15 Best SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes, Ranked

On May 1, 1999, Nickelodeon debuted a new cartoon featuring a bunch of anthropomorphic sea critters called “SpongeBob SquarePants.” With bright colors, an amusing protagonist in the form of the titular sponge, and ample absurdist humor, the show became a big hit. Honestly, it’s the biggest hit the network has ever seen, still going strong 25 years later with numerous movies and spin-offs under its belt. SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) is known the world over and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. 

It really deserves to be said how influential and hilarious those early seasons are. Much like “The Simpsons” before it, which had plenty of terrible storylines later on in its run, “SpongeBob SquarePants” may not exist at the creative glory it once retained. But the fact the show’s responsible for so many classic jokes that would later turn into memes is something that can never be taken away from it. So let’s celebrate the cultural institution by ranking the best “SpongeBob” episodes of all time. And perhaps it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the latest one comes in at season 3.

“Rugrats,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” and “Arthur” have all done episodes where the kid-friendly characters learn a not-so-kid-friendly word. It’s a common plot naturally designed to teach kids that some words shouldn’t be said, but arguably, no show did it better than “SpongeBob” in “Sailor Mouth.” SpongeBob learns a new word scribbled on a dumpster, that’s appropriately bleeped out with dolphin cries. While he and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) have a blast saying it at any given opportunity, Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) lets them know that it’s a bad word they shouldn’t say. 

When it comes to kids’ shows, there’s a real talent required to make something entertaining for children and adults. No doubt plenty of parents got a kick out of hearing SpongeBob swear while fielding questions from their kids about what exactly SpongeBob was saying. The naughty words are said so often it’s pretty easy to figure out which they’re saying, and reportedly, there’s a mythical uncensored cut where Tom Kenny was actually swearing. No doubt Nickelodeon will keep it in a vault until the heat death of the universe, but one can dream. 

By season 3, “SpongeBob SquarePants” was beginning to break out of its normal routine and offering truly off-the-wall episodes. “Krusty Krab Training Video” offers amazing jokes in the format of an instructional video to show what it takes to be a great employee like SpongeBob. Again, it’s a superb blend of humor aimed toward kids and adults alike. Children will surely love the “P.O.O.P.” acronym while adults will catch onto the slyer asides, like how Mr. Krabs bought a bankrupt retirement home to transform into the Krusty Krab. 

While meta-humor can be a tricky balancing act, “SpongeBob” does it surprisingly well here. It’s a hallmark of the best “Community” episodes, and “SpongeBob” threads the needle with jokes about how Patrick can hear the narrator. For many, it’s probably their first instance of a TV show breaking the fourth wall. It’s not just mindless entertainment; it’s helping kids understand more sophisticated methods of storytelling, and that’s worth celebrating. 

The 1966 “Batman” series was pure joy, and “Spongebob SquarePants” paid homage to it with Mermaid Man (Ernest Borgnine) and Barnacle Boy (Tim Conway). The pair (along with their rogues gallery) became recurring characters, but the peak of their storylines came in “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III.” In this installment, SpongeBob and Patrick are tasked with watching the Merma-Lair where they accidentally free their archnemesis Man Ray (Bob Joles). SpongeBob and Patrick then try to rehabilitate Man Ray, leading to one of the all-time greatest bits on the series. 

Man Ray politely tries to give Patrick his wallet back to prove he’s nice now, but Patrick continually insists it’s not his wallet. It has the same cadence and rhythm as an Abbott and Costello bit, with Man Ray getting more and more frustrated. The callback later when Patrick carries a heavy box filled with his wallets is just the icing on the cake. 

Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) doesn’t think too highly of SpongeBob, which makes “Dying for Pie” such a breath of fresh air (or water if you will). After letting SpongeBob down on Employee Brotherhood Day, Squidward gets him a pie that was made in a factory. A bomb factory. It’s a bomb. After believing SpongeBob ate the pie, Squidward does everything SpongeBob tells him for the rest of the day to make his final day special until the explosive finale. 

It’s a great reversal to see Squidward genuinely try to be nice to SpongeBob. The first half of the episode sets up the bizarre premise exceptionally well while the second half just gets to go wild seeing Squidward put up with everything SpongeBob would want to do on a perfect day, which includes wearing a salmon suit and being on the receiving end of open heart surgery. Does the plot fall apart if you think about it for two seconds? Sure, but that’s not why we watch “SpongeBob SquarePants.” 

TV pilots are hard to get right. The “Seinfeld” pilot was hated by test audiences, and “Game of Thrones” infamously had to make some major changes from its unaired pilot to what ultimately landed on TV. Then you have the very first installment of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” which makes the whole thing look effortless.

SpongeBob wakes up ready to apply for a job at the Krusty Krab, and while Squidward and Mr. Krabs don’t want to hire him at first, he more than proves his mettle by being the best darn fry cook around to feed hundreds of hungry anchovies. We instantly know who all the major players are and what their main characteristics are. Spongebob’s optimistic with a can-do attitude. Patrick’s a little dumb but goodhearted (although he’d later regress to be just dumb). Squidward’s a crank, while Mr. Krabs is greedy. It’s all there in eight minutes, allowing the rest of the show to do whatever it wants with that straightforward set-up. 

