you've brought to the role, Like how does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I think I think initially it would be interesting to
see what the writers thought. But initially it felt like
Sandy was there a lot to do exposition, Yes, she
was there, like to connect the scene to that scene
like that seemed to be her Like all she did
was you know yeah. Like And as the years have
gone on, she's gotten more life. Like you've just you've
(20:08):
found out more about her and what she's and that
helps me find out more about her. I mean, I'm
still learning a lot about her now, which is kind
of crazy. Like when we did the movie, I was like, Oh,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Oh that's that.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You know, it's fun because I'm discovering at the same
time you guys.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Are That's that's so cool. I love that. That's that's
a really fun detail. Do you ever slip into the
Sandy voice like in your real life?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I have been told by my children that I get
really mad sometimes she comes out interesting. Dang, yeah, I
don't know. I think it just happens.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Oh my god, this is such a blasting. Carolyn Lawrence
is with us. It's the ICEMOL pop culture podcast. She's
Sandy cheeks. Everybody all SquarePants. But here's the thing. We
have so much more to get into, we have so
much more fun to have. And here's the deal. Carolyn
and I are gonna sit here absolutely silent for a
few minutes, and everyone out there is gonna listen to
a bunch of commercials. That's the deal. Okay, We'll be
right back. It's the Ice Mellow Pop Culture Podcast. My
(21:24):
name is Easton Allen. I'm sitting here with Carolyn Lawrence,
the voice of Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob SquarePants. We're having
a lot of fun here on dry land. We're an
auditor of the sea. We're on dry land, and I mean,
one of the most iconic characteroon characters of all time.
I've been saying that this whole interview, And Okay, Carolyn,
(21:46):
I want you to resist any urge of modesty here, Okay,
Like I'm gonna ask you a question and I don't
want you to be modest at all. Am I right
in thinking and knowing that you are ever version of
Sandy Cheeks out there, like like you're in every video
game or in every movie? Is there? Like there's no
(22:06):
other Sandy Cheeks voice? Am I right?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
There's no other Sandy Cheeks voice that I know of. No,
unless they did some weird I don't know, did they
have somebody like have to throw in a word here
or there. If I wasn't available, I don't know. I
think it's all been me.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That is. I was looking at your your credits list,
and because like sometimes you know, I mean, you're you're
a huge star, and so like sometimes like they'll have
like yeah, I mean, you know, like Tom Hanks is
famous for like I think his brother does all the
woody stuff like in like the theme parks or whatever.
So I was like, oh, on like the video games,
(22:44):
I bet it's somebody else. No, no, no, it's you,
like you are Sandy.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That's incredible to the extent that I would don't tell
the network. I would. I would work for free to
do something to make sure that I was still her.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I love that. I love that is and I think
so special to the character and to uh and for
the audience, you know, like like kids that loved the
show are gonna every time they see Sandy, like they'll
know it's the same voice. And it's like Sandy is
a real character, breathing, breathing, living character. It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I did have a funny moment Easan when they did
the Broadway musical, and I was like, this is so insane.
I was like wait a minute, why didn't I get
to audition for her? Like oh, and then I'm like,
oh Carolyn who, No, you're not Broadway.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Hey you can dance, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
But I've been in the background. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, oh my god. So last year you guys did
something incredible. I don't think it's ever been done before,
the Super Bowl, the Live Super Bowl. I was watching
some clips from that this morning. Uh like, so were
you were just in character? What improving for like five
hours or something? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Okay? So it's so funny too in our industry how
things are explained to you and then how they turn
out to be. So I had never done it's called
motion capture. I had never done that before, where they
put you in the suit and you have all the
sensors and they digitize to you. That was new to
me and something I've always wanted to do, so I
(24:27):
was super excited about it. But then they were like, yeah,
you're gonna be improving the whole game, and I was
like okay. But then because of because of technology and
timing and space and all these other things that came
into play. Doug Lawrence, who plays Plankton, mister Lawrence and
I wound up in a trailer in the parking lot
(24:49):
doing our part, and Tom and Hill were in the
stadium doing their part, and so they, I mean, they
got all the pressure they had, like they were on
in a big way the whole time. But mister Lawrence
and I were in the control trailers, so like we
(25:09):
could see and here if a director was going to
throw to us, that means like we have a moment,
right Carolyn, do something or not. So we were just
like we just spent all those hours in a anticipatory state.
Am I needed? Am I needed? Am I gonna what a?
(25:30):
And we did pre record. They did pre record some
stuff just in case they needed to lay something in
or something went kafluey or we recorded some things a
couple of days before. But that was crazy fun.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's so cool. And if anyone listening doesn't know what
we're talking about. The super Bowl last year, the Chiefs
and the forty nine ers on CBS, they did like
an alternate you know, SpongeBob super Bowl, where like SpongeBob
and Patrick were doing commentary and Sandy was doing sideline
and report the filming or the shots from it. Are
(26:04):
so funny because it's like it's done at the appropriate angle,
like it's like the cameras like down on the ground.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yes, it was wild and those guys, oh my gosh,
that got The people on that team were just so amazing.
And it was really fun too, because it goes to
show the love for our franchise in that all the
people backstage that we're working with us and all the
sports commentators and like everybody was so geeked out to
(26:31):
be doing it. It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I love it. It's so incredible. So, I mean that's
that's definitely an anomaly for what you typically do. But
I'm curious, like, oh no, every SpongeBob I'm putting on
the motion capture suit.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
We did do it again though. We did it again
for the Kid's Choice Awards.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
That's right, that's right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Well, I mean you'll probably be doing this every year
now for something, because.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I would hope so I'll get better at it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, keep that mocap suit at the drug cleaners. Uh.
When you when you do a typical episode of SpongeBob,
like a typical recording, I'm curious how that works, Like,
what's that process?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Like so initially, for all the way up until COVID,
we all record together like a play. We're all in
the booth together and set up at Mike's and we
have what's called baffles in between us so the sound
doesn't travel. And Tom was always in a little booth
(27:29):
within the booth, so he was isolated so he could
improv as much as he wanted and not have to
worry about stepping on any of our lines or any
of us having like crosstalk or anything.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Gotcha, had to be careful.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But so the all those years we did it that way,
and then when COVID happened, you know, it all fell
apart and we were recording from our homes and that
was a whole new experience, like we're not sound to engineers. Yeah,
suddenly we're in our homes and the studio sent us
like a mic and a and a laptop and we're like,
(28:03):
okay now, but you know, we never missed an air date. Wow,
it happens full time. And now it's kind of a hybrid,
like words together as much as we possibly can be,
but we also know if somebody needs to travel or
Clancey's off doing you know, his big, big movie star
(28:24):
things that uh that we can still work remotely, but
together we can see people like the Brady Bunch, we
see people you know on the screen.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I was gonna ask if it's like, if it's like
you do to resume, so you're still like interacting with each.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Other whenever possible. We still all want to see each other.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I love it, and I think that's why the performance
is like so fun and it feels like friends hanging
out because you hear sometimes like people just record their
lines separately, like alone, they just read the sides and
then wait.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
But then there's no magic.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, exactly, And you can hear that.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Right because if so nobody has an idea and they
and they want to change something to be you know,
even more humorous, then we can pick it up like
everybody can play together.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
In those the early pre COVID when you would all
be in there in the same room, was there This
is probably a very naive question, so forgive me. But
in Missus doubt Fire, I think he's like I think
he's a voiceover. Rob Willims is like a voiceover artist,
and they're like there's a part in the beginning of
the movie where they have like it's like a tweety
(29:32):
bird character or something like that, and they have like
they're projecting the cartoon on a screen for him, and
I remember thinking like, ohka, there's no way he's like
sinking the voice his voice to that. But maybe for
inspiration or something. Do they ever like show the cartoon
in the studios? It just yeah, yeah, what.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
They're talking about. They're two different things. Okay. So we
do what's called an original record, so we lay down
all the sound and then the animators animate to us.
