SpongeBob SquarePants is a long-running animated television series created by Stephen Hillenburg that premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999, following SpongeBob and his friends in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom. Its exaggerated voices, cartoon sound design and quotable humour have made it a lasting source of reaction clips and memes online, with short sounds reused across TikTok, YouTube and gaming videos. Because the show is so widely recognised, even a brief SpongeBob clip can signal silliness and surprise to viewers who grew up watching it.