Podcast Hosts Frankie Grande & Hector Navarro Talk All Things SpongeBob SquarePants

What's up, young ho What's up, young ho It's good to see you. It's been a minute. We talked like a while ago, but and then heck for this our first time meeting. Yeah, I know. It's good to see you again. Nice to meet you. I love you guys look so good. All the time. You look gorgeous. I'm love the blonde. Oh, it was blunt. I didn't know you had the blonde. Yes I did. No, it's just really good right now. Looks great. The blonde looks great. I just went I just got went blonder myself. That it looks really good. Thank you. It looks really good. I was just fishing for a compliment. It's no. Yeah, it's great. I just wanted you to talk about. Any day, any time. Oh, SpongeBob, Binge Pants is coming out with a podcast. Yes. How is it entering the podcast space? Like, how do you how did you feel listening to yourself talking? Both of you.

I I mean, I don't know that's an interesting question. I think I've come to terms with the sound of my own voice like I mean what was it maybe about like 10 years ago? But like I do remember it being very jarring the first time that I heard myself speak. I think I had to like around Big Brother time because I rewatched a lot of those clips and I was like, that's what I sound like. Um but now I feel like I have like an iconic recognizable voice that I'm that I'm very proud of. But yeah, I remember that's a great question cuz the first time I felt really weird.

And you've been doing podcasts for a long time. I have. I love the sound of my own voice. Uh I think it's great. I love to hear myself talk. And I'm super humble. So this worked out.

You're You're you're humble. Yeah. That you looked really good. Thank you.

you're humble And that I was born for podcasts. So there you go.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So you deep dive, you watch all of the SpongeBob episodes back through. What was that like for you guys to rewatch all these episodes?

I mean, we we are currently doing it right now is what's crazy. And and the other crazy thing is too that the first season has so many episodes and currently, at the time of this recording, we've watched like four of them. Yeah. And we have gotten so much to talk about with just those four and we've interviewed people that have worked on the show and voice actors on the show and gotten their sort of whole 20-plus year story cuz a lot of those same people are still working on the shows today. So like it's we're looking at those early episodes. We've only watched four so far. The next one, maybe my favorite episode by the way, pizza delivery. Oh, this one is so good. It's so good. So it's like

Which is so good. I love pizza delivery.

Every week, Frankie and I get together and we have so much to talk about even with just a 20-minute chunk of SpongeBob. We're like, we can talk for an hour. We can talk for two hours. Yes. And then on top of that, they're telling us like, oh, and by the way, guys, you get to interview this person. Yeah. Who worked on the this person who who painted the backgrounds or who animated the characters or the director. Or the voice of Sandy or the voice of Plankton like we've been we've been like as both SpongeBob super fans like we have been geeking out and you know, really enjoying our time talking together and also just about this amazing project project that keeps delivering Yeah. more gems to discuss. It's great.

I I'm really excited for everybody to hear the podcast cuz I feel like people don't necessarily understand um the depth of like the the conversations that can be had around this topic and when they when they want listen to it, they're going to be like, whoa. Yeah. I didn't even know. It's super entertaining too. We are having a blast. We're funny. So please listen to it. We're very funny. cuz we're also funny. Yeah, uh-huh.

Did you ever think that SpongeBob would take up this much of your life? Like in a good way?

No. I never did.

I mean I did.

You did?

I did. Like only only because I mean, you know, we talked about this before, you were watching SpongeBob when you were a kid, I was watching SpongeBob when I was a kid. We had different paths and you went on to become this amazing performer and actor.

Oh stop.

And then Frankie studied Marine biology. I'm going to keep bragging about this. Yeah. He has a degree in Marine Biology, Jolee. Man ray. He has a Man ray on his legs. So Frankie was inspired by the show and took it with him in his way and then I ended up going to college and I studied animation and I was even when I was in college, I was even an intern at Nickelodeon for a few years so I got to come to this building and like meet some of the people that were working on the shows. So in a way, in my life dream, I had always thought, I just love animation so much. I think I'm going to be around it. Cut to, I ended up being in a a podcast host, uh hosting a podcast for Nickelodeon and then years later getting to meet Frankie and then, you know, going on this journey. So I mean, plus you've always carried him around in your heart, SpongeBob. He was never he never left Frankie.

No, that's the thing. Like I've always known that I was SpongeBob Square Pants, but I didn't know that it would be a part of my career. However, the millionth of a second that they asked if I would be even remotely interested. I was like, yes. This is what I was born to do. So like, did I know? No. Was I surprised? No.

In the situation, who would be out of you two, who would be Patrick and who would be SpongeBob?

This is easy. This is easy peasy. Let me do this to make it easier. Uh, I would be Patrick. And that's what he's for. You know, I'm I'm I'm I'm loveably I think a little chubbier than Frankie. Frankie is uh got a rocking bod and he is he is also SpongeBob personified as a human being. I I agree. He has the joy. He has the inspiration. He has the imagination. Yeah. I mean, this is SpongeBob to a T. And I have so much fun uh getting to getting to play and getting to actually be the best friend for Frankie whenever we record this episode. So yeah, I love it.