Some shows are what's called dubbed. Some shows the animation
is done and then the actor does have to match
what's called the voice.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Flaps oh man.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
So on our show, it's a hybrid. So we record
everything they animate to us. But if anything needs to
change for a reason the sound wasn't quite what they wanted,
or they have to change the line for some reason,
then we have to go in and it's called adr
we have to replace it to the picture. So we
do do both.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Interesting. The cool craft of it is so fascinating to me.
So my sister Kimberly is an animator. She works at Pixar,
and she's a big fan of yours. I told her
I was interviewing you today. She got very excited.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Well, I'm a big fans already.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
She's on the other side of the of the process.
But she's like, you know, she tries her hand at
voice acting too. She's very good at it. But she
wanted me to ask, like, what, uh, what do you
practices do you do for taking care of your voice?
Like a drinking tea? Do you like use a humidifier?
Like do you have anything like that you use?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I don't. I'm so like a wing it in life person.
I think the biggest thing for me is is making
sure you're warmed up, which could be anything. It just
could be talking a lot at Starbucks or singing in
the car on the way to the record, right, making
sure that you're warmed up in some capacity, and never
(31:27):
catching a cold.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Oh yeah, so like if you do get if you
get a cold, you just have to postpone recording, right,
Like you have you ever like tried to just muscle
through it or oh yeah, well a.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Lot of times, a lot of times if they have
to get something out and they have to get it
recorded because the animators have to have it for timing. Yeah,
you record anyway, even if you sound terrible, because you
can come back and adr it later. Oh right, better
to to do that to your own performance than to
have someone else lay it in and then you're stuck
(32:02):
with their rhythm and there the way they do it.
But it is funny because actually we just recorded yesterday.
So it was Tom and mister Lawrence and I is
there another person? I think it was just the three
of us, and we were talking about how the weather
change in LA because it was like ninety degrees and
(32:23):
then see we were all like raining, like like you know, everybody,
have to take a break, clear your voice.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Come back, do you ever?
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Okay? So I imagine fans are constantly asking you, like
to do their voicemail or like things like that, or
like you coming up to you and be like, hey,
can you can you say this to my cousin? What's
the thing people ask you to like say the most
in the Sandy voice?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You know What's funny? They seem to really mostly like
her mad, which is so interesting to me because that's
my mom. Despite is her mad? But I don't know,
because it's always funny, Like dirty Dan, that's always funny,
you know. Now take the name of Dix's. I don't know. Yeah,
when she's when she's feisty, people seem to like when
(33:13):
she's feisty spirited.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Perhaps feisty Sandy is a lot of fun. I'm one
of those people. I enjoyed that so much. For anyone
who out there who is looking to get into voice acting,
what advice do you have for them?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
You know, it's so hard because I was at a
drive through not too long ago and the and the
guy at the drive through had the most beautiful sound
and I was like, dude, and he asked me about that,
and honestly, it's so hard now, yeah, because when I started,
(33:49):
the industry was completely different and now I really I
really don't know. I mean, to me, performing is performing, yeah,
So be a performer. Go be a performer, and all
those things you can do in different mediums like a
theater actor can certainly still do voice work and a
(34:12):
voice work, you know, a voiceover can do live action,
and I think it's just working on your craft. I
would say, if you love it, a great place to
start is just performing like community theater.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I love it. That's fantastic advice and I think that
also will you know that'll open your mind to all
these different ways of expressing your creativity and things like that.
That's well, that is great advice. This is a question
I wanted to ask people like you that have had
this iconic role. This this like role is so heavy
(34:45):
in people's minds for such a long time. I know
it's hard, but like, is there an experience or a
memory that stands, like when you look back at all
the years of being Sandy Cheeks and like everything you've
gotten to do, is there something that kind of rises
to the top of like, oh my god, I can't
believe that, we can't believe this happened, or like anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Well, being at the super Bowl was mind blowing. I
never thought that. Sure, on a very basic, simple level,
it sounds so dorky, but it's true. Like anytime I
get a hug from a kid because they love the
character so much, that just makes me want to sob profusely.
(35:25):
I'm so grateful.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
I'm a I mean, I'm cheered up listening to that.
That's I mean, what a special role to play in.
How many generations of kids now have grown up with
Sandy and like and also the fact that she's she's
a squirrel, but she's still she's a strong woman in science.
I think she's such a great role model for kids.
And also she's so funny and and just a good friend.
(35:51):
I don't know, it's just such a special role to
have in entertainment and for children.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, especially as a woman, it means a lot, and
it is. It is shocking to me still, Steve Hillenberg
created characters that are so deep on so many levels.
And I love that he saw a woman. Well partially
it's because his wife is amazing, but that that he
would he would create a character as well rounded as
(36:17):
her in animation because a lot of times the girls
aren't right. I mean, we have the superhero girls, but
I mean generally you know, and uh, And it's it
has been an honor to play her, and I think
it's especially meaningful that little girls do get to see
someone who can do everything. Like you said, she's a
(36:38):
loyal friend, she's super smart, she's athletic, she's funny, like
she's she's awesome. I wish I was her.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I don't know, just saying this because I'm on the
call with you, but like when I first saw SpongeBob,
I'm Sandy was the most compelling character to me because
I was like, oh my god, Like the other characters
are like, you know, it's it's a starfish. It's like
it's like things under the like she has a she
has a you know, a diving out like she is
from dry land and she came down right. But I
(37:09):
just thought that. I was like, this is such an
interesting character. I want to know more about her. I
don't know. We love Sandy, Sandy is better than SpongeBob,
but she'd be called the Sandy Cheeks show someday.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Maybe maybe she'll get a spit off. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
That was something else is gonna ask, would you if
there was like the Sandy Cheeks movie or something like that,
would you be interested in doing something like that?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
We did.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
We did Saving Bikini Bottom.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
That's right, Yes, the posters behind.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
You, but but it's Saving Bikini Bottom. The Sandy Cheeks movie.
It says it in small print right underneath. It couldn't
be called the Sandy Cheeks movie.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Oh it could, it could.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Thank you, But.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Paramount Plus is desperate for content. I could there should
be a Sandy Cheeks series right right.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I would love to see something I'd love to see
her do something. But more than that, I actually would
love something that you know, we have a little Uh.
