In this episode of the Natty Bumpercar Bumperpodcast, Natty Bumpercar addresses the long delay between episodes, sharing insights with Producer, Rufus T. Rufus, Doodle Poodle, and Aloysious. Don’t miss out — listen, subscribe, and share the laughter today!
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About This Episode
After a long hiatus following episode 449 titled 'The End,' Natty Bumpercar returns to explain why the Bumperpodcast went dark for months. Joined by Aloysious J. Pig, Rufus T. Rufus, and Producer, Natty candidly discusses getting overwhelmed by ambitions to add theme music and new features, ultimately flying too close to the sun like Icarus. The gang debates the who-what-when-where-why-how of proper questioning, discovers their listener numbers have plummeted to zero, and hilariously contemplates pivoting to a 'how-to-fail' podcast. This self-aware episode captures the struggles of podcast burnout while maintaining the show's signature improvisational comedy style.
Memorable Quotes
“I flew too close to the sun… it was a metaphorical fall, an allegorical fall.”
— Natty Bumpercar
“We used to be like, oh, wow, look at all these people. And now it's like, oh, okay, some guy named Bob listened to it last Thursday… Nope. No, that's another zero.”
— Producer
“Is there a podcast that's specifically how to fail at everything? Because I think, number one, we'd go right there.”
— Aloysious J. Pig
Topics: #podcasting #burnout #comeback #failure #overwhelm #comedy #meta-humor #timemanagement
Featuring: Natty Bumpercar, Aloysious J. Pig, Rufus T. Rufus, Producer
Full Transcript
Natty Bumpercar: okay okay okay so i apologize i am sorry and i apologize and the reason that i am apologizing is i put out an episode it was number what is it 449 and i titled it the end and then i proceeded to not make any more episodes for a long long time wait so are we back to doing this
Aloysious J. Pig: because i i was enjoying the break i was enjoying not having to talk to you every week i was enjoying you know just living my life just being me yeah it's just j pig over here okay yeah
Natty Bumpercar: well i get that and i totally agree i kind of enjoyed the time off as well but what tends to happen is if i'm not doing the bumper project if i'm not making drawings if i'm
Unknown: no and not to be impolite but no i i need to focus today because it's been a long time
Natty Bumpercar: and i have to explain what's going on and and why you know yeah well uh excuse me
Rufus T. Rufus: you i just want to jump in here because i got some some question as to the when the where the what and the why you understand yes so you don't have any questions about about the who i don't i don't think i understand what you're getting out there aloysius i said uh let me think here i said the what the where the when and the why um i think i said everything there no i'm pretty sure you did
Natty Bumpercar: you skip you skipped who who what when where how why i don't even know if you did how
Aloysious J. Pig: yeah so what he said traditionally you start with a who who who where all right when yep what how and why who when where what yeah who where when what how and when why that's all the bases
Rufus T. Rufus: yeah well i'm just i feel like i did say all of those things we're not recording this are we because I don't want anyone to go back and listen to tell me if I said something incorrect or incomplete or incoherent because I don't I got kind of used to not being recorded every time I talk and yeah Aloysius I got to say something to you as well it seems like you're used to not talking too you weren't on mic I couldn't hear you there for a second gotta talk into the mic there son come on
Natty Bumpercar: I hate to be on his side but Rufus is right you kind of looked over to the side there for a second and we kind of I don't know producer are you able to hear him when he looked over to the side yes I did
Producer: deep down a little bit but I think I was able to fix everything and if not I can fix it in post and I can go in and I can sweeten it and I can add a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it's going to be perfect and you'll just see you'll see but with all of that being said it is easier if you just talk right into the microphone and then my job is a little bit easier
Natty Bumpercar: if I'm to be honest well I guess that's what it's all about making everybody's jobs easier I um forgot why I said that why i was apologizing oh yeah made an episode months ago the end then no episodes after why why why no i think you're the who the what the why you can't just say why why why you gotta
Rufus T. Rufus: have some how maybe some win yeah definitely uh where okay no so i was just kind of emphasizing
Natty Bumpercar: you know the why because i feel like we we owe an explanation people deserve an explanation we were pumping out episodes once a week new cover art we were doing all kinds of stuff and we were getting to this magical 450th episode and we were talking about getting uh theme music and pig interviews is going to start up and all kinds of cool fun stuff and then i mean it broke me is what happened i got overwhelmed i flew too close to the sun
Aloysious J. Pig: oh you pulled an icarus is that what you're saying you have your icarus you know the wax the wax and your wings uh melted from the sun and then you you fell really far yep i don't know how
Natty Bumpercar: far it was probably really far it was it was it was really far but it was a metaphorical fall an allegorical fall we always have this problem how many episodes have there been when i can't remember the difference between yeah homily and the simile and a metaphor and an allegory and a pastry and a baguette
