In 1989, after joining the Ocean Institute, Stephen Hillenburg created an unpublished comic book, “The Intertidal Zone,” which he used to teach visiting students about undersea life. Some of the characters in this comic book evolved into characters that will eventually appear in SpongeBob SquarePants. He tried several times to get the comic published, but no publishing company was interested in his ideas.
Hillenburg went on to work with Joe Murray, the creator of Rocko’s Modern Life, as producer and creative director. During this period, he developed all the characters in SpongeBob SquarePants and got the idea to turn it into an animated series. In 1997, Hillenburg pitched SpongeBob SquarePants to Nickelodeon executives. Nickelodeon loved it, and Hillenburg and his team were given funding and two weeks to write the first episode.
On May 1, 1999, Nickelodeon previewed the series and officially premiered it on July 17, 1999. The first season was released in that same year, and one of the episodes in that season was ‘Employee of the Month.’ Annoy Squidward Day first appeared in that episode as part of a joke.
In the episode, someone asks Squidward, “What day is it?” Being a character that is easily irritated, Squidward replied, “Annoy Squidward Day.” SpongeBob laughed at that response and said, “No, silly, that is on the 15th,” pointing to the calendar. In fact, on every 15th of that month, Mr. Krabs gives out the Employee of the Month Award. But that did not stop fans from turning it into an actual holiday, celebrated on February 15.
Tanja's Little Corner of The World 