There was an episode where they had the gal Pals
what they named the female characters that were all hanging
out suddenly and they called us the gal Pals, And
then the Galpals were in the new Plankton movie that's
also on Netflix. And uh, I would like to see
(38:20):
personally women supporting women. I'd like to see a gal
Pals spin off. Yes, yes, as much as I mean
it would be amazing to have a Sandy Cheeks one.
Obviously for me, it would be more fun to have
all the girls.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I love it. Carolyn Lawrence is with us, the voice
of Sandy Cheeks. It's the I Smell pop Culture podcast
where you're going to take a really quick break and
then we'll be right back, So stick around, everybody. It's
the Ice Smell Pop Culture Podcast. This is Easton Allen
(38:55):
hanging out with Carolyn Lawrence, the voice of Sandy Cheeks
on SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in a pineapple under the sea.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
So, I was delighted to hear that you're a Gilmore
Girls fan. You've watched the show and you have daughters,
How what's something you love to do with your daughters?
Because you know, Gilmore Girls is so much about the
relationship to mothers and daughters. Is there something like special
that you guys like to do altogether?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Well, when they were young, younger, I had. I used
to have fun family Fridays, which is when we would
all pile in the bed and watch movies or TV
shows together. I love it so that that was my
favorite thing. Now I've got like a teenager and the
other one and now it's different, right, she won't pile
(39:43):
in and like, But yeah, I think I think family
entertainment time was big, like watching things together, playing board
games together. But we are we are a TV movie family.
That's that's big for us.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Do you have a favorite, like one that's like and
then number one or top five spot or something like that.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I think it changed depending on what age everybody was.
There was a while where we watched The Book of
Life over and over and over and over and my
dog just had to bark and interrupt us. So that
movie I think is amazing on a million levels. It's beautiful.
Oh yeah, it's the storyline is phenomenal. I like the
(40:32):
the culture, and I thought I had such great messages
in it for kids. So I thought that movie should
have done way way way. I thought it was poorly publicized.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
But whatever, I completely agree with all my opinions.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
I'm a big I'm so sappy. I love when Christmas comes.
I love when the holiday comes and I can watch
all the like great but terrible movies.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yes, yes, like like anything. I'm all Mark.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yes, I don't even names of them, like Christmas in Denmark,
I don't know, like whatever they are. I love them all.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Yeah, it's all yeah, Christmas and Louisiana, Christmas in Montana.
They're all great, and they all the same storyline and
they're all fan you know, it's a great time.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Oh my gosh. That's so funny because my youngest, because
we watch so much stuff, she starts to know like
the A story, the B story. She's nine, but she'll
she'll already know, like she'll say, oh, I know what's
gonna happen, and she'll like tell me like, well, this
character's gonna meet that character, and then that character's gonna
fall in love with this character, and then they're gonna
(41:45):
have a big problem and then it's all gonna end
up great.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I'm like, yeah, that's impressive that she can recognize narrative
structure at that level. That's awesome. So if you could
visit stars Hallow, Like if you could be transported to
the fictional town, I know you could you live in
La right, Like you could just go to Bourbank and
(42:07):
go to the lot, But if you could go to
the fictional version of it in the universe. What is
there a place you'd like to go? Is there like
a would you like to take go to Luke's Diner?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
You want to hang out at Luke's?
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah, hang out at Luke's. And I want to observe Kirk, Yes,
And I.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Want to be best friends with Lurlai. I mean a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I mean nothing's better than that. What is it about
Gilmore Girls that stands out to you? Like, like what what?
What connection did you have with that show?
Speaker 2 (42:37):
You know? I think, like you said earlier, I really
think it's a lot like SpongeBob. I think I connect
to it because everybody I think anyway likes that idea
of small town, like likes that idea of a community
and the connectedness and and like there's something so deeply
intriguing about.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
That, right, Yeah, absolutely, I think our.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
World is a bit fractured and we really miss having
those connections. I was a neighbor where we actually all
know each other.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
That's incredible, that's rare.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
And everybody always says to me, what's with your neighborhood.
I'm like, I don't know, but it's so good, right,
Like I actually know people here, and I know in
big cities usually you don't. So I think part of
Gilmore Girls is interesting. And I also think Gilmore Girls
is so incredibly well written that we can all relate
to the various characters because they kind of remind us
(43:34):
of people in our own lives.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Yes, absolutely, do you think like that. The thing with
Gilmore Girls is they they always saying, like, talk faster.
They are the fast talking. It's such a signature of
the show, which if Sandy Cheeks had to be in
Gilmore Girls, would you be able to do, like to
rattle off that dialogue that fast in the voice.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
If if we were just talking about like I could
read it like I do want a record? Yes, if
I was having to film it live New.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yes, thank you, Oh my god, You're just the absolute best.
Carolyn Lawrence. So SpongeBob in its fifteenth season right now,
what else can fans look forward to? I mean, like
your recording episode you said you recorded yesterday as we
as we do this podcast, anything else on the way
(44:31):
that fans can look forward to in the world of SpongeBob.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
We have a movie coming out at theaters next year.
I don't know what it's called. It's secret, but yes,
it will be at the theaters next year. We have
two video games coming out which are also still under wraps,
and I don't have a title for you, but I
know they're coming.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
The crazy thing I would say to fans is much
like the Super Bowl situation, things keep coming. Like we
keep thinking, okay, so this is our right, this is
the pinnacle, this is probably what this looks like. And
then there's a new thing. So I know there's new things.
I just have no forgure what they'll even be. And
(45:12):
I'm excited. It's exciting to see because it seems like
we just keep growing. It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
It's it's true. I mean, the fandom just gets bigger
and bigger. You're making new fans, the old ones are
sticking around. It's it's really remarkable. Uh and and I mean,
my god, the memes. The memes are so great for
SpongeBob and they just never ending in always finding new versions.
Uh So, there's so much to look forward to. There's
so much to look back on. Thank you so much
(45:39):
for sharing your voice and bringing this character to life.
It's just so special for so many of us out there.
And I just wanted to thank you for your art, like,
thank you for making this goodness Easton.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been it's
been really fun. I could talk to you forever. We
could talk for like five more hours. Y.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yes, seriously, you're the absolute best. This is the I
Small pop culture podcast. Thank you so much, Carolyn, Thank
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You, hey everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram
(46:33):
at I Am all In podcast and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com
I Am all In again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh that's just you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I Smell Pop Culture with Eastern Allen and iHeart Radio Podcast.
Hi everyone, this is Easton Allen. You heard Scott Patterson
say my name just a few seconds ago, and now
I'm saying my name. This is Easton Allen. This is
the sound of my voice. This is the I Smell
Pop Culture Podcast, a subsidiary of I Am all In
on iHeartRadio on iHeart Podcasts, one eleven productions, iHeart Media,
(00:42):
everything else. All those logos you see at the bottom
of our screen. This is such an exciting week here
we're talking to someone so cool and in case you're
just joining us for the first time, here's what we do.
