Rube Goldfish

“	Amazing!	”
	— Rube Goldfish's catchphrase

Character

Gallery

Appearances

Rube Goldfish
General information
Residence:	Bikini Bottom, Pacific Ocean
Occupation(s):	Newspaper photographer Tour guide Alien zookeeper Show host News reporter
Physical appearance
Gender:	Male
Color:	Purple
Eye color:	Black
Classification:	Fish
Series information
First appearance:	"No Pictures Please"
Latest appearance:	SpongeBob Simulator (SpongeBob SquarePants) "Is There a Director in the House?" (The Patrick Star Show)
Portrayer:	Doug Lawrence

Rube Goldfish is a tourist who first appears in the episode "No Pictures Please." He then becomes a recurring character in season 12.

Description

He is a purple fish who has a dark purple dorsal fin and wears a brown hat, a yellow shirt, brown trousers, and white socks with blue sandals. He usually carries a blue camera around his neck, which is revealed in "No Pictures Please" to not contain any film inside it.

Rube is known for his catchphrase, "Amazing!", and his constantly positive attitude. He often appears as both a travel guide and a tourist. He runs a travel company called Bikini Bottom Gold Tours, has been in a commercial for an upscale resort called Frigate Frolic,, and has a tour stand at the Mystical Misty Mountains.. Rube also has his own TV show, Fun-Believable with Rube, and he works for the news as a reporter

Various alternate forms of Rube have appeared in the series. In "Patrick's Got a Zoo Loose," he is an alien zookeeper named Space Rube. Shmandor is a miniature city populated by tiny Rubes, and led by Rubedor. Rube also has a robotic counterpart who lives in Binary Bottom.

Role in series

SpongeBob SquarePants

"No Pictures Please"

He appears once he mistakenly thinks that Patrick is the tour guide, as he is seen wearing the hat that fell from the real tour guide's head. As a result, the two walk around Bikini Bottom, with Rube stopping to take pictures of anything he sees.

Patrick first shows Rube a hole he had dug up. Then, Patrick steals a kid's ice cream cone, with Rube remarking that it is "amazing."

Afterwards, Patrick leads Rube to a place where a man is watching television with his kids. Patrick is kicked out and results to visiting SpongeBob's house next. Meanwhile, Rube takes pictures of his house while SpongeBob is still sleeping. In the meantime, they visit Squidward's house while he is still taking a shower. An angry Squidward proceeds to kick them out instantly.

After, they head over to the Krusty Krab, where Patrick catches Plankton and the two begin to step on him for fun. They then proceed to use the restrooms inside of the Krusty Krab, where they get kicked out by Mr. Krabs.

Afterwards, they visit Sandy's treedome and create a hole underneath them to get inside. Once they realize they have no water to breathe from, they quickly exit the treedome leaving an annoyed Sandy behind.

The last location they visit, Floater's Cemetery, ends in Patrick showing Rube Ol' Ribeye's grave. After Rube shakes Ribeye's hand and it falls off, Patrick explains that the two should run away from the cemetery. A skeleton woman, annoyed at the disturbance caused by the two, calls the police.

Once everyone forms an angry mob at Patrick's rock, including the police being there, Rube reveals that his camera and himself, were not real and were just an illusion caused by The Tidal Zone. This event freaked out the citizens of Bikini Bottom, who ran off in fear.

"The Ballad of Filthy Muck"

He appears in a park to take a picture of Filthy Muck, and he later appears in a locker room to photograph Filthy Muck and SpongeBob, who has turned into Little Yuck.

He then appears at the end of the episode taking a picture of himself and Filthy Muck, who is revealed to be a separate creature from Patrick.

"Pineapple RV"

He appears as one of the many tourists who visit Porpoise Peak to see the Warbling Water Lily and take photos of it. When the blooming Water Lily wilts whilst in Squidward's hands, Rube and the other tourists angrily beat up Squidward and bury him into the ground.

"SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"

He appears as SpongeBob and Patrick's tour guide to Surface Land, and shows the two various land locations such as Beach Blanket Bean-Go, a park, an office building, the Trusty Slab, and a pet store. He also tries to get the other tourists to sing "Happy Birthday" to SpongeBob, but is interrupted whenever he tries.

