The sound comes from SpongeBob SquarePants, the animated cartoon that began in 1999 and turned SpongeBob's exaggerated expressions and noises into a huge library of reaction clips. Short vocal outbursts from the show travel well on soundboards because they need no setup and work even when the listener cannot see the scene. This groan sits alongside other cartoon reaction noises like the Goofy Yell and a generic shocked sound, and it stays popular because one stretched augh can signal frustration, disgust or disbelief in almost any edit.