In this episode of the Bumperpodcast, Natty decides that everyone should start being nice to each other which leads to some heartfelt apologies.
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In episode 456 of the Bumperpodcast, Natty Bumpercar and the gang attempt something unusual: being nice to each other. After a listener points out they can't remember an episode where the characters were actually nice, Natty decides it's time to change things up. The episode features Natty, Rufus T. Rufus, and Producer navigating the awkward territory of polite conversation and apologies. Rufus explains his theory about the dangerous "sorry slope" and why he refuses to apologize for anything, while the crew attempts to make amends for how they treated Producer and the new microphone in the previous episode. This hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt episode explores the comedy of forced niceness and why saying sorry can be so difficult for some puppets.
“That's what I call the sorry slope. The second you put your foot on the sorry slope you could get stuck, you could get pulled all the way down.”
— Rufus T. Rufus
“When you hang out with people all the time you don't ask them how they're doing because you just see them all the time and so you know.”
— Natty Bumpercar
“It's okay to say you're sorry. It doesn't make you less of a person, it actually makes you more of a person.”
— Natty Bumpercar
Topics: #friendship #apologies #communication #conflictresolution #awkwardsocialsituations #niceness #microphone
Featuring: Natty Bumpercar, Rufus T. Rufus, Producer
Natty Bumpercar: so today i think we're going to be nice which is different for us because sometimes we're not as nice as we should be and somebody pointed out to me that they don't even remember an episode where we were actually nice to each other and i i take that as a problem you know something to fix so hey guys how's it going no that didn't feel right hey no okay hey pig what what like that
Rufus T. Rufus: sup hey sup with you uh yeah i think it's fine it'll be easy to be nice to each other right the uh the weather is uh dreary outside it's cloudy it's kind of gray uh the ground seems to be marshy uh so that's fun really gets everyone's attention and uh so i think it's fine i think it's fine i think it's fine i think it's in the spirit uh and uh the kids are about to be home from school for the rest of the summer so that's gonna be very pleasant very happy times everybody's thrilled with that uh yeah oh boy so uh i guess i'll ask the question uh natty how are you doing i mean it just sounds so weird when we
Natty Bumpercar: i don't know when we say when we say hi to each other or we like it sounds what is it disingenuous is the word i'm looking for uh which is strange because we hang out all the time but i guess we don't normally just ask i guess when you hang out with people all the time you don't ask them how they're doing because you just you see them all the time and so you know in one way it could be annoying where if i see you several times a day and i'm like how are you doing they're like back off still doing the same but you're actually making me kind of agitated so in that instance you're trying to be nice by asking someone how they're doing and i'm like how are you doing how they're doing but i guess they're just being asked too much is that what it is it's like a there's must there's some social contractor oh okay yeah all right hello rufus yeah hey there
Rufus T. Rufus: now i heard you talking about a social contract and as you know i'm the one around here who loves to to facilitate to uh possibilitate to uh recreate and to uh designate and never deviate from uh the contracts from the from the the letters of the law from the structure of the pen to the paper you understand there's indentations there's bullet points there's the little things that are inside bullet points like hollow bullet points and then sometimes i've seen it where people go bullet point indent hollow bullet point in dent you go back to a bullet point what world is that even i'm gonna get confused i gotta get my glasses on okay so uh i heard everybody talking how is everybody doing it don't feel right it just feels strange for some reason yeah no i i get it um we gotta
Natty Bumpercar: figure that out um you know one thing we could talk about the last episode that we had which i i am so sorry it was a little while ago but if i even bother to tell you how much life has been to me lately um i you would never you would never listen again because you would be too busy being sad um but that's okay because we we we pick ourselves up and we throw ourselves back down the hill once again um it's a grassy hill don't worry so it was hay at the bottom of it so it's okay you just roll and then you're in the hay it's fine uh but the last episode i think that we had um there was a new microphone oh yeah i remember the new microphone right yeah yes and he it i don't remember uh she they they we'll go with they had a lot of problems uh or they caused a lot of problems um i don't remember you know now that i mentioned i don't even remember what it was but i do know that there was a new microphone and that there were issues which is shocking for this show everything normally goes so smoothly and uh goes off without a hitch so you know uh where
Producer: is the new microphone why we're back to the old old stuff yeah so we you know we were really having a problem in the last episode and you know everybody seemed to be having a difficult time and so i was just like
Rufus T. Rufus: hold on i don't even know i apologize i was i didn't keep up with that last part i don't speak frog as fluently as i probably should but it sounded like you said uh or something like that if i got that wrong or right i don't know but i definitely don't even understand what it means or could mean the potential of what it could mean yeah uh producer you i huh we're trying to be nice to everybody in this episode so i'm just gonna stick with that and what what what what did you