"Potato Puff"

He is giving a family a tour of the Dynamite Factory when they notice a group of vehicles headed in their direction. The baby grabs on to them and carries them to safety.

"FUN-Believable"

"Now that's fun-believable!"

Rube hosts his own show, Fun-Believable with Rube. He interviews Sandy, Nosferatu and Slappy, and Baby Prunes. At the end of the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick impress him by turning their bodies into the words "Fun-Believable."

"Spatula of the Heavens"

Rube is shown giving tours at the Mystical Misty Mountains. He initially helps SpongeBob cross, but gives up once his shift ends. When SpongeBob rolls down the mountain in a snowball, he crushes Rube.

"SquidBird"

He is seen on a tour bus, capturing photographs of Squidward naked while he is locked out of his house.

"SpongeChovy"

Rube as a faux-chovy.

Gale Doppler asks Rube to report on the faux-chovy invasion. Rube interviews them and asks what "meep" means. They swarm him and turn him into a faux-chovy himself, leading him to say, "A-meep-ing!"

The Patrick Star Show

"Lost in Couch"

He appears in a commercial and is later seen looking for Patrick in the couch.

"Gas Station Vacation"

He appears in a commercial for a hotel resort and reminds everyone watching that he will see them there. His resort commercial was sponsored by Gas Land, which turns out that the Star family's vacation destination.

"To Dad and Back"

He gives Patrick a tour of Cecil's body.

"Shrinking Stars"

Rube, wearing a space-suit and under the name Rubedor, offers the shrunken Star family a place to live while they are running from GrandPat: Shmandor, a city made of glass. Cecil is excited and begins singing, only for Rube to frantically stop him. When the city collapses, Rube tells them that no singing is allowed in Shmandor, because high notes cause the glass to shatter.

"Uncredible Journey"

Rube narrates Pinkeye, Tinkle, and Ouchie's adventure throughout the episode. Later on, Rube runs into the three while they are lost. He explains that he is not supposed to mess with the story, but wants to help them out, and directs them to where their house is. Rube concludes the episode after Tinkle's fake funeral, saying that he had fun narrating. Tinkle, Ouchie, and Pinkeye then attack him to steal the pie he is eating.

"Patrick's Got a Zoo Loose"

Space Rube

Rube, named Space Rube, appears as a zookeeper from the Rings of Saturn Zoo. He brings various strange aliens into Patrick's house and onto his show: a Fluff, a Boggy Ecto, and a lunch alien. When one of his aliens gets loose, the Enigma Shapeshifter, he confesses that he does not know how to catch it.

While Patrick hunts the shapeshifter down, Rube takes over the show for him. He welcomes Cecil, whom Squidina had given a check, and the audience reacts positively. He also conducts an interview with Mary and Baby Prunes. At the end of the episode, Rube himself is revealed to be a shapeshifting alien.

"Dad's Stache Stash"

When Patrick is turned evil by one of Cecil's mustaches, he puts Rube on the show. This turns out to be a plot to tie Rube, and the audience, to some railroad tracks. Rube remains positive even as a runaway train goes towards him. At the end, he tries to take a picture of the Star family, but gets hit by the train.

"Get Off My Lawnie"

Rube appears during the theme song for The Granny Tentacles Show. He takes a picture of a sea bear, and gets mauled by it.

"The Commode Episode"

Rube excuses himself to use Patrick's bathroom, trapping himself inside due to the doorknob missing. He runs out with everyone else after Patrick installs a new doorknob.

Role in SpongeBob Simulator

He appears as a morph in the game as he got stuck through some lobster traps in Vacation World and the player does quests for him to save him and obtain his morph.

Trivia

• His voice and mannerisms are based on Huell Howser, who hosted California's Gold.
• His name is a reference to the cartoonist Rube Goldberg.
• In "King Plankton," Mr. Krabs refers to The Takeoverer as a "Rube Goldfish device," before Rube's full name was revealed in "Lost in Couch."
• Rube is a fan of trains.
• His phone number is RBE-555-01GOLDFISH.
• According to Squidward, Rube puts mustard in his milkshakes.