SpongeBob is one of those characters where everything usually works out pretty well for him. He’s a force of sheer positivity, so when he’s taken out of that element, it can lead to very memorable results like “Rock Bottom.” After getting on the wrong bus, SpongeBob winds up in Rock Bottom, which is a Kafka-esque nightmare. Any time SpongeBob tries to do something to get more information or get on a different bus, something upends his efforts. 

There are plenty of great jokes about the sheer absurdity of how SpongeBob just can’t catch a break, but the episode’s also memorable for being downright terrifying. The deep sea fish designs are horrific, and SpongeBob running for his life really makes an impact when you’re a kid seeing this happy-go-lucky character fear for his life. It’s a great showcase of having a simple idea and then exploring every possible avenue you can go down with it. 

“SpongeBob SquarePants” lends itself so well to memes for a couple of reasons. It leans into its cartoony nature to make characters super expressive, which make for great reaction memes, and it’s a hallmark show for millennials and Gen Z, who each have had their reign over what’s suitable for memes online. SpongeBob creating a rainbow over himself while emphasizing the word “Imagination” is a great meme from “The Idiot Box,” and honestly, it’s part of a fantastic episode overall. 

SpongeBob and Patrick just want to play in a box while Squidward wants to watch television, but he soon realizes the friends are having way more fun than him using their imaginations. Overlooking the irony of “SpongeBob SquarePants” trying to tell kids TV isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, it’ll never get old for Squidward to be a total stick in the mud only to realize maybe SpongeBob is right about certain things.

Beat for beat, “Wet Painters” is one of the funniest “SpongeBob” episodes around. SpongeBob and Patrick are hired to paint Mr. Krabs’ house with explicit instructions not to get paint on anything but the walls. The episode repeatedly misdirects and subverts expectations of what’s going to happen next, like a giant paint bubble forming in the middle of the room, but when it pops, it magically doesn’t get paint on anything it shouldn’t … except an incredibly tiny bit getting on Mr. Krabs’ first dollar. 

SpongeBob proceeds to mess up the dollar further, and the episode doesn’t miss a beat switching the game from SpongeBob carefully trying to paint to him figuring out a way to fix the dollar with the “permanent” paint. Honestly, one of the best jokes in the series’ run is in “Wet Painters” when Patrick suggests using technology to fix the dollar only to immediately take a computer and start hitting the dollar with it. Every joke here simply has impeccable timing and would feel right at home in the best sitcoms of all time. 

What happens when a joke goes way too far? If anyone would know, it’s SpongeBob even on a metatextual level. Seriously, the show’s been going on for over two decades and has run all of its beloved characters and gags into the ground. Perhaps “SpongeBob SquarePants” predicted its own diminishing returns early on in its run with “Ripped Pants.” 

When trying to impress Sandy (Carolyn Lawrence), SpongeBob accidentally rips his pants and realizes he can make others laugh with that. The only problem is that Bikini Bottom residents grow tired of SpongeBob’s gag, especially when he pretends to drown so that he can pull another “ripped pants” on them. Of course, what most folks probably remember from this episode is the musical number at the end where SpongeBob learns his lesson that it’s not always cool to be a fool, winning Sandy back to being his friend. Good jokes, an amazing song, and an important lesson for kids at the end? That’s what “SpongeBob SquarePants” should be all about. 

“Graveyard Shift” deserves a spot on this list for no other reason than it introduced a generation of kids to Count Orlok/Nosferatu. Once the Krusty Krab begins operating 24 hours a day, SpongeBob and Squidward get put on the night shift. It’s there where Squidward’s scary story goes awry as everything he talked about comes to fruition. It leads to a genuinely frightening climax when a mysterious figure gets off a bus, but it’s just a nerdy-looking fish wanting to apply for a job. The only loose end is the flickering lights, which turn out to be the work of the infamous vampire. It’s even funnier the longer you think about it because for some reason, they all know Nosferatu and realize this is a prank he pulls all the time. 

Nosferatu aside, the episode’s a masterclass in mixing elements of horror and comedy. Squidward’s story is pretty spooky, but SpongeBob’s ridiculous reactions don’t take any of the bite out of it. Then when Squidward’s story backfires on him, you genuinely feel the tension and terror creeping back up on you. All that and it got a bunch of kids to know about Count Orlok, with even Robert Eggers recognizing the impact in the lead-up to his 2024 “Nosferatu” remake. 

The best “SpongeBob” episodes often take a perfectly simple premise and amplify the ridiculousness to 11. That’s the case with “The Secret Box” where Patrick has a secret box, and SpongeBob wants to look inside. That’s it; that’s literally the episode. SpongeBob offers up some secrets of his own, but Patrick won’t budge, leading to SpongeBob breaking into his home to take a peek. 

