“	The excitement is killing me. Is it killing you?	”
	— Slappy Laszlo, "Pat-a-thon"

Slappy Laszlo^[1] the Peter Lorre fish is a character created by Kaz who first appears in the episode "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout," and is one of the many party goers celebrating SpongeBob's party.

He later reappears as a recurring character in The Patrick Star Show, where he's an avid fan of The Patrick Show!, and first appears in the episode "Bummer Jobs."

Description[]

In his first appearance, he is a bright yellow fish with dark blue eyes, jet black combed hair and a pair of buck teeth with puffy red-orange lips. He wears a black and white tailcoat suit with a black bow tie and has a light blue dorsal fin.

In The Patrick Star Show, as well as a handful of main show episodes, he is a light teal-green with dark purple eyes and a dark brown tailcoat suit with a light purple dorsal fin.

In "Squidferatu" "Slappy Daze," and "Tango Tangle," he is now pale yellow/sickly green with puffy salmon pink lips and a green dorsal fin. He has pale blue-gray eyes, a black and white tailcoat suit, and bow tie similar to his debut.

Role in series[]

SpongeBob SquarePants[]

"SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"[]

He first appears in the line for SpongeBob's surprise party, where he creeps out Larry the Lobster by talking about cake while rubbing his stomach. He is later seen sitting on a table against Sandy's orders, where he swallows an entire cake whole and breaks the table in half. Soon after, he shouts "surprise," causing a riled up Sandy to punch him.

"There Will Be Grease"[]

He's part of the crowd watching Mr. Krabs and Plankton sing "Everything Juice," where he asks if Everything Juice will make his voice sound creepier, to which Mr. Krabs responds "probably."

"Squidferatu"[]

Slappy slides out from underneath Nosferatu's coat to greet SpongeBob and Squidward to Nosferatu's castle and to thank them for dropping off his master's mail. He laughs from Nosferatu's burp and he and SpongeBob have a giggle fit together before Nosferatu and Squidward scold them to stop. Slappy is so distraught by this that he falls to his knees kissing Nosferatu's hand with a feverish passion begging for his forgiveness, which disturbs Squidward. Before they could leave, Slappy forbids them on account of inclement weather. He later crawls onto Nosferatu's body speaking to inform them that Nosferatu has invited them to dinner and to stay for the night. The moment that SpongeBob and Squidward are out of sight, he pops out from the red Dracula armor and falls out of it, and slithers up the outer castle wall. It is then revealed he used his pet rain cloud to fabricate a rain storm tricking SpongeBob and Squidward into staying the night. In the dining hall, he serves them a dinner of roasted werewolf teeth, fried mummy fingers, pickled demon beards, and his own brain tartare. He also suggests a Carpathian cheese ball which is revealed to be a ball of spiders. Slappy realizes it is his dinner and chases after it. He chases it across the dining table and lands head first into the table.

Later, he puts SpongeBob and Squidward off to bed. He wishes them to sleep tight and not let the vampire bats bite which causes SpongeBob to laugh, which in turn, causes Slappy to join in on the giggling fit, midway they swap faces from laughter before Nosferatu hisses at them to cut it out. Slappy is frightened by this and he wishes SpongeBob and Squidward a good night before he bows and winks. The lights flicker and flashbacks of Slappy and Nosferatu getting closer and closer to the bed appear before disappearing. Later when SpongeBob and Squidward are running from Nosferatu, Slappy slithers out from behind a table wielding an axe as he offers to show them a way out, possibly referring to death as the escape as he near attempts to axe murder them before Squidward sprays bug spray on him causing him to knock out. Later his head is seen rolling down a flight of stairs telling SpongeBob and Squidward not to disturb Nosferatu’s laundry tomb. His body walks after his decapitated head and puts it back on. He slyly tells them that Nosferatu would get very cranky from their actions and that they never know where he might be while having a very smug grin. Slappy later informs them that Nosferatu wants to return Squidward's mail. Slappy looks worried at Nosferatu pretending to croak from the garlic, he explains that Nosferatu is just joshing with them and that Nosferatu loves garlic. Despite that, he has an uneasy laugh. He is later frightened by the lights flickering on and off but laughs when he realizes it is just the Phantom of the Opera. He laughs along before the eyelet decapitates him and his severed head rolls away as he giggles.