Producer: just say well first off i just want to say that i'm all in and behind the um uh the the idea to make this show nice you know when we first started everybody was friends we're all new to each other and we're you know kind of seeing like okay maybe this person can be my friend and then over the years of you know living together and not getting paid and just kind of being around each other all the time and then we went through the the whole thing that we couldn't leave the house for a long time you know it it became very very closed in and yeah you know we maybe don't uh we're not as nice to each other as we as we as we used to to to be um now that's what i was saying about the microphone it was causing a lot of trouble and uh so it's currently in our av closet which is our audio and video closet it's actually a v e audio video equipment so i put it in the description box and i'm going to put it in the description box right now and you know it just i'm trying to test some things out make sure everything is working properly and then you know maybe we'll bring it back in i don't know yeah no that thank
Natty Bumpercar: you producer for uh for doing that as i remember and i don't want to bring up any bad memories but that last episode uh you were really getting it i i don't know who it was from i don't know where it was from but people were seeing this is our episode we're going to be nice not just to each other but we're going to figure out ways that we can be nice to other people which is a crazy concept i know um but i i think i'm going to apologize because i don't remember if i was uh part and parcel part of being mean to you in the last episode and if i was then i uh apologize and i'm gonna see if uh if aloesius if you want uh rufus maybe you guys want to say
Rufus T. Rufus: something to producer yeah sure i also don't really remember the last episode i do remember something about him microphone because it was in the spot where i usually you know put my uh my my cup of water this microphone is hanging from the ceiling that microphone was on the table and so i remember getting very parched and sometimes when i get parched i i lash out a little bit and um you know producer you have a hard job thankless job and i i want to say that i'm also very sorry that uh if and that natty was mean to you in the last episode because you don't deserve that you do a lot of hard work around here right why did you just put
Natty Bumpercar: it back on me like i already did my apology and then you did this big build-up and gave a reason for why you might have been feisty and then you didn't say sorry you just said sorry that i was
Rufus T. Rufus: mean but uh what about you rufus well now in my line of business it's uh it's something it's we don't ever uh start apologizing for nothing because once you say you're sorry now that means you're taking responsibility for something bad that might have happened and you know once you take responsibility the next logical step there is that uh somebody might take advantage of your uh uh having responsibility uh uh having responsibility and the vulnerability that you have then opened up to have to rectify the situation that you were quote end quote sorry about so i will refrain from uh saying those those actual words let me think here but i uh i do feel bad producer at the last episode with the microphone uh again i agree with uh how mean how rude how just unnecessary uh and that it was was to you so i not you know what i will stand up for your rights okay right yeah and maybe he's gonna say he's sorry but i don't know i don't know if he's gonna well i already did i was the first
Natty Bumpercar: one and i actually did say that i was sorry and which fine i'm sorry but i don't know if he's gonna say that i'm sorry but i'm taking responsibility for not being nice that's a good thing okay if you make a mistake or you you are not nice to somebody if you're rude or short it's okay to say you're sorry okay it doesn't make you less of a person it actually makes you more of a person a better person because you then are showing that you have the ability to recognize that you have faults to recognize that you're not always perfect regardless of what you've been told your whole life show the people that you know you empathize with them you know it humanizes you it makes you just i don't know more relatable and easier to make a connection with and more present because you know a lot of times people do bad things and if you say anything they'll actually get mad that you called them out on doing the bad thing and then i've i know i have and then i've been like oh 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 know i'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry and i'm apologizing just for letting them know that this bad thing has happened that they were involved in does that make any sense no
Rufus T. Rufus: now i'm i'm a little so okay you're saying somebody does something bad right and then they have the option i guess they have a few options they can just walk away right ignore it they can decide to uh apologize maybe try to fix the situation right or and this one's kind of funny i mean not funny haha but funny whoa what's wrong with this world uh they might actually get angry that you noticed that they did something wrong or bad and then they might not only not say they're sorry to you but then cause you to say sorry to them and then they might say sorry to you somehow feel guilt where you're then apologizing for the thing that they did or for i don't understand well now this is what i was talking about and this is a slippery slope this is the dangerous vortex that you can fall into if you're not careful all right and that's what i call the sorry slope didn't just make that up sorry slope where you step on it and the second you put your foot on the sorry slope you could get stuck you could get pulled all the way down to the sorry slope right sometimes like what nat is saying people might even push you down the sorry slope you didn't even have nothing to do with it you were just a bystander innocent just minding your own business and then something bad happens you say oh something bad boom they push you down the sorry slope then where are you you're nowhere huh that's why never in my life will i ever say that word much like uh fonzarella i go i'm does he remember that because i can't even say the word is what i'm saying i'm like that so i almost said it right there almost okay anyway that's that was too close for me i was looking over this right over the edge of that sorry slope
Producer: yeah but uh i guess i appreciate it everyone everyone's close to saying sorry or apologizing for natty there's seen it's It seems like the right thing to do, honestly.
