About

Careful Spongebob is a line said by Patrick Star in a 2002 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants as he's trying to open a can of paint. In the early 2020s, the scene was used in multiple reanimations and parodies on YouTube.

Origin

On May 10th, 2002, season three, episode 50a of SpongeBob SquarePants, titled "Wet Painters," premiered in the US^[1]. In the episode, Spongebob is trying to open a can of white paint using a screwdriver, while Patrick yells at him to open it carefully. On September 20th, 2015, YouTube^[2] user Priscila uploaded the clip to YouTube. The video received more than 410,000 views in seven years (shown below).

Spread

The scene began seeing use in YouTube parodies in the late 2020s. On December 12th, 2021, YouTube^[3] user quagmire toilet gaming uploaded a video referencing the scene, but in the end, SpongeBob yells at Patrick to "shut up." The video received more than 4.4 million views in one year (shown below).

The video kicked off scores of parodies on YouTube. For example on December 16th, 2021, YouTube^[4] user GavynLG uploaded an SFM edit using the scene as a reference. The video received more than 197,000 views in one year (shown below, left). On January 27th, 2022, YouTube^[5] user David Tamburro uploaded a similar SFM edit, receiving more than 92,000 views in one year (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References