I was going to say the same thing. Like there is like there is an argument to be said that there is no SpongeBob without Patrick. And I feel very much like that. Like we balance each other off, we play with each other, like we bounce each other's uh thoughts and ideas like back and forth so quickly on this podcast. And um I I really do think that like it's the combination of the two of us that make this show so great. So great.

Exactly. That's what I was yeah. We're finishing each other's sentences.

I'm ready. I'm ready. You can literally even tell just the way that you guys interact here versus like the podcast like wait till people hear it. Like you just click like it there wouldn't be two better people to do this podcast. Like at all. Like I'm I'm not even trying to boost you up cuz I'm interviewing you. But like low key like it's like how I feel. So.

Oh, you're so sweet. And we agree. I can't wait for the world to be on the same page as you. Again, we're humble. Very humble. Yeah. humility coming from us, but as they say in French, humble. I don't think that's it. Humble.

Do you have any certain like rituals for warm-up? Like do you go into the podcast with like, do you prep? Like how how is the process of the podcast work for you guys?

Well, the the fun thing is we watch the episodes on our own at home. Yeah. And so we have notes, we have kind of a shared little notes thing, but like I like the surprise of we still come to the podcast not knowing exactly what we're going to talk like what's, you know? And then and then again, Frankie's dropping these like marine biology knowledge bombs. No idea. You know, where he's like, oh, by the way, did you know that this is uh how a lobster's biology works? And I'm like, that's just like the show. So that's that's our prep I think.

Yeah, I mean like I've kind of learned in my career as a host that the more I prep, the the worse not even the worse, the more even if I prep like for like days and days and days, I still give the exact same performance when I'm hosting. So I've learned to just prep less and less and less and less because it's still going to be exactly as good as it was going to be even if I spent like days researching things. So I'm much more of an off the cuff kind of host. Um and so that also makes it fun for us cuz I don't know what he's going to say. He doesn't know what I'm going to say and it becomes a really natural and organic conversation or rather like bullet point, bullet point, bullet point. It's real. Even our interviews are like that. Even when we talk to somebody, we have an idea of what we want to ask them. We have questions and stuff, but it's like sometimes a conversation leads a certain way and and we find these great little gems like, what? What did you do? My prep consists of me like running around my house, trying to get ready and like booting my computer up at like 11:59. We start recording at 12.

And literally I sit down and I'm like, hey guys, I've been I oh, I've just been waiting for you to show up. But it is pandemonium in my house. Things are flying. I'm putting on makeup as I'm like turning on my computer and like literally 12:00, I'm like, hi, I'm so ready. I'm so great. Thank you, uh Carolyn Lawrence. We've been waiting for you. Thank you. No, I'm not true. I'm a disaster until literally 12:00. And no one will know. Like that's a that's the best thing about it. No one knows. No one. I just let the secret out right now. Yeah. The producers are like, really? I'm like, yes, I'm a disaster until I turn that. And that's so cool because we're recording from our own homes. So we do have that freedom of like we don't have to be there, you know, like two hours or like the way you prep to do this normally in a studio. This is the first time I've worn pants all while recording SpongeBob Bingepants. In like a year and a half. Usually just pajamas. Yeah, so it's kind of fun. It's really fun. I'm glad we're in the same room though together. Yeah. This is great. This is really fun.

This is great. I know. Like when's the last time you were to actually together in person?

Oh, well, we we had lunch. We got lunch, which was awesome. We still but we still recorded a bunch of episodes and then that in person person, you know, we went through the whole audition process uh through the internet and then recording the episodes through the internet. And get to meet your cute little dog.

You did. My Aapa. a little Aapa. Named after another Nickelodeon cartoon.

Frankie's the perfect person to host this podcast, you guys. Yes. Our sister show, Avatar The Last Airbender. That's when I named my dog after. Yeah.

Are you guys so are you constantly texting when you're not together or do you like are you how do you communicate usually?

I text Frankie anytime I find a SpongeBob meme or like a news story. Like like a few weeks ago, there was a story where they were like, this diver off the coast of whatever found an underwater sponge right next to a starfish. Yeah. And it was like somebody colored it yellow and pink and I'm like, I got to send this to Frankie. So we're just be sharing just like I think everybody does, they just share SpongeBob memes with their friends. SpongeBob related content. That's what we text back and forth all the time. And some of it even makes it into the show. because they're good stuff that we've got. Yeah, yeah, like we got to talk about this on the show. You get great.

Yeah. I I like to respond with heart and thumb up a lot and exclamation point. I use yellow heart all the time. Yeah, yellow heart all the time. You love it.

So, other than congratulations, guys. I can't wait for literally the world to find out that you guys are literally perfect together. So that's good and Oh Yay. I am so excited. See you again, Frankie. We're going to have to text.