Chocolate with Nuts

SpongeBob accidentally receives Squidward's Fancy Living Digest magazine in the mail, inspiring him and Patrick to become entrepreneurs. At Patrick's suggestion, they become door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen. Their first customer repeatedly and maniacally screams "Chocolate!" at the pair and chases them. Successive attempts to sell also end in failure; one fish cons SpongeBob and Patrick into buying individual bar-carrying bags, then bags to carry those, while another loses patience after SpongeBob fails to provide a bar, which was lost in the bags.

After initially disastrous results, the two try using flattery. However, this is unsuccessful, ending in Patrick buying pictures of a customer as an overweight child, as is Patrick's attempt to focus, creeping out a potential customer. A billboard inspires them to "stretch the truth", which is successful when they convince elderly fish Mary and her even older mother, who has shriveled to an eyeless head and a spine, that it grants immortality. The lying continues, but they lose their profit after "helping" a seriously injured fish, who turns out to be the same con artist from before, by buying his chocolate. The first customer catches up to SpongeBob and Patrick and reveals his sanity when he offers to buy all the chocolate they have. They use the money to rent out a fancy restaurant, allowing access only to themselves and their dates: Mary and her mother.

"Chocolate with Nuts" was written by Paul Tibbitt, Kaz, Kent Osborne and Merriwether Williams, with Andrew Overtoom serving as animation director. Tibbitt and Kaz also functioned as storyboard directors, and Carson Kugler, William Reiss and Mike Roth worked as storyboard artists.{{cite AV media | date=September 27, 2005 | title=SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 3rd Season ("Chocolate with Nuts" credits) |medium=DVD|location=United States | publisher=Paramount Home Entertainment/Nickelodeon}} The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on June 1, 2002, with a TV-Y parental rating.{{cite web|title=SpongeBob SquarePants: Chocolate With Nuts; Superfriends|url=http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/spongebob-squarepants-chocolate-with-nuts-superfriends/EP003077660107?aid=zap2it|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403002016/http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/spongebob-squarepants-chocolate-with-nuts-superfriends/EP003077660107?aid=zap2it|archive-date=April 3, 2013|access-date=September 24, 2016|work=TV Listings|publisher=Zap2it}}

"Chocolate with Nuts" was the last episode Kaz and Paul Tibbitt had written together along with "Nasty Patty".

"Chocolate with Nuts" was released on the DVD compilation called SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas on September 30, 2003.SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003.{{cite web|last=Bovberg|first=Jason|title=SpongeBob Squarepants: Christmas|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/7833/spongebob-squarepants-christmas/|publisher=DVD Talk|access-date=September 1, 2013|date=October 6, 2003}}{{cite web|title=SpongeBob SquarePants - Christmas |url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Volume-Release/2909 |publisher=TVShowsOnDVD.com |access-date=September 1, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061358/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Volume-Release/2909 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }} The episode was also included in the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 3rd Season DVD on September 27, 2005.SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 3rd Season. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.{{cite web|title=SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 3|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Season-3/5022|publisher=TVShowsOnDVD.com|access-date=September 7, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102182432/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Season-3/5022|archive-date=November 2, 2013}}{{cite web|last=Pope |first=Bryan |title=SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete Third Season |url=https://dvdverdict.com/reviews/spongebobsquarepantsseason3.php |publisher=DVD Verdict |access-date=September 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017060856/https://dvdverdict.com/reviews/spongebobsquarepantsseason3.php |archive-date=October 17, 2013 }} On September 22, 2009, "Chocolate with Nuts" was released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2009.{{cite web|last=Lacey|first=Gord|title=SpongeBob SquarePants - The First 100 Episodes (Seasons 1-5) Review|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/reviews/SpongeBob-SquarePants-100-Episodes-Seasons-1-5/9154|publisher=TVShowsOnDVD.com|access-date=August 31, 2013|date=September 29, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055257/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/reviews/SpongeBob-SquarePants-100-Episodes-Seasons-1-5/9154|archive-date=September 21, 2013}}

"Chocolate with Nuts" has received universal acclaim from both critics and fans alike and is often cited as one of the show's best episodes. Jordan Moreau, Katcy Stephan and David Viramontes of Variety ranked "Chocolate with Nuts" as the fourth best SpongeBob SquarePants episode.{{cite news|last1=Moreau|first1=Jordan|last2=Stephan|first2=Katcy|last3=Viramontes|first3=David|title=15 Best 'SpongeBob Squarepants' Episodes, Ranked|url=https://variety.com/lists/best-spongebob-squarepants-episodes/something-smells-season-2-episode-2/|access-date=February 10, 2022|work=Variety|date=June 8, 2021}} Emily Estep of "WeGotThisCovered.com" rated the episode as the tenth best episode of the show, saying "The reason 'Chocolate with Nuts' is such a good episode is that it subtly and somewhat darkly hints at the concept of just how crazy the people who live around you are. SpongeBob and Patrick are mostly swindled into buying things from other people – actually, a single con man who keeps appearing – and nothing is more terrifying/hilarious than the man who simply starts screaming 'chocolate' repeatedly until SpongeBob and Patrick run away. 'Chocolate with Nuts' adds the complete absurdity of the program – like the old lady and her even older mother who remembers when 'they first invented chocolate. Sweet, sweet chocolate. I always hated it!' – and the aspects of SpongeBob's undersea life that mirror our own lives on land – like stranger danger."{{cite web|last=Estep|first=Emily|title=Top 10 Episodes Of Spongebob Squarepants|url=https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/top-10-episodes-spongebob-squarepants/|publisher=WeGotThisCovered.com|access-date=September 1, 2013|date=December 5, 2011}}

Nancy Basile of About.com ranked the episode {{abbr|No.|Number}} 5 on her "Best SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes" list. She said "I can relate to the customer who spends this entire episode running around Bikini Bottom, screaming for chocolate. 'Chocolate with Nuts' is about Patrick and SpongeBob trying to get rich by selling chocolate bars door to door ... There are witty punchlines and silly sight gags throughout the episode." Her favorite scene was when "Patrick focuses a little too hard on their unsuspecting customer."{{cite web|last=Basile|first=Nancy|title=Best 'SpongeBob SquarePants' Episodes|url=http://animatedtv.about.com/od/spongebobsquarepants/tp/bestepisodes.htm|publisher=About.com|access-date=September 1, 2013|archive-date=June 28, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628093131/http://animatedtv.about.com/od/spongebobsquarepants/tp/bestepisodes.htm|url-status=dead}}

SpongeBob's voice actor Tom Kenny considers this one of his favorite episodes. It was included in the iTunes collection "SpongeBob SquarePants: Tom Kenny's Top 20", where he called it "a very sick episode. You can spend hours theorizing about what these eleven minutes says {{sic}} about truth, lies, Big Business, entrepreneurship, and consumerism."{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/spongebob-squarepants-tom-kennys-top-20/id321575301|title=SpongeBob SquarePants: Tom Kenny's Top 20|first=Tom|last=Kenny|work=iTunes|date=2009|access-date=December 4, 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

{{wikiquote|SpongeBob_SquarePants/Season 3#Chocolate with Nuts (12.1)|"Chocolate with Nuts"}}

• {{IMDb episode|0707301|Chocolate with Nuts}}

{{SpongeBob SquarePants episodes}}

Category:SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Category:2002 American television episodes

Category:Fiction about chocolate