You came here for Scott Patterson, You got me, Okay,
I'm sorry you heard his voice at the beginning. He
is not here. That's the last time you'll hear Scott
Patterson's voice. But I promise you we're gonna have a
lot of fun. We love the pop culture references in
(01:04):
Gomart Girls. We go so much deeper than just listing
them off. We are interviewing the people that created them,
that brought them to life, that made them pop culture
moments and this week, we are going under the sea.
We are going to venture to a pineapple under the sea.
We're going to talk to Carolyn Lawrence, who is the
(01:28):
voice of Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob square Pants. That's right,
SpongeBob SquarePants and Nickelodeon Treasure for twenty five years. SpongeBob
has been on the air in its fifteenth season. Here's
why we're talking about SpongeBob. Okay, I know you're hearing this.
You're going SpongeBob's cool. But why why Easton? Why tell me?
And I'm going to tell you why. Just a few
(01:49):
weeks ago, we talked to Robin Lively, who was in
The Karate Kid Part three, because she was mentioned in
season three, episode three application Anxiety Ladies and Gentlemen. We're
going back to that same not just the same episodisode,
this same scene. That's how jam packed Gilmour Girls is.
There are sony pop culture references in every scene. There's
like twenty per moment, so there's just an endless gold
(02:10):
mine here. We're going back to the beginning of the episode.
Rory and Laurel I are working on Rory's Harvard application,
and if you remember this, Okay, visualize it. I'm going
to act this out for you. They're sitting there and
going through the requirements for the application. Laurel I says, Oh,
they want a picture, how about the one of us
sticking our heads through the carved out holes of Johnny
(02:32):
Bravo and spongeboll SquarePants, And Rory says, there's the seriousness
I crave. So SpongeBob SquarePants is the fourth longest running
animated series of all time. And I should also note
that at whatever event they took this photo of which
I'd love to see. I don't think you ever get
to see it, but I would love to see that
picture of Rory and Laurel with the cartoon characters poking
(02:53):
their heads through. Johnny Bravo is a Cartoon Network property. Okay,
clashing brands here because we're going to the world Nickelodeon
for SpongeBob. And if you haven't seen Specible SquarePants, it
is a story of a lovable sea sponge living in
scenic Bikini Bottom with his friends Patrick Starr and Sandy Cheeks,
who is a Texan squirrel. Sandy Cheeks is a scientist.
(03:15):
She is wearing like she's wearing like an astronaut outfit.
So because she's a squirrel, she can't breathe underwater, but
she's a scientist. She's a good friend, she's fun loving,
she's such a fun character and an integral part of
SpongeBob and I mean part of it since the beginning.
So we're going to talk to the voice of Sandy here.
This is Carolyn Lawrence. She has been Sandy Cheeks in
(03:39):
every single thing Sandy's in, the video games, the toys,
the movies, the TV shows, everything. Carolyn is Sandy, and
we're going to talk to her right now. She is
right here. Carolyn, thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, thank you. It's so nice to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So the reason we're talking to you today Carolyn Lawrence
the voice of Sat Cheeks and SpongeBob square Pants, I mean,
one of the legendary characters in old cartoon history. In
see oh, the compliments will be coming hot and heavy.
So strap in here. You're a you're a hero to us.
So in season three of Gilmore Girls, they they reference SpongeBob.
(04:20):
I mean, you know, Gilmore Girls known for their pop
culture references, and Rory and Laura I on if you remember,
but it's there. Rory's filling out her Harvard application and
they want a photo and Laura I says, should we
include the one of us posing in the SpongeBob like
cut out? When you I mean, you must hear SpongeBob
(04:40):
and Sandy get referenced like all the time on TV
shows like that, Like how does that feel when you
see that happen?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's always exciting, Like there's never a moment where that's
not exciting. It's always such a shock too. You'd think,
like twenty five years in it wouldn't be surprising, but
I'm still like, oh, they just said us, like, it's very.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Have you ever like, have you ever posed with like
a Sandy like character like a theme park or something?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Oh? Yeah, Well, the one I remember the most is
I went to a SpongeBob event at the Mall of
America in Minnesota years ago, and they had all the
brown characters there and whoever was in the suit with Sandy.
I didn't get to meet the person inside the suit,
but whoever, they were amazing and we had so much fun.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh my, what a compliment. I mean Sandy herself saying
that that complimenting that performance. I mean, I hope they're
listening that performer out there. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, whoever you are, please post.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. So something I love is that like stars hollow
does feel I mean, Sara's hollow in Bikini Bottom share
so many similarities. I wanted to ask you, like, do
you who do you think would be like the bikini
bottom analog to some of our Gilmour Girl's characters. I mean, like,
(05:58):
is Luke mister krabs? Is that what we're thinking here?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know what? As he was saying that, I was
trying to think of it, and I was like, well, wait,
or would he be kind of a less enthusiastic SpongeBob. Yes,
everybody kind of circle around him. And my cat is
now talking to us as well, because it's just that
kind of day. And I thought, if you if your
viewer saw anything it looked like a rat, it was
my cat. She's hairless, so don't be worried. There's no
(06:26):
rodents running by except squirrels. So and then I was
thinking about Kirk, like could Kirk be he's kind of
a squid word and that he's an enigma?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yes, I was having the same thoughts.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I was like, who would be, who, Yes, that's a
crossover I would love to see. But we'll get more
into a more Gilmore stuff in in a minute here.
But I'm I'm so curious. I was going back into
your turning the pages of Carolyn Lawrence's life, and I was, I,
I'm so curious, Like you, you have a dance background,
(07:03):
and I don't know if a lot of people know that,
but I mean, you're a classically trained dancer. How do
you go from dancing to voice acting? I mean, how
does that transition happen?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
That was one of those random moments in life. So
when I was with Gus Giernano's in Chicago, that's a
dance company, we used to have what is called a
company class, So that basically is a class that's open
for any traveling dancers. Dancers are in town doing a
musical or they're whatever they're doing that they can come
and take a company class to stay fit and on
(07:36):
top of things and feel good. And there was this
one man who used to come take company class and
he was not a dancer, but he was always welcome.
His name was Steve, and we just don't really liked him,
Like even if the whole class is going this direction
and he's going that direction where we're like what I
(07:57):
read Seve. But he came up to me day and
he said, I work at Universal Recording, and you have
a really interesting sound, and we haven't been able to
find a voice for this particular product. It was a
line of stuffed animals and do you want to audition?
And I was like sure. I had no idea what
(08:18):
that even entailed. Honestly, I didn't know voice for something
that people do. I didn't really even understand what he's
asking of me. I was just like, it's an opportunity.
Let's go, and and I booked that. I did like
three or four different voices.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I know I was a lamb and a duck. I
don't know if I was anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Did you have to like say, did they give you lines?
Like do you remember what you had?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So it was like a stuffed animal that kids could
cuddle with and it would say nice things if they
were afraid to go to sleep, like if they were
afraid of the dark or whatever. It was very sweet.
I don't remember any of the exact lines, but it
was probably something hopefully soothing. And when I looked that job.
I was like, wait a minute, you can make money
doing this because the life of a dancer is really
(09:06):
really hard. And I was smart enough to know that
while I have some talent, I wasn't going to be
a version of call, you know what I mean. I wasn't.