Rufus T. Rufus: yeah i'm hoping that you didn't break us out of the you know the the storage shed over there just to uh go into this tired old uh adage again uh by the way i i did hear that you fell now when you fail do you feel like it was anyone else's fault did you feel like maybe there was a step that was a little bit off maybe uh the curb had been uprooted or something like that maybe somebody no deliberately uh maybe your shoe exploded and then you kind of fell from anything i mean anything i'm just trying to figure out if we have a case here yeah
Natty Bumpercar: no there's there's there's no case um but here's the thing here's the thing the thing of the thing is i like to try to have a philosophy where if there's a big project like i always use a wedding cake if i have to make a wedding cake and i tell my brain make a wedding cake then my brain is going to shut down it's going to it's just going to freeze up and uh you know if i keep pressing it then the whole engine up there might just break and it's because i'm approaching this monumental thing and it's it's overwhelming and it's too much and so what i like to try to do is to break it down into digestible bits like um okay i need to find a recipe okay i need to find the ingredients okay i need to find the equipment okay what's the temperature like things that are easily achievable and then just kind of go from there now that's how i normally do things and things happen and things work out but a lot of times when there's abstract things like i'm gonna make a new theme song my brain is just like i'm gonna make a like there's no there's no recipe there's no you know ingredients and so i just kind of stare at the computer and um and i'm like okay go do something yeah you do it and and then i get overwhelmed and then i stop and i it's really frustrating and um it does a fun thing where when i get overwhelmed and then i stop working on one thing then it starts to cascade it starts to flow over to other things and after a little while it's it seems so insurmountable that i can't even conceive of how to start over again of how to like okay i'm gonna go do the uh podcast great here we go uh i'm gonna set aside a little bit of time to do you know this project here we go and it's all about time management and trying to figure out a structure and i i just i don't do well with that i just start to uh i start to clam up i start to pull into my uh turtle shell i start you know i hide under a rock and uh then i put on noise canceling headphones and uh that's it i'm gone so that's it
Aloysious J. Pig: that's what happened that is what happened so there was there was no fall uh who the whole icarus thing that's that's nothing is what i'm reading into this and you're telling me we had a podcast that was like ranking it was actually people people were listening we were getting numbers remember we almost got i think it was a hundred thousand listens or something crazy and then you saw that and you were like i've got to meet the moment i've got to do all this stuff i gotta get a theme song you're always wanting to get a theme song and and then you that's why we stopped and and how many listens have we been getting lately i'm just curious to see if two months of non-activity is going to
Natty Bumpercar: affect the bottom line of listens so yeah producer i think you probably have all those numbers in front of you can you i guess read them out or whatever yes so
Producer: um here's the thing we were doing very well and we were growing up the mountain up the mountain here we go here we go and uh so now um we don't it's like is this what's like the lowest number
Rufus T. Rufus: that you can even think of now hold on is this like a riddle or something are we gonna i need i need a scantron i need a number two pencil and i i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't and I'm going to need probably a lot of erases. I like to erase a lot as I write out my notes.
Producer: Nope, nope. It's not a math equation. It's just a zero was the answer. It's a pretty simple, you know, it's like we used to be like, oh, wow, look at all these people. They're listening. Oh, on Monday, they liked it. On Tuesday, oh, my goodness. And now it's like, oh, okay, some guy named Bob listened to it last Thursday, and Tuesday, Wednesday, not so much. Okay. Oh, Friday. Friday looks like one person. Nope. No, no, that's another zero. Another zero.
Natty Bumpercar: Yeah. So, zero. That's a lot of zeros. That's okay. And it's okay. It's okay. You know, it's going to, we just, I got to rein it all in, get back into the flow. I love doing this. I'm hoping that you like listening to it, maybe. And if not, then I'm hoping that you're listening to it and getting something out of it, like how not to do a podcast, you know, how to almost get moderately successful and then stop doing your podcast. Like, these are things that I feel like I could speak on.
Rufus T. Rufus: Now, hold on. Hold on a second. We were supposed to be like, I think we were in the comedy section, but are we going to be a how-to section now? Like how to fail at everything?
Aloysious J. Pig: That's actually not a terrible idea. We should look into that. Is there a podcast that's specifically how to fail at everything? Because I think, number one, we'd go right there.
Natty Bumpercar: The Bumper Podcast is an oftentimes hilarious weekly romp with Natty Bumpercar and some of his pals. It is family-friendly, clean, and ridiculous. Thanks a bundle for listening. If you love our show and you'd like to help support the podcast, check out our Patreon page at Also, pretty please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Share it with everyone everywhere, post about it on all of the social medias, or leave a rating and review. The Bumper Podcast is produced at headquarters in Coffee Can Alley. It's recorded, mixed, and produced by a producer. The Bumper Podcast features contributions from Aloysius J. Pig, Rufus T. Rufus, Doodle Poodle, Robot, Trunks, and a gaggle of other silly rascals. Our head talker is probably Natty Bumpercar, We also have an absurd newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Also, you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Hugs and hearts. See you soon. Bye.


