Rodger Bumpass on Voicing Squidward

Published Jun 2, 2022, 7:00 AM

Take a tour of the world’s largest SpongeBob art and merchandise collection held by Rodger Bumpass, who is best known as the voice of Squidward Tentacles. From establishing that rhythmic laugh to the story behind his famous recumbent bicycle, Rodger reminisces on the early years of developing Squidward’s character. 

Hey, everybody, Welcome to SpongeBob Binge Pants. We've got a real treat for you today. We are presenting our interview with Mr Roger bump Us, the voice of squid Word Tentacles, and it is a fantastic one. I am still just so impressed with Rogers SpongeBob square Pants memorabilia collection. I mean, we got to geek out all about that. It was fantastic. So in honor of the Memorial Day weekend, we hope that you enjoy us presenting this interview and listening to it for the second time, or if you're listening to it for the first time, welcome and enjoy our chat with Mr Roger bump Us. Stephen came to me and we established squid Words laugh and he had this antic in mind where he was going to accordion that big nose uh in a rhythmic fashion, and so he explained that to me. So I went, um ha ha ha, you know, any said that's it. Bye bye, you know. Welcome to SpongeBob Binge Pants, Nickelodeon's official podcast about all things SpongeBob. I'm Hector Navarro and I'm Frankie Granding. Hector I'm so excited that we have Roger Bumpus, who plays squid Word Tentacles on our show with us today because, as we've discussed so many times, I think the older I get, the more I am relating to squid were tentacles. Frankie, I just realized this. We have talked to so many of the great voice actors behind the show. We're collecting all of our favorite characters, but we have yet to talk to someone who voices a character from the pilot help wanted until today. That's Roger, That's squid Word. He was there from the very, very very beginning. So this is gonna be awesome. I can't wait to get nerdy and geeky with Roger Bumpus. Here he is, Folks. It's been so great to rewatch the show as adults because Frank and I were watching it when we were younger, but to watch it now, Frank and I have related to squid word more than ever, and I think is one of the reasons that the that the show and all of the dynamics of the characters are so great. Well, thank you not. You just touched on something that I come across quite often, and that is when you're a young person, you identify with SpongeBob his voyash qualities, his innocence, and his fun loving quality. And then when you get to be a young adult, you gotta pay the bills, you gotta have a job, you gotta do all these responsible things. You'll learn what life is really about. You instantly turn into squid Word and the sympathy is right there with him. So it's it's I see this all the time. Oh no, SpongeBob, what could he possibly want? We are talking about the first season, we're talking about the origins of the show. We've talked to all of these amazing folks who've been there from the beginning. Roger, do you remember your audition for squid Word? What was that like? Yes, I do. I remember that day. Back then, things were very very primitive and an analog and you had options of only going into your agent's office and recording or going to a third party audition place you couldn't couldn't do it at home like we're doing it right now. And I went in and I remember that day. I saw I looked at the breakdown and there was a verbal description of him sarcastic, artsy, Uh finicky blah blah blah. And then I saw the look on his face, which has this big honking nose, and that that just kind of shaped how I would would perform his kids character. And I put him in the back, making him a bit nasal because he had that big nose and sarcastic. Oh please, I have no soul. Uh and uh So it just kind of came together and and fortunately that's what Steve wanted, and so he began very very monotonal he was. That was his signature. That was the thing that I hung everything on, was that blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And then as we went along through twenty two years, they gave me more and more different things to do, so that spread the wings and his character became much more fleshed out through the years. And and now he's more me than he was at the beginning. He used to be an alter ego, and now I'm his alter ego. There's like two parts of my brain, like the part of my brain that I want to show to the world and the part of my brain that actually just wants to constantly talk to me all day long. And I realized that that's very squid word, like I have an inner squid word and very amazing. Yeah, we all, we all have that inner squid word that frustrated, uh, sometimes condescending, sarcastic. Uh, just I'm better and yet no one recognizes me uh kind of attitude and and always getting the short end of the stick wherever you go. Only a few times the squid word win, just like live. One of my favorite squid word moments so far we that we've discussed in season one is when squid word um punches the guy who doesn't accept the debates of the pizza ate it all in one bite, another one. Look, I told you a little friend, I ain't paying for that. Wow. First Swan's on that did he change his mind? That's the first time, the first time you ever see that squid word knows he's gone a little too far and he really does have a small amount