I wasn't going to be somebody who's like dancing for
the rest of my life probably and making a great living.
I might be working really hard the rest of my life,
(09:26):
but it would probably be a struggle. So so yeah,
that's how that came about. Total random you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Know, It's so interesting how the universe works that way sometimes,
Like and I know that, like your your career kind
of you did some acting in front of the camera
before you became just this voiceover superstar that you are today.
But when you were growing up, did you like make
funny voices? Was that something you would do?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
No, So I'm the anomaly in the voice world, because
I know a lot of voice actors are are They
were like the Hams of the class, and they were
always yeah, that was their trajectory. I was, well, people
thought I was painfully shy. I wasn't. What I was
(10:14):
was somebody who liked to observe. So I was somebody
who really liked to watch everything going on around me
instead of being engaged in it. So I was pretty
quiet actually, which I think is why this thing worked
for me, because I didn't have to talk to anybody,
and I didn't have to really I felt protected in
(10:34):
it somehow.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that makes sense. It makes a lot of sense.
And also, I mean being an observer that helps me
understand like how you're so in my opinion, how you're
so good at creating these characters with your voice. I
mean because you're like you're observing all these people around you,
how they act, how they operate, and you can build
that to make your characters. It's so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. Yeah, and you tuck things away, right like you
at the grocery you see somebody You're like, oh, I
have to save that for later.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So like when you were you come out to LA
from you were grown up or in Chicago, dancing in Chicago,
and then you come out to LA and like, you know,
you score a role on Wings Carry in the City,
the weird science TV show. Uh, what was that? Like,
did you enjoy acting in front of the camera. Is
that something that you were into yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So moving to LA I had that young like, oh
my gosh, I should should pursue at all, right, because
why not. I came out here to pursue dancing and
instantly knew that that wasn't going to work because at
the time, music videos didn't want a classically trained dancer.
They wanted something that I wasn't, so so that dream
(11:51):
got dashed pretty fast. But then yes, I had the
opportunity to start doing some on camera stuff, and then
I had that moment of like, oh, maybe this is
a good path for me, right because it is fun.
Even though I'll be honest with you, it was so
stressful for me as somebody who kind of likes to hide.
Oh yeah, doing on camera work was really I was
(12:13):
always so happy when it was done that I had
done it, but the process of it was really challenging
for my well being. I got really, I would get
really really. I don't know about most of your listeners
and viewers, but like when you're doing a sitcom and
you're just a guest star, you're working with a cast
(12:35):
that's been together, they know each other that there's like
a certain rhythm, right yeah, and you're just coming in
with your couple of lines and leaving. It's kind of
like jarring.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, Like you don't you don't have a lead up.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You're just in and you do your think and you leave.
So I would be backstage like waiting for my moment.
But then you've got all these people in your head.
The director wants you to do this, the producers are
standing there asking you to do something else. The writers
sometimes come up and they have a different opinion, and
they're all telling you different things right before you have
(13:07):
to go in and do your moment.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
And you're your guest starts, so you want to do
a good job. You know, you want to like nail it,
and you have no power.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You're a guest. You can't like, excuse me, I need
clarity on my character or.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
What I like it, Like, what's my motivation here?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And I think because I was young and insecure, I
had a lot of struggle in that. I'm sure other
actors don't. Like maybe other actors that are more secure
in their being just go, oh, be quiet, I'm gonna
go do my thing. But that's not where I was at.
So I loved it, but it was really stressful. Point
(13:44):
being that when voiceover really started taking over. I was like, Okay,
let's do that.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah and it uh. I mean, it seems like you're
ramped up pretty fast. How did you In nineteen eighty nine,
you scored the role of Sandy Cheeks, the iconic Sandy
Sandra Cheeks on Spendral SquarePants. How did that happen? How
did you get that role?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Like?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
What was the process of bringing you into that show?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
All right? So as you were talking about the universe,
because I truly that's how I speak about our world,
right is the universe. Everything in my life has been random,
every single thing, and SpongeBob was one of them. Because
I had been auditioning and getting called back and doing
well in the community, but not really booking that big
(14:36):
thing that's going to give you, like consistency of income.
When I met the casting director named Donna Grillo on
a sidewalk in Lespheelz when I was with my friend
Quentin Flynn, who's a big voiceover guy, wonderful talented, like
incredibly beautiful man, and she said, you have an interesting sound.
(14:58):
Are you an actress? And I was like, yes, everybody
in LA is an actor. She said, long story short,
we have a little conversation, and she said she'd call
me in on something she was working on. And I
didn't believe her because a lot of people talk a
lot of whatever and it never comes to anything and
soiling and it was SpongeBob. She called me in on SpongeBob.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Wow. So okay, So when you like, when you come
in to do that, do they I'm so curious how
much of the character they had kind of figured out
at that point, Like did they tell did they tell you, like, oh,
she's a squirrel from Texas? We want that accident?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, right, you get you get like it's a one sheet,
So you get a one page piece of paper and
it has usually a drawing of the character or picture
of the character or whatever the artist sees in their mind,
and then a little paragraph of dialogue and then like
points about her. Yes, she's a squirrel, she's from Texas,
she's a scientist, she knows karate, And they give you
(15:58):
like all those pieces and then you use your imagination
to come up with what you think that would sound like.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I love it and developing the sound of Sandy is
just such a great voice. I love the character so
much and like you can't help but smile when you
listen to Sandy Cheeks, where did you draw from in
your own life to get like the accent is so
good too. I mean, I thought you were from Houston, honestly,
like funny, So how did you develop that character? Well?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I thought about I thought about what she looked like first,
because she's got book teeth, and so you got to
have the teeth. And then I thought about what people
from the South had like that that thing that sounded smart.
I don't know how else to explain it, like trying
to find like an example of something like and I
(16:50):
thought of Holly Hunter.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wow, And so yeah, she was the inspiration.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Hi, Holly.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
But also it's interesting in that different actors work differently, Right.
There are voice actors out there who have all these
characters within them that they apply to a role, right
that they have characters that they've been playing with at
home that they just can't wait till the right role
comes along that they can put it in, right. Yeah,
And I'm the opposite Mine comes from. It has to
(17:22):
be something in the script has to work for me interesting,
or I've got nothing like.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You can't just come up with a voice. They don't.
It doesn't work that way for me.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean that's so pure. I think like that. It
feels like this like inspiration and the character itself kind
of speaking to you and like helping you come over
the way that I love it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, And I've had a lot of auditions where I
have to be like, hey, guys, I got nothing. I
got nothing, this one I don't have. I'm so sorry.
I can't just make something up. There's nothing for you.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
What were the early days of making SpongeBob, Like like
the first season, you know, it kind of like recording
those first few episodes, like did you have you? Did
you have any idea of that people were gonna love
it as much as they did? I mean, were you
having a lot of fun?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I had no idea. I was so focused on my
enthusiasm for being employed and being awestruck at the talent
around me because most people on the show had like
a huge wealth of credits and like they were incredibly
well known already in the industry well way right, So
(18:34):
I'm this room full of like phenomenal people and I'm like, whoaw.
