The magnitude of being able to make my Broadway debut as SpongeBob in 'SpongeBob SquarePants' really only started to hit me when we took it out of town.

Ethan Slater

Categorized in : Me Being Only Make

Yellow's never been a good color for me, but it's actually grown on me. I like it more than I used to!

good me color yellow

I start with a pretty yoga-based warm-up. I do jumping jacks and burpees, and I do a lot of dynamic stretching.

pretty start stretching jumping

I think I'm a little less naive than SpongeBob can sometimes seem to be.

i-think think naive sometimes

The process of finding my voice as SpongeBob was to start by watching what Tom Kenny did, trying to do an impression of sorts, and then forgetting all about it and letting the voice become a second-nature thing.

start voice process trying

The whole cast and creative team were definitely aware of the 'This is the death of Broadway!' kind of thing about 'SpongeBob,' but we've been really ready to change people's minds. I'm really proud of being part of something that took the most creative route to a commercial entity.

team change death people

To be honest, it was a little bit of a surprise to me that my Broadway debut was a musical.

little me honest surprise

I love Broadway musicals, but there's a lot that I want to do.

i-love broadway want love

Wrestling is a small, intimate sport.

sport small intimate wrestling

I've always been somebody who sort of throws himself, you could say, obsessively into whatever thing I'm passionate about.

whatever say you always

When the show starts, I am in my SpongeBob stance, and I walk like SpongeBob, and the first step that I take, I am SpongeBob.

first-step i-am walk step

I was a wrestler in high school, and that was a pretty big part of my life.

my-life high-school life school

I've gotten to meet Sara Bareilles a couple of times. I'm just a such a massive fan of hers, from her albums to 'Waitress' to everything that she does. To be a fan of somebody and then find out that they have a good heart and are kind is really heartwarming.

meet good good-heart heart

I would say that SpongeBob, at his core, is this optimistic, loving best friend. Getting to play him every day has sort of rubbed off on me and improved my life.

best day me life

I would say I'm the normal level of 'SpongeBob' fan, which is that it's been out since I was a kid, and it's part of the zeitgeist.

out say kid normal

I've always loved the Marx brothers and Charlie Chaplin.

charlie-chaplin brothers loved always

Physical comedy and musical theatre were never actually in my main focus at school. I was more of a dramatic actor. I always thought I was better at that.

better comedy focus school

I know that my father was a little nervous about me pursuing a career in the arts.

career know me father

The sort of stereotypical wrestling practice is that you're doing burpees, and the coach is yelling at you to keep going, and you feel like you're going to collapse, but you somehow make it through to the end.

feel you keep-going practice

You're always nervous about what critics say - about what anybody has to say, really.

say you always nervous

I look a lot like my mom. I'm the only one of my siblings with red hair, and she had bright red hair. I always have felt incredibly connected to her.

look red mom hair