Natty Bumpercar: Yeah, but I don't understand why I'm now to blame for everything. All I did was apologize. Does that not make me nice? 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 nattybumpercar.com slash subscribe. Also, you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Natty Bumpercar. Hugs and hearts. See you soon.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS | subscribe
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS | subscribe
Natty Bumpercar: so today i think we're going to be nice which is different for us because sometimes we're not as nice as we should be and somebody pointed out to me that they don't even remember an episode where we were actually nice to each other and i i take that as a problem you know something to fix so hey guys how's it going no that didn't feel right hey no okay hey pig what what like that
Rufus T. Rufus: sup hey sup with you uh yeah i think it's fine it'll be easy to be nice to each other right the uh the weather is uh dreary outside it's cloudy it's kind of gray uh the ground seems to be marshy uh so that's fun really gets everyone's attention and uh so i think it's fine i think it's fine i think it's fine i think it's in the spirit uh and uh the kids are about to be home from school for the rest of the summer so that's gonna be very pleasant very happy times everybody's thrilled with that uh yeah oh boy so uh i guess i'll ask the question uh natty how are you doing i mean it just sounds so weird when we
Natty Bumpercar: i don't know when we say when we say hi to each other or we like it sounds what is it disingenuous is the word i'm looking for uh which is strange because we hang out all the time but i guess we don't normally just ask i guess when you hang out with people all the time you don't ask them how they're doing because you just you see them all the time and so you know in one way it could be annoying where if i see you several times a day and i'm like how are you doing they're like back off still doing the same but you're actually making me kind of agitated so in that instance you're trying to be nice by asking someone how they're doing and i'm like how are you doing how they're doing but i guess they're just being asked too much is that what it is it's like a there's must there's some social contractor oh okay yeah all right hello rufus yeah hey there
Rufus T. Rufus: now i heard you talking about a social contract and as you know i'm the one around here who loves to to facilitate to uh possibilitate to uh recreate and to uh designate and never deviate from uh the contracts from the from the the letters of the law from the structure of the pen to the paper you understand there's indentations there's bullet points there's the little things that are inside bullet points like hollow bullet points and then sometimes i've seen it where people go bullet point indent hollow bullet point in dent you go back to a bullet point what world is that even i'm gonna get confused i gotta get my glasses on okay so uh i heard everybody talking how is everybody doing it don't feel right it just feels strange for some reason yeah no i i get it um we gotta
Natty Bumpercar: figure that out um you know one thing we could talk about the last episode that we had which i i am so sorry it was a little while ago but if i even bother to tell you how much life has been to me lately um i you would never you would never listen again because you would be too busy being sad um but that's okay because we we we pick ourselves up and we throw ourselves back down the hill once again um it's a grassy hill don't worry so it was hay at the bottom of it so it's okay you just roll and then you're in the hay it's fine uh but the last episode i think that we had um there was a new microphone oh yeah i remember the new microphone right yeah yes and he it i don't remember uh she they they we'll go with they had a lot of problems uh or they caused a lot of problems um i don't remember you know now that i mentioned i don't even remember what it was but i do know that there was a new microphone and that there were issues which is shocking for this show everything normally goes so smoothly and uh goes off without a hitch so you know uh where
Producer: is the new microphone why we're back to the old old stuff yeah so we you know we were really having a problem in the last episode and you know everybody seemed to be having a difficult time and so i was just like
Rufus T. Rufus: hold on i don't even know i apologize i was i didn't keep up with that last part i don't speak frog as fluently as i probably should but it sounded like you said uh or something like that if i got that wrong or right i don't know but i definitely don't even understand what it means or could mean the potential of what it could mean yeah uh producer you i huh we're trying to be nice to everybody in this episode so i'm just gonna stick with that and what what what what did you
Producer: just say well first off i just want to say that i'm all in and behind the um uh the the idea to make this show nice you know when we first started everybody was friends we're all new to each other and we're you know kind of seeing like okay maybe this person can be my friend and then over the years of you know living together and not getting paid and just kind of being around each other all the time and then we went through the the whole thing that we couldn't leave the house for a long time you know it it became very very closed in and yeah you know we maybe don't uh we're not as nice to each other as we as we as we used to to to be um now that's what i was saying about the microphone it was causing a lot of trouble and uh so it's currently in our av closet which is our audio and video closet it's actually a v e audio video equipment so i put it in the description box and i'm going to put it in the description box right now and you know it just i'm trying to test some things out make sure everything is working properly and then you know maybe we'll bring it back in i don't know yeah no that thank