of affection which he will never admit, of course, for SpongeBob and when when other people this is like when you're a kid and your family and and you say, my dad's a real jerk, and then your your friend says, yeah, he's a real jerk. Well, you can't say that because you're not in the family, you know. I I I abuse SpongeBob all the time, but when somebody else does, then I take up for him. Or when I know that I've gone a little too far, when I like when I gave him the pie with a bomb in it, you know, and then I dying for pie. Those are some of my favorite moments are when Squidward goes a little too far and realize that maybe I should reel it in. Stop Piet bomb let die. The one I left sitting on the counter this morning that I bought from pirates and I didn't know what the bomb and that pe Pi, Oh you mean this pie? I was saving it in my pocket for us to share. Let's what was your initial reaction to the Pilot, like way back in the day when you first saw it, or when you when you first read it. Well, you know, people say, I asked me, what did anybody think it would be this big? And so I said, the course not No, it was just another audition, just another another You go to an audition and you do it, and you never think, hey, I did pretty good. Uh. You never to kiss of death for one thing, and you just you just you go and you forget it. And then I got the part we did the pilot. I got a copy of the pilot. I took it home and played it for my family and they fell asleep. Oh no. And it was only a year or two later when I was just casually talking to somebody on the street and I said, I worked on this show, and their eyes got biggest saucers and they said, wow, you guys are so hip. That I knew that we were kind of onto something. And that's when I started collecting all the merchandise. But yeah, no, no, nobody knew that it would be this. I I liken it too. If I can make the comparison the Beatles, uh in that certain groups, certain people, certain projects come along that are just right for their time, and this was everybody else was half an hour shows. We are a throwback to Looney Tunes of of eleven minute cartoons, shorts, and and we focus on what makes animation animation, like the stortion of characters. You get hit by a frying pan and your face takes the shape of the frying pan. We focus on that a lot, and more so in our in our spinoffs recently. So we are just we just came along at the right time and just kind of clicked with the young people and older people. And just like I used comparison all the time Looney Tunes, that it appeals to little kids because its color, and then that teenagers get us a joke they didn't get when they were five, and adults get another one when they didn't get when they were a teenager. So it's it's it's kind of like a parable that it appeals to a lot of people, a lot of different people for different reasons, different ages, and different backgrounds. We talked to Teal Wang, who is the color Queen of the SpongeBob Universe. Teel is amazing, and we heard that squid words color was really tough to nail down, that originally his name was oct word, that that he was purple, Like, is this true? Is there proto versions of squid word that you remember before we got to that beautiful unique design and color and personality. I do have uh copies on my Stephen Hillenberg wall in my collection here, uh the original design for squid word, uh, and it's very, very different than what they settled on. He had a bulbous head, but not the way you you see it now. He just looked very sad. And then they brought him up a little bit and got a different different post in there. Um. The octoword thing, no, I don't know that. That's a Nickelodeon thing. I always claimed it as my own joke. And then because because people will ask, well, squid word an octopus and I say, well, yes, he is an octopus. And they said, well, why is he called squid word? And I said, well, octoword just didn't cut it, you know. And and the color I don't know about this color thing. I people say, oh, look that that's a blue like squid word. No, no, he's green. He's green. And I've seen images of him, official images of him in both tones. So I have no idea what is color really is. It's it's like that dress that was blue and white at the same time that jet dressed from a few years ago. You know, everybody has different perceptions of color and everything. But like those special car paint jobs that you look at it from the east and it's purple, you look at it from the west and it's like a green. You know, Roger, have you run into fans that are like marine biologists or scientists today and they're like, I am in my profession because of SpongeBob. Well, all the marine biologists that I know have a new career in animation after Stephen. Yeah, they said, wet stuff, I'm gonna make some money in animation. It's a great point. That's a great point. Yeah, you know, um Stephen always incorporated. If you look at the the various uh residents of Bikini Bottom, you'll see all kinds of real versions of fish, the flat fish that have the eye on one side only. And uh, I'll bet you know you can learn something about marine biology by watching our show. I bet a lot of people didn't realize that fish walk underwater, and they have camp fires and busses and uh you know, and and fast food places. Yeah you didn't know that, I bet you and and all their houses