Mrs. Puff is a fictional character in the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants and all three films based on the franchise. Voiced by Mary Jo Catlett, Mrs. Puff debuted in the season one episode "Boating School" on August 7, 1999. Mrs. Puff was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. He developed the character in response to a request from Nickelodeon that the show star a schoolteacher. Hillenburg did not want to write SpongeBob SquarePants as a school-age child, so Mrs. Puff was introduced as his driving instructor instead of an elementary school teacher. Mrs. Puff is SpongeBob's paranoid driving teacher and the owner of the town boating school, which is similar to a driver's education facility. She would like nothing more than to pass SpongeBob, as he is her most dedicated and hard-working student, but he routinely panics when he tries to drive a boat and fails every driving test he takes. His failures often cause crashes that lead to mass destruction and endanger Mrs. Puff. While she tries her best to be friendly and patient with her students, Mrs. Puff finds SpongeBob's unintentional recklessness exasperating. She is the long-standing love interest and girlfriend of Mr. Krabs. The character has received a positive critical reception and has become well known in popular culture for her distinctive voice and temperamental personality. Catlett received an Annie Award nomination in 2001 for her voice-over work as Mrs. Puff along with Tom Kenny as the title character, making them the first SpongeBob cast members to be nominated for an award. Mrs. Puff is featured regularly in a variety of merchandise, such as plush toys and video games, and has appeared at theme parks and in Toyota commercials. Role in SpongeBob SquarePants Mrs. Puff is an anthropomorphic pufferfish, specifically a porcupinefish, who owns the underwater boating school that SpongeBob attends. Despite her efforts, she has been unsuccessful at teaching SpongeBob how to drive a boat. He is her most committed student, and knows the answer to every question on the oral exam, but panics every time he takes the driving part of her course. He often crashes her vehicles and causes town-wide destruction in the process. Mrs. Puff displays the pufferfish's inflation defense mechanism when she is scared or when SpongeBob crashes, akin to a car's airbag deploying. Mrs. Puff's friendliness toward other characters varies. She sympathizes with the short-tempered