But it was really fun because right from the get go,
we just jelled really well, we just all got It's
like when you meet friends at school or something like,
it just felt good. It just kind of worked.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
That's awesome. I love to hear that. That makes me
so happy. I was. I mean, it would also be
fun if you're like, oh, Tom Kenny is the worst
guy in the business. I hate him. I can't stand
in the side of him.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You don't know what No, honestly, you know what it is.
It's like it's like your family, right, you love your family. Yes,
you have those moments of like, ugh, uncle Joe, like
we don't know him, right. So our cast after all
this time is like that. We're like total family, all
the love, but we definitely all have our quirks.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Too, of course.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I mean, I mean you're in your fifteenth season,
twenty five years of Spongebow. That's incredible. How and I'm
curious how the experience for you has changed over those years,
like and like has the character Sandy changed for you?
Like have you like discovered different parts about her that
you've brought to the role, Like how does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I think I think initially it would be interesting to
see what the writers thought. But initially it felt like
Sandy was there a lot to do exposition, Yes, she
was there, like to connect the scene to that scene
like that seemed to be her Like all she did
was you know yeah. Like And as the years have
gone on, she's gotten more life. Like you've just you've
(20:08):
found out more about her and what she's and that
helps me find out more about her. I mean, I'm
still learning a lot about her now, which is kind
of crazy. Like when we did the movie, I was like, Oh,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Oh that's that.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You know, it's fun because I'm discovering at the same
time you guys.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Are That's that's so cool. I love that. That's that's
a really fun detail. Do you ever slip into the
Sandy voice like in your real life?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I have been told by my children that I get
really mad sometimes she comes out interesting. Dang, yeah, I
don't know. I think it just happens.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Oh my god, this is such a blasting. Carolyn Lawrence
is with us. It's the ICEMOL pop culture podcast. She's
Sandy cheeks. Everybody all SquarePants. But here's the thing. We
have so much more to get into, we have so
much more fun to have. And here's the deal. Carolyn
and I are gonna sit here absolutely silent for a
few minutes, and everyone out there is gonna listen to
a bunch of commercials. That's the deal. Okay, We'll be
right back. It's the Ice Mellow Pop Culture Podcast. My
(21:24):
name is Easton Allen. I'm sitting here with Carolyn Lawrence,
the voice of Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob SquarePants. We're having
a lot of fun here on dry land. We're an
auditor of the sea. We're on dry land, and I mean,
one of the most iconic characteroon characters of all time.
I've been saying that this whole interview, And Okay, Carolyn,
(21:46):
I want you to resist any urge of modesty here, Okay,
Like I'm gonna ask you a question and I don't
want you to be modest at all. Am I right
in thinking and knowing that you are ever version of
Sandy Cheeks out there, like like you're in every video
game or in every movie? Is there? Like there's no
(22:06):
other Sandy Cheeks voice? Am I right?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
There's no other Sandy Cheeks voice that I know of. No,
unless they did some weird I don't know, did they
have somebody like have to throw in a word here
or there. If I wasn't available, I don't know. I
think it's all been me.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That is. I was looking at your your credits list,
and because like sometimes you know, I mean, you're you're
a huge star, and so like sometimes like they'll have
like yeah, I mean, you know, like Tom Hanks is
famous for like I think his brother does all the
woody stuff like in like the theme parks or whatever.
So I was like, oh, on like the video games,
(22:44):
I bet it's somebody else. No, no, no, it's you,
like you are Sandy.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That's incredible to the extent that I would don't tell
the network. I would. I would work for free to
do something to make sure that I was still her.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I love that. I love that is and I think
so special to the character and to uh and for
the audience, you know, like like kids that loved the
show are gonna every time they see Sandy, like they'll
know it's the same voice. And it's like Sandy is
a real character, breathing, breathing, living character. It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I did have a funny moment Easan when they did
the Broadway musical, and I was like, this is so insane.
I was like wait a minute, why didn't I get
to audition for her? Like oh, and then I'm like,
oh Carolyn who, No, you're not Broadway.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Hey you can dance, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
But I've been in the background. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, oh my god. So last year you guys did
something incredible. I don't think it's ever been done before,
the Super Bowl, the Live Super Bowl. I was watching
some clips from that this morning. Uh like, so were
you were just in character? What improving for like five
hours or something? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Okay? So it's so funny too in our industry how
things are explained to you and then how they turn
out to be. So I had never done it's called
motion capture. I had never done that before, where they
put you in the suit and you have all the
sensors and they digitize to you. That was new to
me and something I've always wanted to do, so I
(24:27):
was super excited about it. But then they were like, yeah,
you're gonna be improving the whole game, and I was
like okay. But then because of because of technology and
timing and space and all these other things that came
into play. Doug Lawrence, who plays Plankton, mister Lawrence and
I wound up in a trailer in the parking lot
(24:49):
doing our part, and Tom and Hill were in the
stadium doing their part, and so they, I mean, they
got all the pressure they had, like they were on
in a big way the whole time. But mister Lawrence
and I were in the control trailers, so like we
(25:09):
could see and here if a director was going to
throw to us, that means like we have a moment,
right Carolyn, do something or not. So we were just
like we just spent all those hours in a anticipatory state.
Am I needed? Am I needed? Am I gonna what a?
(25:30):
And we did pre record. They did pre record some
stuff just in case they needed to lay something in
or something went kafluey or we recorded some things a
couple of days before. But that was crazy fun.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's so cool. And if anyone listening doesn't know what
we're talking about. The super Bowl last year, the Chiefs
and the forty nine ers on CBS, they did like
an alternate you know, SpongeBob super Bowl, where like SpongeBob
and Patrick were doing commentary and Sandy was doing sideline
and report the filming or the shots from it. Are
(26:04):
so funny because it's like it's done at the appropriate angle,
like it's like the cameras like down on the ground.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yes, it was wild and those guys, oh my gosh,
that got The people on that team were just so amazing.
And it was really fun too, because it goes to
show the love for our franchise in that all the
people backstage that we're working with us and all the
sports commentators and like everybody was so geeked out to
(26:31):
be doing it. It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I love it. It's so incredible. So, I mean that's
that's definitely an anomaly for what you typically do. But
I'm curious, like, oh no, every SpongeBob I'm putting on
the motion capture suit.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
We did do it again though. We did it again
for the Kid's Choice Awards.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
That's right, that's right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Well, I mean you'll probably be doing this every year
now for something, because.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I would hope so I'll get better at it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, keep that mocap suit at the drug cleaners. Uh.