"Slappy Daze"[]

Slappy is sleeping in a dresser drawer, and when his alarm goes off, he takes a giant mallet to it and breaks it. His headless body emerges from the drawer where he stumbles across the room to his collection of severed heads which plead to be chosen. He picks one and places it on his head before heading to the bathroom to shower. He opens the shower curtain to which he is greeted by Esmeralda, the sea spider who sprays him with venom that melts the skin off of his face, he strips before heading into the bath where she sprays him with his web and encases him in a cocoon, he then emerges from it fully dressed and fresh, he slithers out of the tub and is later carrying a macabre breakfast tray to serve Nosferatu, to which he finds is sick. He places Nosferatu in a cage before bringing him to Dr. Calimari the physician, Dr. Calamari tells him to leave Nosferatu with Dr. Calimari for two hours before picking him up. Slappy does so but is unsure how to spend his spare time, he rides on his Gothic penny-farthing bicycle into town where he participates in many activities, playing Prance Prance on your Grave at the arcade, then to the carnival and playing Spray the Bottles where he accidentally loses control of the sprayer which shoots water at the Carnival Cryer causing him to explode, thus getting Slappy thrown out. Dropping by the pet shop where his girlfriend Slippy works to buy bat food and a flea collar as well as flirt with her. He leaves before she has an opportunity to kiss him. He at last spends his time having a picnic at the cemetery with his friends who are dead people rotting underneath, he asks his friend Ribeye for the time to which he realizes it is time to pick up Nosferatu. He says goodbye to his dead friends and giggles as he rides off. Many skeleton hands rise from the ground to wish him goodbye. He then returns to Dr. Calimari’s office to find Nosferatu is all better. He takes Nosferatu’s cage and opens it up outside where Nosferatu is freed. He then gives Nosferatu the flea collar that he had wanted, causing many flees to fly off Nosferatu, Slappy collects the flees into a sandwich and keeps it in his coat pocket. He then tells Nosferatu that there is no need to thank him and boops Nosferatu’s nose telling him that he is his best friend. Nosferatu then grabs Slappy’s head and lifts him off the ground. Slappy quickly agrees to go home. He is placed back on his penny-farthing bicycle and decides to race Nosferatu home, while he is riding off as fast as he can, Nosferatu in bat form carries Slappy off the ground up towards the sky, Slappy exclaims happily that he is souring like a bat and, before the moon comes alive and swallows them whole, Slappy cries out in pain.

"My Friend Patty"[]

Slappy is seen scurrying up in line like a bug, wanting to taste Patty. He regards what a delicious looking little man Patty is, and opens his mouth for the Patty, which is full with bugs. The bugs have faces of Slappy all laughing insanely to which the Patty tells him that he believes Slappy's mouth is already occupied. Slappy becomes disappointed and scurries away sulking. He later is seen as one of the other patrons who fight for Patty, joining the mob. He is shown in Sandy's grip when they stop fighting after Patty is eaten by Gary. Slappy joins in with the angry mob who chase down Sandy.

"FUN-Believable"[]

At Nosferatu's castle, Slappy is standing with Nosferatu and speaking for him to Rube about what they have planned. Nosferatu wants to demonstrate his pain reaction machine, to which Nosferatu smacks him for laughing. Nosferatu then decapitates Slappy's head to use as a ball in this morbid Rube Goldberg machine, Slappy enduring many bumps and hits along the way even rolling into a cobweb full of bugs which Slappy munches on. Eventually reaching the end to which reveals a can of fizzy fang soda. Nosferatu holds Slappy's head in his arm while Slappy explains to the audience that Rube's show is sponsored by fizzy fang soda.

"Pet the Rock"[]

Slappy is seen at the pet park holding a jellyfish net next to Nosferatu who sits on the park bench reading a bat fancy magazine as some vampire jellyfish fly overhead. Later in the episode, Slappy is seen at the pet show where he is entered as Nosferatu's pet, he is there along with all the other pet owners and their pets. Slappy sits on all fours, wearing a spiked dog collar while Nosferatu holds his leash.

"Tango Tangle"[]

Slappy and Slippy attend the tango dance class. They do everything in sync and dance so intimately together that the dance instructor had to break them apart. Eventually they become injured from Plankton and Karen's scheme where they set out tacks and Slappy ends up stepping on a tack and goes flying into a piano. Later they are seen sitting out and watching others dance.