Natty Bumpercar: you producer for uh for doing that as i remember and i don't want to bring up any bad memories but that last episode uh you were really getting it i i don't know who it was from i don't know where it was from but people were seeing this is our episode we're going to be nice not just to each other but we're going to figure out ways that we can be nice to other people which is a crazy concept i know um but i i think i'm going to apologize because i don't remember if i was uh part and parcel part of being mean to you in the last episode and if i was then i uh apologize and i'm gonna see if uh if aloesius if you want uh rufus maybe you guys want to say
Rufus T. Rufus: something to producer yeah sure i also don't really remember the last episode i do remember something about him microphone because it was in the spot where i usually you know put my uh my my cup of water this microphone is hanging from the ceiling that microphone was on the table and so i remember getting very parched and sometimes when i get parched i i lash out a little bit and um you know producer you have a hard job thankless job and i i want to say that i'm also very sorry that uh if and that natty was mean to you in the last episode because you don't deserve that you do a lot of hard work around here right why did you just put
Natty Bumpercar: it back on me like i already did my apology and then you did this big build-up and gave a reason for why you might have been feisty and then you didn't say sorry you just said sorry that i was
Rufus T. Rufus: mean but uh what about you rufus well now in my line of business it's uh it's something it's we don't ever uh start apologizing for nothing because once you say you're sorry now that means you're taking responsibility for something bad that might have happened and you know once you take responsibility the next logical step there is that uh somebody might take advantage of your uh uh having responsibility uh uh having responsibility and the vulnerability that you have then opened up to have to rectify the situation that you were quote end quote sorry about so i will refrain from uh saying those those actual words let me think here but i uh i do feel bad producer at the last episode with the microphone uh again i agree with uh how mean how rude how just unnecessary uh and that it was was to you so i not you know what i will stand up for your rights okay right yeah and maybe he's gonna say he's sorry but i don't know i don't know if he's gonna well i already did i was the first
Natty Bumpercar: one and i actually did say that i was sorry and which fine i'm sorry but i don't know if he's gonna say that i'm sorry but i'm taking responsibility for not being nice that's a good thing okay if you make a mistake or you you are not nice to somebody if you're rude or short it's okay to say you're sorry okay it doesn't make you less of a person it actually makes you more of a person a better person because you then are showing that you have the ability to recognize that you have faults to recognize that you're not always perfect regardless of what you've been told your whole life show the people that you know you empathize with them you know it humanizes you it makes you just i don't know more relatable and easier to make a connection with and more present because you know a lot of times people do bad things and if you say anything they'll actually get mad that you called them out on doing the bad thing and then i've i know i have and then i've been like oh 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 know i'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry and i'm apologizing just for letting them know that this bad thing has happened that they were involved in does that make any sense no
Rufus T. Rufus: now i'm i'm a little so okay you're saying somebody does something bad right and then they have the option i guess they have a few options they can just walk away right ignore it they can decide to uh apologize maybe try to fix the situation right or and this one's kind of funny i mean not funny haha but funny whoa what's wrong with this world uh they might actually get angry that you noticed that they did something wrong or bad and then they might not only not say they're sorry to you but then cause you to say sorry to them and then they might say sorry to you somehow feel guilt where you're then apologizing for the thing that they did or for i don't understand well now this is what i was talking about and this is a slippery slope this is the dangerous vortex that you can fall into if you're not careful all right and that's what i call the sorry slope didn't just make that up sorry slope where you step on it and the second you put your foot on the sorry slope you could get stuck you could get pulled all the way down to the sorry slope right sometimes like what nat is saying people might even push you down the sorry slope you didn't even have nothing to do with it you were just a bystander innocent just minding your own business and then something bad happens you say oh something bad boom they push you down the sorry slope then where are you you're nowhere huh that's why never in my life will i ever say that word much like uh fonzarella i go i'm does he remember that because i can't even say the word is what i'm saying i'm like that so i almost said it right there almost okay anyway that's that was too close for me i was looking over this right over the edge of that sorry slope
Producer: yeah but uh i guess i appreciate it everyone everyone's close to saying sorry or apologizing for natty there's seen it's It seems like the right thing to do, honestly.
Natty Bumpercar: Yeah, but I don't understand why I'm now to blame for everything. All I did was apologize. Does that not make me nice? 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 nattybumpercar.com slash subscribe. Also, you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Natty Bumpercar. Hugs and hearts. See you soon.
