Paul Harrison Tibbitt IV (born May 13, 1968; age 56) is a former SpongeBob SquarePants crew member. He was a writer for many of the show's earliest and most influential episodes, including "Chocolate with Nuts," "Frankendoodle," "Idiot Box," "Krab Borg," "Culture Shock," and "Rock Bottom." He also played other roles on the show, such as composing the song "Electric Zoo" and voicing DoodleBob.
Stephen Hillenburg appointed Tibbitt to take over the position of showrunner after the first movie, when Hillenburg resigned as showrunner.[1] Tibbitt also took over as the voice of Hillenburg's character Potty the Parrot in seasons 5 to 8.
- Hillenburg: "I selected Paul [Tibbitt] to produce. I totally trusted him. I always enjoyed the way he captured the SpongeBob character's sense of humor."[2]
After the second movie, he was credited as executive producer for the remainder of season 9. He was replaced as showrunner by both Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli in 2015, starting with "Lost in Bikini Bottom."[3]
It was said in August 2015 that Tibbitt was working on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,[4] but since then his role as the director and writer was taken over by former SpongeBob writer and developer Tim Hill, and he left to work for The Mighty Ones at DreamWorks Animation Television.[5][6]
Paul Tibitt briefly returned on the franchise, nine years after his departure, to voice DoodleBob in DoodleBob Recreates Scenes from SpongeBob Episodes!, in occasion of the show 25th anniversary.[7]
Trivia
- In the original airing of "Ripped Pants," his name is misspelled as "Paul Tibibitt" with an extra I in his surname when credited as storyboard director in the opening credits. However, his name is spelled correctly when later credited as a writer. This error also happens with Mark O'Hare whose name is misspelled as "Mark O'hare" with a lowercase 'h'. These errors were corrected on later American reruns,[8][9] international non-US airings, the Amazon Prime Video version (except for From the Beginning, Part 1, SpongeBob SquarePants, iSponge Offer Pack, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, and the Paramount+ version), the Splash from the Past! release, the VideoNow versions, most VHS tape releases except for Nautical Nonsense and Undersea Antics Volume 1, and most DVD releases.
- In the opening credits for "My Pretty Seahorse," his name is misspelled with the final 'T' removed. This mistake was fixed on the Halloween DVD release.
- He made sketch cards in the 2009 Topps SpongeBob set.
- Archival recordings of Paul Tibbitt's DoodleBob voice were used in "Doodle Dimension." Tibbitt himself was not called back to provide the voice again.[10]
Roles
Gallery
Artwork by Tibbitt
References
- ^ "Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants"
- ^ The Washington Post
- ^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/655876849864675328
- ^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/629656529549918208
- ^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/1154905519804432384
- ^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/1035705407837097984
- ^ https://twitter.com/paultibbitt/status/1825988013941305803
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxzNY3dj3GE&t=25s
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOjlR8_2pwE&t=3s
- ^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/843538768023838720