The Patrick Star Show[]

"Bummer Jobs"[]

He is one of the viewers of The Patrick Show!, where he is amazed at Patrick's tie-tying antics. Patrick then falls out of his TV and lands on him during his struggle, causing Slappy Laszlo to admire the 3D effects of the show.

"Stair Wars"[]

He appears among the crowd who comes to assist Patrick and GrandPat in their stair war, taking Patrick's side in those who wish to go up the stairs. He steals Fred's bread weapon, slathers butter on it, and then slathers butter on Fred's face.

"Lost in Couch"[]

He appears outside of the window of Patrick's house after Squidina tells Patrick his fan-base is counting on him. He tells them to not mind him and that he "loves a good failure." At the end of the episode, he is disappointed when everything works out.

"Pat-a-thon"[]

He is one of the four characters Patrick has answered phone calls (along with Squidward, a worm, and a can of beans) from. At the end of the episode, he rides the dangerous obstacle course intended for GrandPat with Patrick.

"The Yard Sale"[]

He is seen at the yard sale, where he asks GrandPat about the cost of a brain he wants. GrandPat reveals that the brain isn't his, and Patrick states that it isn't his either, so Slappy is given the brain for free. Slappy then places a propeller hat onto the brain and spins the propeller, lifting the brain into the sky as he giggles madly, commenting that the brain is free.

"Squidina's Little Helper"[]

He is one of the people applying to be Squidina's helper, where he giggles unnervingly when trying to give her his resume.

"I Smell a Pat"[]

He picks up Mr. Stinky and mistakes him for a cat, before Mr. Stinky farts in his face, melting off his skin.

"Terror at 20,000 Leagues"[]

He is in the crowd of The Patrick Show! and wears a fruit headdress, red top and skirt, and white beaded necklace as a Halloween costume. He gives a kid in the crowd broccoli as a treat, scaring the kid away.

"Pearl Wants to Be a Star"[]

He shows up whenever Pearl messes up her act for The Patrick Show! the last two times, saying that it at least ended tragically, and that it had a catastrophic ending.

"Mid-Season Finale"[]

He has a segment in the mid-season finale called "Slappy's Poem Corner," where he recites a poem while putting a dead plant onto his head. Slippy then floats on stage and compliments his 'revolting' smell, and the two leave the stage in each other's arms.

"FitzPatrick"[]

Slappy is in the audience of FitzPatrick's show. Unlike the rest, he enjoys Fitz's insults and abuse. At the end of the show, he eats ice cream with Lady Upturn.

"Patrick's Got a Zoo Loose"[]

After Nosferatu appears on Patrick's show, he climbs into a coffin. Slappy jumps onto it and drives it away.

"Home ECCH!"[]

During a disastrous home economics project, Squidina mistakenly sews Slappy to a carpet that gets stuck on the ceiling. When Squidina is about to make a pickle pie, she breaks down crying. Slappy, still on the ceiling, offers to help her, since pickle pie was his mother's favorite recipe. With Slappy's directions, Squidina makes a delicious pie. She and Patrick run it out to her teacher, and Slappy wishes them good luck.

"The Prehistoric Patrick Star Show"[]

His prehistoric counterpart throws a bone at Patrick to wake him up, and proceeds to watch his show.

"The Patrick Show Sells Out"[]

Slappy appears on The Krusty Bucket Show, giving Mr. Krabs a tape with a commercial for Patrick's restaurant on it.

"Neptune's Ball"[]

Slappy watches Patrick's show at the start and end of the episode. He gets blown into the air by Patrick's whoopee cushion stunt, and ends up crushing Squidina.

"The Starry Awards"[]

Slappy dips a carrot in chum and faints. Later, when Patrick is spinning a wheel to decide on who gets the Best Bite award, he throws a dart at it. The dart misses and hits Slappy. Patrick gives Slappy a trophy of a carrot spray-painted gold, but the paint has not dried, making Slappy faint again. Slappy is carried out on a stretcher when Patrick announces the next award.

"Stuntin'"[]

When Slappy among the lawnies who are watching GrandPat, who is dressed as Patrick, he observes that GrandPat's coconut stunt could be dangerous.