are discarded automobile mufflers. Yeah, sorry, Mr Krass. Before it's like, I gotta tell you about do you have any fun memories from working on the very the very beginning of the series. I remember some some weirdness. I remember that very first day we had this one little recording studio that we we recorded that and I remember the first time I was watching Tom do his character. He did the character. Okay, so that's that's what he sounds like. I got you. And uh, Tom has a a liberty in the SpongeBob's character to go into completely different voices. He can do a heroic person or you know whatever. And he did that and I and I kind of looked at him and went, what are you doing? That's not the character. You just completely broke the character. What are you an idiot? You know that I realized that's that's totally allowable for for SpongeBob. And then on the very same day, Clancy Brown, who I just love. He's a great guy, but his his resume preceded him and he has this great look, great acting chops in his Teddy Bear. But we all we joke with him that we were afraid of him when we first saw him. You know, we didn't I don't want I don't want to chat him up. No, just to do it whatever, you know, it's fine. And then of course we learned he you know, he's just the best guy in the world. And that that day Stephen aimed to me and we established squid words laugh, and he had this antic in mind where he was going to accordion that big nose in a rhythmic fashion. And so he explained that to me. So I went, um ha ha ha, you know, and he said, that's it, bye bye, you know he was. He was that easy to work with. Okay, you got it by next. Next is so cool though, Like you got to create squid words. Laugh that's yours. Well, not only is the laugh yours, but I read that you were also the inspiration for another element of squid word, which is his really cool bicycle that you rides. It first appeared in the first movie. Tell us a story behind this bicycle. And do you remember what it was like to work on the movie? You guys did three seasons and then the movie happens. What was that experienced? Like, Yeah, I ride what's called a recumbent bicycle. If you can imagine a chopper, which is the geometric model for this particular blind cycle, You're you're kind of laying back a little bit. The word recumbent means reclining and it's very very very comfortable. It's it's once. Once you do that, you won't go back to upright blind cycles. And I was riding in the park one day and Stephen Hillenbergh and his son were walking by and he sees me on the bike. We stopped in chat and then I let him ride the bike. Soon after that they decided that whenever Squidwood rides a bike, it's going to be a recumbent. We've been talking to the cast and the crew and everybody has sort of different points of realization of Oh, this is going to be a massive hit, or this is this phenomenon or what have you? Uh, what what was that moment for you? And what was it like to uh to be able to star in this this big movie. That's it came out after the third season when I saw that when you walk into a store, the merchandise is everywhere, not just in the toy things, but in the automotive section, in the greening card section, in the bath section. And I saw, Wow, this this is really being been promoted like crazy. There must be something going on. And I started seeing the ratings and starting seeing the word of mouth and stuff, and said, wow, this is this is really really catching on. So I said, well, I'm gonna ride this pony. I'm going to collect everything. So and as far as that that first movie goes that that was that was wonderful. Um, we some of us have this little ink because if you remember that first movie, everybody except Sponge and Pat were kind of taken out of the movie. We were frozen or we were you know, taking and so it was just a road movie with Sponge and Pats. So when the second movie was announced, we we kind of just went up to Steven and said, could we be in this one please? And and of course they did much much better for that for us. You guys, you guys were superheroes. You guys were definitely along for the ride in the stuff a Quint movies. Yeah, look at me, I'm oh god, Yes. So okay, is it time should we talk about your collection now? Well, considering I keep talking about it, we may as well get it over with. So do you collect all things SpongeBob? We're just squid word all things SpongeBob. There's only a few things that I haven't collected that are just too big. I saw a kid's picnic table and I just didn't have run for that. But uh, when I saw so much stuff out there, I went, you know, I'd like to start a collection of some kind. And this is this is the prime candidate right here, and so I I am literally going to um submit it to Guinness. And because I really do believe I have It's not just merchandise, it's memorabilia because like we do a movie and we have all the cast signed the posters, and I've got that. Everybody in the cast has that. But nobody else can have that sort of a thing. And fans do do a lot of artwork and they get it to me. So I've got I've got a whole wall room of just fan artwork, and there's there's some between three and four thousand pieces that I have right now. And the handsome squid word is one of the crowd favorites. They actually figure that. But but the top of the entire thing, I think besides the Monopoly set, which