Tom Kenny was born and raised in East Syracuse, graduating from Bishop Grimes High School in 1980. While in high school, he and classmate Bob Goldthwait formed a comedy troupe under the aliases Tomcat and Bobcat. Their Generic Comics act grew popular throughout the area, helping both to establish a name for themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenny soon transitioned into music at the urging of Gary Frenay of The Flashcubes, joining the Syracuse power pop band The Tearjerkers, replacing frontman Mark “Buddy Love” Roberts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moves to Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles followed, where Tom pursued stand-up comedy, acting, and writing, racking up appearances on such shows as \u201cLate Night\u201d (with both David Letterman and Conan O\u2019Brien), \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!,\u201d \u201cThe Drew Carey Show,\u201d \u201cJust Shoot Me,\u201d a stint as a staff writer on the ABC TV series \u201cAmerica\u2019s Funniest People,\u201c and as a regular cast member (with wife Jill Talley) of the critically acclaimed Emmy-nominated HBO series \u201cMr. Show with Bob and David\u201d starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He played the evil Binky the Clown in the cult movie classic \u201cShakes the Clown\u201d, (written, directed, and starring Goldthwait).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since breaking into animation as Heffer in the early ’90s Nicktoon\u00a0 \u201cRocko\u2019s Modern Life,\u201d\u00a0Tom has become one of the busiest voice actors in the business, with hundreds of voiceover credits in animation, commercials, and video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His malleable voice can be heard in everything from\u00a0 \u201cPowerpuff Girls,\u201d \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,\u201c and \u201cAdventure Time\u201d to \u201cTransformers,\u201c \u201cUltimate Spider-Man,\u201d and \u201cRick and Morty.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenny is probably most well known as the voice of the incurably optimistic sea sponge SpongeBob SquarePants, voicing dozens of additional characters while also serving as the show\u2019s Voice Director. \u201cSpongeBob SquarePants\u201d has been in continuous production since 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a songwriting team, Tom and Andy Paley have written songs for many animated series from Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their songs written for SpongeBob include \u201cDon\u2019t Be A Jerk, It\u2019s Christmas\u201d\u00a0 (The title track from \u201cIt\u2019s a SpongeBob Christmas!\u201c), and the iconic \u201cBest Day Ever,\u201d\u00a0(featured in the Tony-nominated score of the stage hit \u201cSpongeBob the Broadway Musical\u201d.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n