The Sewer Boys from Dicks: The Musical are gay culture. That much is certain. But what are they? At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, A24’s social team let the boys walk the red carpet with their puppeteering rods out and everything. The Sewer Boys are a collaboration between the puppeteers, the film’s sound team, and a very special voiceover artist. “The voice of SpongeBob Squarepants was the voice of the Sewer Boys,” said Brent Kiser, sound supervisor for Dicks: The Musical, at the film’s Los Angeles premiere on September 18. Tom Kenny has voiced Spongebob since the character’s first cartoon in 1999. He also was an integral part of Mr. Show With Bob and David. Sewer Boy is probably only in the top 20 weirdest characters he’s played over the years. A jonesing mad professor in the “Altered State of Drugachusetts” comes to mind. Also Abe Lincoln, but talkin’ like a real wise guy over here.
“The thing with Larry Charles is he just says ‘Go,’” said dialogue supervisor Julie Diaz. “And everybody does what they want, as crazy as possible.” Since Dicks: The Musical is (as the name suggests) a musical, Charles took sound very seriously. “I had two concerns when we were doing the sound mixing,” he said. “One was that I wanted to add sound effects, almost like a cartoon. And then I wanted you to hear the movie being made. So when the dancers are dancing, you can hear the hoofbeats. I wanted it to be real, and surreal, and absurd all at the same time.” Real, surreal, and absurd all at the same time? The Sewer Boys are indeed that girl.