"Which Witch is Which?"[]

Agnes' transformation potion turns Patrick and Cecil into lookalikes of Slappy, who shows up at the window and laughs with them. At the end of the episode, Agnes flies into a cauldron of potion and turns into Slappy herself.

"Get Off My Lawnie"[]

Slappy is one of the lawnies who stalks Granny Tentacles throughout the episode. At the beginning, he is the only one to enjoy Patrick's nighttime performance.

"Patrick's Prison Pals"[]

He scares Sockeye Sammy, whom he thinks is Patrick, by asking to take one of his teeth for his Patrick shrine.

"The Patrick Show Cashes In"[]

Slappy is apart of the audience who are excited for season 2 but is then immediately disappointed when Squidina pulls the plug. Later in the episode Slappy wants to buy a Patrick Show T-shirt. Patrick shoots him with his T-shirt cannon, blasting him and the audience away.

"Family Plotz"[]

Slappy is working as a mortician at Eternal Rest Mortuary. He finds GrandPat napping on his embalming table and mistakes him for a two week old corpse. He works to make him "beautiful" by flooding him with formaldehyde. He later returns to check up on GrandPat who is made stiff and plump by the embalming fluids. GrandPat would not stay still so he straps him to the table so he can finish up the corpse, putting him in a nice funerary suit and makeup.

"There Goes the Neighborhood"[]

While exploring the neighborhood, Patrick and Squidina run into a house apparently owned by Slappy. However, he turns out to have been squatting in it, with the real owner arriving and chasing him away. Slappy reappears as Patrick's proof that his fans are counting on him to investigate a creepy old house.

"Tying the Klop-Knot"[]

Slappy is one of the lawnies who were sitting down to watch the wedding before Patrick lifts up the grass to throw them out.

"Chum Bucket List"[]

For Patrick's "performance of a lifetime," he goes down an obstacle course and gets severely injured. While everyone else is horrified, Slappy is absolutely ecstatic as Patrick gets gruesomely maimed by each obstacle he's put through. In the end Slappy is utterly awestruck by the performance and has tears of joy as he claps for Patrick.

"Big Baby Patrick"[]

Slappy is eating an eyeball ice cream cone and crosses the street. Cecil mistakenly runs over Slappy, who gets stuck to the car's tire and continues eating his "eye" cream as though nothing happened. Later the tire he is stuck to pops off the car and rolls into the star family's living room where he is badly mangled. He giggles and regards baby Patrick "as a sleeping angel fish."

"Is There a Director in the House?"[]

Slappy is watching The Patrick Show! and offers to direct the show since he is Patrick's biggest fan. He creates a black and white cooking show that is clearly a parody of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, titled "a cook too many." He serves the visibly uncomfortable Patrick with a bowl of mysterious bubbling "soup" and says they will cook something wonderful together. Patrick is increasingly horrified from the ingredients such as spider eggs and is overall very creeped out. Slappy becomes very invested in filming Patrick and he zooms in to find Plankton on Patrick's skin who insults him and calls him an amateur which makes Slappy run off crying.

"Face/Off-Model"[]

Slappy is one of the lawnies who are surprised by Patrick's off model face, however unlike the lawnies, Slappy was not disgusted, rather saying he finds it "cute." When Patrick time travels to season 5, Slappy is among the lawnies in the CalArts style. He happily exclaims that "he loves feelings." Later when Patrick time travels to the final episode of the Patrick show, Slappy is once again among the lawnies; who are now off model and look very grotesque. Slappy exclaims that "this is the best final episode!" while pressing his face with joy.

Trivia[]

• He is a caricature of the actor Peter Lorre, who was also caricatured in many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts throughout the 1930s to the 1950s.
  • The fact that he was temporarily renamed Laszlo in The Patrick Star Show further proves this, as Peter's birth name was László Löwenstein.
  • The unused art for Bleeder's Digest in "Squidferatu" has an article written by Slappy using his real name "Laszlo Slappé" which indicates Laszlo is his true first name while "Slappy" is a nickname based on his surname.