When you when you do a typical episode of SpongeBob,
like a typical recording, I'm curious how that works, Like,
what's that process?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Like so initially, for all the way up until COVID,
we all record together like a play. We're all in
the booth together and set up at Mike's and we
have what's called baffles in between us so the sound
doesn't travel. And Tom was always in a little booth
(27:29):
within the booth, so he was isolated so he could
improv as much as he wanted and not have to
worry about stepping on any of our lines or any
of us having like crosstalk or anything.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Gotcha, had to be careful.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But so the all those years we did it that way,
and then when COVID happened, you know, it all fell
apart and we were recording from our homes and that
was a whole new experience, like we're not sound to engineers. Yeah,
suddenly we're in our homes and the studio sent us
like a mic and a and a laptop and we're like,
(28:03):
okay now, but you know, we never missed an air date. Wow,
it happens full time. And now it's kind of a hybrid,
like words together as much as we possibly can be,
but we also know if somebody needs to travel or
Clancey's off doing you know, his big, big movie star
(28:24):
things that uh that we can still work remotely, but
together we can see people like the Brady Bunch, we
see people you know on the screen.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I was gonna ask if it's like, if it's like
you do to resume, so you're still like interacting with each.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Other whenever possible. We still all want to see each other.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I love it, and I think that's why the performance
is like so fun and it feels like friends hanging
out because you hear sometimes like people just record their
lines separately, like alone, they just read the sides and
then wait.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
But then there's no magic.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, exactly, And you can hear that.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Right because if so nobody has an idea and they
and they want to change something to be you know,
even more humorous, then we can pick it up like
everybody can play together.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
In those the early pre COVID when you would all
be in there in the same room, was there This
is probably a very naive question, so forgive me. But
in Missus doubt Fire, I think he's like I think
he's a voiceover. Rob Willims is like a voiceover artist,
and they're like there's a part in the beginning of
the movie where they have like it's like a tweety
(29:32):
bird character or something like that, and they have like
they're projecting the cartoon on a screen for him, and
I remember thinking like, ohka, there's no way he's like
sinking the voice his voice to that. But maybe for
inspiration or something. Do they ever like show the cartoon
in the studios? It just yeah, yeah, what.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
They're talking about. They're two different things. Okay. So we
do what's called an original record, so we lay down
all the sound and then the animators animate to us.
Some shows are what's called dubbed. Some shows the animation
is done and then the actor does have to match
what's called the voice.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Flaps oh man.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
So on our show, it's a hybrid. So we record
everything they animate to us. But if anything needs to
change for a reason the sound wasn't quite what they wanted,
or they have to change the line for some reason,
then we have to go in and it's called adr
we have to replace it to the picture. So we
do do both.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Interesting. The cool craft of it is so fascinating to me.
So my sister Kimberly is an animator. She works at Pixar,
and she's a big fan of yours. I told her
I was interviewing you today. She got very excited.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Well, I'm a big fans already.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
She's on the other side of the of the process.
But she's like, you know, she tries her hand at
voice acting too. She's very good at it. But she
wanted me to ask, like, what, uh, what do you
practices do you do for taking care of your voice?
Like a drinking tea? Do you like use a humidifier?
Like do you have anything like that you use?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I don't. I'm so like a wing it in life person.
I think the biggest thing for me is is making
sure you're warmed up, which could be anything. It just
could be talking a lot at Starbucks or singing in
the car on the way to the record, right, making
sure that you're warmed up in some capacity, and never
(31:27):
catching a cold.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Oh yeah, so like if you do get if you
get a cold, you just have to postpone recording, right,
Like you have you ever like tried to just muscle
through it or oh yeah, well a.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Lot of times, a lot of times if they have
to get something out and they have to get it
recorded because the animators have to have it for timing. Yeah,
you record anyway, even if you sound terrible, because you
can come back and adr it later. Oh right, better
to to do that to your own performance than to
have someone else lay it in and then you're stuck
(32:02):
with their rhythm and there the way they do it.
But it is funny because actually we just recorded yesterday.
So it was Tom and mister Lawrence and I is
there another person? I think it was just the three
of us, and we were talking about how the weather
change in LA because it was like ninety degrees and
(32:23):
then see we were all like raining, like like you know, everybody,
have to take a break, clear your voice.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Come back, do you ever?
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Okay? So I imagine fans are constantly asking you, like
to do their voicemail or like things like that, or
like you coming up to you and be like, hey,
can you can you say this to my cousin? What's
the thing people ask you to like say the most
in the Sandy voice?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You know What's funny? They seem to really mostly like
her mad, which is so interesting to me because that's
my mom. Despite is her mad? But I don't know,
because it's always funny, Like dirty Dan, that's always funny,
you know. Now take the name of Dix's. I don't know. Yeah,
when she's when she's feisty, people seem to like when
(33:13):
she's feisty spirited.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Perhaps feisty Sandy is a lot of fun. I'm one
of those people. I enjoyed that so much. For anyone
who out there who is looking to get into voice acting,
what advice do you have for them?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
You know, it's so hard because I was at a
drive through not too long ago and the and the
guy at the drive through had the most beautiful sound
and I was like, dude, and he asked me about that,
and honestly, it's so hard now, yeah, because when I started,
(33:49):
the industry was completely different and now I really I
really don't know. I mean, to me, performing is performing, yeah,
So be a performer. Go be a performer, and all
those things you can do in different mediums like a
theater actor can certainly still do voice work and a
(34:12):
voice work, you know, a voiceover can do live action,
and I think it's just working on your craft. I
would say, if you love it, a great place to
start is just performing like community theater.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I love it. That's fantastic advice and I think that
also will you know that'll open your mind to all
these different ways of expressing your creativity and things like that.
That's well, that is great advice. This is a question
I wanted to ask people like you that have had
this iconic role. This this like role is so heavy
(34:45):
in people's minds for such a long time. I know
it's hard, but like, is there an experience or a
memory that stands, like when you look back at all
the years of being Sandy Cheeks and like everything you've
gotten to do, is there something that kind of rises
to the top of like, oh my god, I can't
believe that, we can't believe this happened, or like anything
like that.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Well, being at the super Bowl was mind blowing. I
never thought that. Sure, on a very basic, simple level,
it sounds so dorky, but it's true. Like anytime I
get a hug from a kid because they love the
character so much, that just makes me want to sob profusely.
(35:25):
I'm so grateful.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
I'm a I mean, I'm cheered up listening to that.
That's I mean, what a special role to play in.
How many generations of kids now have grown up with
Sandy and like and also the fact that she's she's
a squirrel, but she's still she's a strong woman in science.
I think she's such a great role model for kids.
And also she's so funny and and just a good friend.
(35:51):
I don't know, it's just such a special role to
have in entertainment and for children.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, especially as a woman, it means a lot, and
it is. It is shocking to me still, Steve Hillenberg
created characters that are so deep on so many levels.
And I love that he saw a woman. Well partially
it's because his wife is amazing, but that that he
would he would create a character as well rounded as
(36:17):
her in animation because a lot of times the girls
aren't right. I mean, we have the superhero girls, but
I mean generally you know, and uh, And it's it
has been an honor to play her, and I think
it's especially meaningful that little girls do get to see
someone who can do everything. Like you said, she's a
(36:38):
loyal friend, she's super smart, she's athletic, she's funny, like
she's she's awesome. I wish I was her.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I don't know, just saying this because I'm on the
call with you, but like when I first saw SpongeBob,
I'm Sandy was the most compelling character to me because
I was like, oh my god, Like the other characters
are like, you know, it's it's a starfish. It's like
it's like things under the like she has a she
has a you know, a diving out like she is
from dry land and she came down right. But I
(37:09):
just thought that. I was like, this is such an
interesting character. I want to know more about her. I
don't know. We love Sandy, Sandy is better than SpongeBob,
but she'd be called the Sandy Cheeks show someday.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Maybe maybe she'll get a spit off. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
That was something else is gonna ask, would you if
there was like the Sandy Cheeks movie or something like that,
would you be interested in doing something like that?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
We did.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
We did Saving Bikini Bottom.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
That's right, Yes, the posters behind.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
You, but but it's Saving Bikini Bottom. The Sandy Cheeks movie.