Whereas a lot of episodes may have a simple set-up with relatively low stakes, “The Secret Box” wisely puts their friendship on the line. Patrick really doesn’t want SpongeBob looking inside, and it feels as though their friendship is on the line. The episode then expertly lands the ending with not one but two misdirects. At first, we’re led to believe that Patrick has a piece of string inside the box, much to SpongeBob’s amusement. But after SpongeBob’s gone, Patrick reveals it’s actually an embarrassing photo of SpongeBob from the Christmas party. We only wish we could’ve seen the photo for ourselves to see how exactly SpongeBob embarrassed himself. Maybe he ripped his pants again. Who knows?

When it wants to, “SpongeBob SquarePants” can hone in on some truly terrifying concepts. “Frankendoodle” sees the lovable sponge acquire a pencil where anything he draws comes to life. This leads to DoodleBob, who soon goes on a rampage against his creator. It’s a great high-concept storyline, especially as it leads to ample body horror between SpongeBob and DoodleBob erasing various parts of themselves. 

Even on his own, DoodleBob is a hilarious creation. His proportions are all off, and all he can spout is nonsense. He’s a creature of pure mayhem, and with a pencil where anything drawn comes to life, it feels like anything is possible, lending the episode an unpredictable nature. Every iconic character needs their own Bizarro version. Jerry Seinfeld has Kevin. Bart and Lisa Simpson have Lester and Eliza. It’s only appropriate SpongeBob gets a nemesis who’s him if he had even less impulse control. 

Plenty of episodes provide great showcases for the main cast of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” You’ll never be hard-pressed to find a great Squidward or Sandy episode. However, “Chocolate With Nuts” is amazing for how it emphasizes a bunch of random nobody characters, many of whom we had never seen before. 

SpongeBob and Patrick become entrepreneurs selling chocolate bars door to door, which leads to them encountering some truly odd characters. The first fish they meet begins randomly screaming, “Chocolate,” and then there’s the elderly woman who brings out her even older, more decrepit mother. Any time SpongeBob and Patrick ring the doorbell, you never know who’s going to be behind the door. 

And beneath all the absurdity, it has some surprising messages about consumerism, like how SpongeBob and Patrick realize they can just lie to people to get them to buy the bars. From a young age, it instills the lesson that entrepreneurs aren’t always to be trusted even though the duo eventually wins out in the end by selling every bar they have. It’s all a matter of finding the one person who’s absolutely addicted to your product. 

“SpongeBob SquarePants” had a very strong pilot, but it was with “Pizza Delivery” not long after that proved this show was something special. Mr. Krabs makes SpongeBob and Squidward deliver a pizza (even though that’s not something the Krusty Krab normally does), and the pair embark on their own odyssey, with SpongeBob insisting they can’t eat a bite because it’s for the customer. 

The episode flawlessly underscores the pair’s dynamic, as Squidward just wants to eat the pizza once they’re long gone from civilization. But SpongeBob, as a model employee, refuses, and while Squidward dismisses SpongeBob’s pioneer knowledge at first, it’s what saves them in the end. Then when the customer no longer wants the pizza, it’s Squidward who’s there for SpongeBob, showing that underneath his salty demeanor, he does have a soft spot for the yellow guy. 

“Pizza Delivery” cements the show’s place as a kids’ show classic, and looking back on it, it’s amazing how much the show knew what it was from the very start. There’s plenty of absurd humor, like SpongeBob driving a boulder, but there’s real heart underneath all the silliness. “Pizza Delivery” is “SpongeBob SquarePants” at its very finest because it represents the platonic ideals for all of the major players while delivering one great joke after another. 

“Band Geeks” isn’t just the best “SpongeBob” episode ever; it deserves to be in conversations for best TV episodes, period. Coming in the middle of the second season, “Band Geeks” pretty much brings everyone together as Squidward gets a gig hosting a band for the Bubble Bowl. The only problem is he doesn’t have a band, so he rounds up everyone to try to get them to be superstars. Much of “Band Geeks” is just a series of vignettes, but that’s not even a criticism because every beat lands, from Patrick asking if mayonnaise is an instrument to the flag twirlers launching themselves into a blimp. 

The jokes alone are enough to land “Band Geeks” on any “SpongeBob” best of list, but it all comes together in the finale. As a viewer, you’re probably ready for the band to stink sky-high performing in front of a bunch of humans for some reason. But then they launch into “Sweet Victory” and the rest is cartoon history. The epic song gives you goosebumps, and it’s filled with hilarious iconography. Above all else, it gives Squidward, who’s so often the butt of every joke, a moment of, well, sweet victory. 

I don’t know what else you could want in an episode of television. I’ve seen episodes of “Game of Thrones” and “Stranger Things” that didn’t fill me with the same thrill as watching SpongeBob sing “Don’t ever look back on the world closing in / Be on the attack with your wings on the wind.” It’s a perfect episode.