• From "Bummer Jobs" to "Pat-a-thon," the credits list his name as Laszlo. From "The Yard Sale" onwards, he is listed as Slappy. "Mid-Season Finale" finalizes his name as Slappy, with him being called that as part of the "Slappy's Poem Corner" skit.
• His old color scheme from "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" has been reused with Slippy, his feminine counterpart.
• Slappy is featured in the book The Animated Peter Lorre^[2] by Matthew Hahn, as one of the 700+ instances of a Peter Lorre likeness being used in animation. His feminine counterpart Slippy is the only known female Peter Lorre caricature ever.
• Slappy's debut color scheme was likely inspired by the character Dr. Lorre from the 1946 Merrie Melodies short Hair-Raising Hare. They both share big blue eyes and bright yellow skin with red-orange lips.
• Slappy shares a number of similarities with the Peter Lorre caricature Yetch from the 1967 Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated movie Mad Monster Party? They both are zombie caricatures of Peter Lorre who both live in a castle as a butler to a famous horror movie character. They both have a red haired love interest and they both share the same recurring gag of being decapitated.
• Slappy fulfills the role of Knock/Renfield to Nosferatu similar to the 1922 movie Nosferatu, such as his pension for eating bugs and having insane fits of laughter. However, this is also a trope in Peter Lorre caricatures as well. There is an unusual merging of Renfield/Igor with Peter Lorre caricatures. So often that it is often mistaken that Peter Lorre played such roles, he did not. However it has become a thing amongst Lorre caricatures to sometimes have Igor/Renfield traits, as seen in Slappy.
• Slappy is currently the third known Peter Lorre fish. The previous Peter Lorre fish is the unnamed fish from the 1942 Merry Melodies short Horton Hatches the Egg, and the Staring Herring from the 1962 animated television show Beany and Cecil, both were directed/produced by Bob Clampett. This can explain his appearance in The Patrick Star Show as Patrick's parents' names are references to Beany and Cecil and they have their own Peter Lorre fish.
• The recurring gag of Slappy and other Lorre caricatures getting decapitated is likely a reference to the 1962 movie Tales of Terror where Peter Lorre's character Montresor Herringbone has nightmares of being decapitated and his head being thrown around like a ball. This is likely what influenced the scene in the SpongeBob episode "Slappy Daze" where Slappy's head bounces around like a ball.
• Slappy's Halloween costume in The Patrick Star Show episode "Terror at 20,000 Leagues" is a reference to Carmen Miranda's Tutti-Frutti costume which was parodied as frequently as Peter Lorre was in the Looney Tunes in the 1940s. Both caricatures are still reoccurring in animation to this day.
• Slappy working as a mortician in Family Plotz is likely a reference to the 1963 movie The Comedy of Terrors where Peter Lorre plays an undertaker's assistant. This is further evident by the line "I hate it when the dead can't sit still" which likely references the events of the movie.
• This is not the first time Tom Kenny plays a Peter Lorre inspired character, he also played Tan Divo from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, whose face is modelled after Peter Lorre.
• In the episode "Is There a Director in the House?," Slappy directs The Patrick Star Show which parodies Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Peter Lorre himself guest starred in an episode of the show. Slappy's direction is akin to the expressionist horror/film noir style which Peter Lorre has frequently starred in.
• Slappy and Slippy are romantically involved and so are their voice actors. Tom Kenny and Jill Talley are married in real life.

References[]

1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20220508214757/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-i2q5l6R4
2. ^ Hahn, Matthew. The Animated Peter Lorre. Bear Manor Media, 2020.

SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout (V • E)
Characters and actors:	JimBob • Patrick (live-action) • Mr. Manward • Mr. Slabs • Pearl Slabs • Mr. Charleston • Carol • Jack Griffo • Daniella Perkins • Kel Mitchell • Beanie McBean • Jace Norman • David Hasselhoff • Can • Gorilla boss • Monkey Middle managers • Gilbert Gottfried • Slappy Laszlo • Patrick's lover fish • Dog walker • Rube Goldfish • Pie dragon • JoJo Siwa • Michael Strahan
Locations:	Trusty Slab • Crumb Basket • Beach Blanket Bean-Go • Land Aquarium • Surface Land • Paperclip Jungle
Songs:	Slabby Patty Song • SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song
Objects:	Slabby Patty • Patchy's boat car
Shorts:	1 Second From Every SpongeBob Episode!
Miscellaneous:	Double Dare SpongeBob Week • Best Yellow Summer Ever marathons • Bikini Bottom Bash DVD • Happy Birthday, SpongeBob!