It says it in small print right underneath. It couldn't
be called the Sandy Cheeks movie.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Oh it could, it could.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Thank you, But.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Paramount Plus is desperate for content. I could there should
be a Sandy Cheeks series right right.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I would love to see something I'd love to see
her do something. But more than that, I actually would
love something that you know, we have a little Uh.
There was an episode where they had the gal Pals
what they named the female characters that were all hanging
out suddenly and they called us the gal Pals, And
then the Galpals were in the new Plankton movie that's
also on Netflix. And uh, I would like to see
(38:20):
personally women supporting women. I'd like to see a gal
Pals spin off. Yes, yes, as much as I mean
it would be amazing to have a Sandy Cheeks one.
Obviously for me, it would be more fun to have
all the girls.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I love it. Carolyn Lawrence is with us, the voice
of Sandy Cheeks. It's the I Smell pop Culture podcast
where you're going to take a really quick break and
then we'll be right back, So stick around, everybody. It's
the Ice Smell Pop Culture Podcast. This is Easton Allen
(38:55):
hanging out with Carolyn Lawrence, the voice of Sandy Cheeks
on SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in a pineapple under the sea.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
So, I was delighted to hear that you're a Gilmore
Girls fan. You've watched the show and you have daughters,
How what's something you love to do with your daughters?
Because you know, Gilmore Girls is so much about the
relationship to mothers and daughters. Is there something like special
that you guys like to do altogether?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Well, when they were young, younger, I had. I used
to have fun family Fridays, which is when we would
all pile in the bed and watch movies or TV
shows together. I love it so that that was my
favorite thing. Now I've got like a teenager and the
other one and now it's different, right, she won't pile
(39:43):
in and like, But yeah, I think I think family
entertainment time was big, like watching things together, playing board
games together. But we are we are a TV movie family.
That's that's big for us.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Do you have a favorite, like one that's like and
then number one or top five spot or something like that.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I think it changed depending on what age everybody was.
There was a while where we watched The Book of
Life over and over and over and over and my
dog just had to bark and interrupt us. So that
movie I think is amazing on a million levels. It's beautiful.
Oh yeah, it's the storyline is phenomenal. I like the
(40:32):
the culture, and I thought I had such great messages
in it for kids. So I thought that movie should
have done way way way. I thought it was poorly publicized.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
But whatever, I completely agree with all my opinions.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
I'm a big I'm so sappy. I love when Christmas comes.
I love when the holiday comes and I can watch
all the like great but terrible movies.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yes, yes, like like anything. I'm all Mark.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yes, I don't even names of them, like Christmas in Denmark,
I don't know, like whatever they are. I love them all.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Yeah, it's all yeah, Christmas and Louisiana, Christmas in Montana.
They're all great, and they all the same storyline and
they're all fan you know, it's a great time.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Oh my gosh. That's so funny because my youngest, because
we watch so much stuff, she starts to know like
the A story, the B story. She's nine, but she'll
she'll already know, like she'll say, oh, I know what's
gonna happen, and she'll like tell me like, well, this
character's gonna meet that character, and then that character's gonna
fall in love with this character, and then they're gonna
(41:45):
have a big problem and then it's all gonna end
up great.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I'm like, yeah, that's impressive that she can recognize narrative
structure at that level. That's awesome. So if you could
visit stars Hallow, Like if you could be transported to
the fictional town, I know you could you live in
La right, Like you could just go to Bourbank and
(42:07):
go to the lot, But if you could go to
the fictional version of it in the universe. What is
there a place you'd like to go? Is there like
a would you like to take go to Luke's Diner?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
You want to hang out at Luke's?
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah, hang out at Luke's. And I want to observe Kirk, Yes,
And I.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Want to be best friends with Lurlai. I mean a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I mean nothing's better than that. What is it about
Gilmore Girls that stands out to you? Like, like what what?
What connection did you have with that show?
Speaker 2 (42:37):
You know? I think, like you said earlier, I really
think it's a lot like SpongeBob. I think I connect
to it because everybody I think anyway likes that idea
of small town, like likes that idea of a community
and the connectedness and and like there's something so deeply
intriguing about.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
That, right, Yeah, absolutely, I think our.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
World is a bit fractured and we really miss having
those connections. I was a neighbor where we actually all
know each other.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
That's incredible, that's rare.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
And everybody always says to me, what's with your neighborhood.
I'm like, I don't know, but it's so good, right,
Like I actually know people here, and I know in
big cities usually you don't. So I think part of
Gilmore Girls is interesting. And I also think Gilmore Girls
is so incredibly well written that we can all relate
to the various characters because they kind of remind us
(43:34):
of people in our own lives.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Yes, absolutely, do you think like that. The thing with
Gilmore Girls is they they always saying, like, talk faster.
They are the fast talking. It's such a signature of
the show, which if Sandy Cheeks had to be in
Gilmore Girls, would you be able to do, like to
rattle off that dialogue that fast in the voice.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
If if we were just talking about like I could
read it like I do want a record? Yes, if
I was having to film it live New.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yes, thank you, Oh my god, You're just the absolute best.
Carolyn Lawrence. So SpongeBob in its fifteenth season right now,
what else can fans look forward to? I mean, like
your recording episode you said you recorded yesterday as we
as we do this podcast, anything else on the way
(44:31):
that fans can look forward to in the world of SpongeBob.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
We have a movie coming out at theaters next year.
I don't know what it's called. It's secret, but yes,
it will be at the theaters next year. We have
two video games coming out which are also still under wraps,
and I don't have a title for you, but I
know they're coming.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
The crazy thing I would say to fans is much
like the Super Bowl situation, things keep coming. Like we
keep thinking, okay, so this is our right, this is
the pinnacle, this is probably what this looks like. And
then there's a new thing. So I know there's new things.
I just have no forgure what they'll even be. And
(45:12):
I'm excited. It's exciting to see because it seems like
we just keep growing. It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
It's it's true. I mean, the fandom just gets bigger
and bigger. You're making new fans, the old ones are
sticking around. It's it's really remarkable. Uh and and I mean,
my god, the memes. The memes are so great for
SpongeBob and they just never ending in always finding new versions.
Uh So, there's so much to look forward to. There's
so much to look back on. Thank you so much
(45:39):
for sharing your voice and bringing this character to life.
It's just so special for so many of us out there.
And I just wanted to thank you for your art, like,
thank you for making this goodness Easton.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been it's
been really fun. I could talk to you forever. We
could talk for like five more hours. Y.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yes, seriously, you're the absolute best. This is the I
Small pop culture podcast. Thank you so much, Carolyn, Thank
Speaker 2 (46:01):
You, hey everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram
(46:33):
at I Am all In podcast and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
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