People can tell you anything they want, but this is how Spongebob actually started.
The man that would eventually come up with the idea for Spongebob had a history for DUI. He had been in court many times before, with his mother always having to bail him outt, but this time court would not be needed. After a night of drinking at a bar, he decided to drive off and go home. He went alone and had no designated driver. He stumbled and tripped as he walked to his car.
He drove about two miles before getting into a serious car accident. His car spun off road, and hit a nearby tree. He was immediately rushed to the hospital by helicopter. He miraculously survived the crash with a price.
In the crash, he had sustained a very bad head injury. His brain would not work properly for the rest of his life. The doctors decided it would be best if he was put in a coma.
In the coma, the man began to have extremely messed, and disturbed dreams. In his dreams he was a talking underwater sponge (Oddly named "Spongebob Squarepants"), who had no control over himself, or his actions. He had weird friendships with a continuously senseless star fish, and an angered, paranoid squid.
As his dreams progressed his thoughts began to become so peculiar that even after he woke up from his coma he could still not understand them. He would dream about doing odd things like blowing bubbles, or using a butterfly net to catch jelly fish. A dare deviled squirrel named Sandy was also created in his dreams. She would roam around ranting about Texas, and try to get Spongebob to do certain dangerous things.
Spongebob thought of other sea creatures too; A cheap crab whose sole desire was money, a plankton whose sole purpose was to get a secret formula, a buff lobster who surfboarded, and an abundance of other creatures that would later be known in the show “fillers”.
After Spongebob woke up from his coma, he did not come out the same. He told his mom, and any other of his friends that he came across in the hospital. One of his friends, was any agent who coincidentally worked for Nickelodeon. After telling this idea to his supervisor, and after adding several new aspects to the idea, a new animated series would be coming out. All names and characters were products of his imangination. Clothes were added later as he originally dreamed all characters naked.
Even though most of the success for Nickelodeon in the new millenium was from Spongebob, the man could never really appreciate any of that success. His dreams still haunted him to the point of him commiting sucide. But without his sacrifice, the world would have missed out on one of the most successful animated TV shows of all time.