you see your little Pewter player piece, and that's such an iconic thing to have that I just love that. But it's the toilet training kit that I am most brought up, I think, Yeah, and I'm very proud to say that I am just about to master it. So yeah, you keep at it. Does that come that comes in hand? Is that toilet training kit comes with your guys voices? Because I don't know if that would be encouraging or weird if your guys voices were like, come on, kids, I never thought of that. Nickelodeon merchandise things, They're like, yes, kid, kid, more fiber. Please one thing that that is something that no one else can have, and that is ever so often the artists for SpongeBob will do a small gallery collection of things, and they'll have them in the hallways of Nickelodeon, and they sell them and I snarf them up right away. I've got I've got my whole wall of fan art plus Nickelodeon art, and it's it's absolutely which which brings me to this life imitating art here. Um. You know, when you see squid words house, he's he's so narcissistic in a certain respect that he only paints self portraits, so so all his interior walls have various versions of him. Well, in in the course of my collection, which is the wall stuff is only squid Word I have, my house has become squid Word's house. It's it's it's all self portraits of squid wridd in various iterations. It's my secret secret, uh conceded quality that's not really me. But it's something I do on television. All right, right, right, so who is it, Patron, It's Captain Doug quays Are. I'm locked out. I need you to open the ship Star. I'm sorry, Dug. I'm afraid I can't do that. What I caught you can. It's an order. I'm the captain huddle. If it's so, captain always has his keys with him. His keys are right here. Who can you gonna go? The real Captain's lost up Jack Star, No, no Captain here. The Patrick Star show, I think is so remarkable and so zaney, Like, what is it like getting to now have live it's on other shows, Yeah, it's it's it's spanding your personal universe, creative universe and and the presentation universe, and you get to just really spread your wings and and well here's an aspect of squid word. At Camp Coral. He's a younger person, right, Like he's a counselor. He's a little older than the rest of the campers. And so what I always wanted to do was to give some sort of indication of his being a teenager, like I'm the oldest person in this room. You know, have their voice crack you know and and so you get this, you get as a as an audience member, backstory, We get backstory to create, so it's it's always something new, and even though it's a familiar, uh much loved character that from from an actor's standpoint, it's it's so new every time we do it because it's in a wholly different universe. So hopefully this is just as much fun for the audience members exploring these aspects as it is for us to try to create Them's the big day, squid Word. I don't want to be like, gotta hurry, hold hold everything. I would not want to business that day, Spongebobs, I can't believe it's really happening. Don't worry, squid Word, I'll come visit you. Don't trying to cheer me off, SpongeBob. Please. I've fallen like even more in love with squid Word also as I've gotten older, because I realized like he is just like a tormented artist, you know, like he's just like he just wants to paint and play the clarinet, but that he still has to work in a fast food joint. He is underpaid, underappreciated, underwater is people, you know they're struggling to find their place on this planet. Uh, and relate to he is what a lot of people go through it in an extreme example, of course, but everybody goes through this, this frustration and this I was not appreciated, you know kind of thing. Um. Yeah, he's he's just the epitome for for for a lot of people of what life sometimes can be. But he does succeed occasionally too. He's not He's not a total, total hopeless entity. He does succeed. All it takes is a little canned bread and house fancy and some Earl gray tea or clamamile tea as I call it. Uh. And and he's he's happy and peace and quiet. That's all he wants is peace and quiet and a little recognition. We talked to the amazing Mary Joe Catlett, the voice of Mrs Poe the Story where she was once recognized by her voice, and she also told told us that sometimes kids ask her why she's so mean to SpongeBob. Do kids ever ask you the same or do they ever say, hey, I feel bad for squid word? Like, what's the kind of kid response that you've that you've experienced? I get both those responses. Uh. And and as far as the recognization the voice, I have to tell you this. I went with from the Chauffeurst started and I was collecting my merchandise. I was, I was in the checkout thing, and I had a whole bunch of SpongeBob stuff. This little teenage guy was in the checkout and he said, well, somebody must like SpongeBob and I said, yeah, I kind of work on the show and alone. And he says, um, couldn't you do the voice? I said, and I did the voice? And he goes in typical board teenager quality. Yeah, it's pretty good, but from a teenager that is high praise. Roger. Actually, I love the show, and I know he did. I get both those requests from people. Questions, brother, why is he the way he is with SpongeBob and and my answer is always this because he's annoying yang and so we it's the same answer. It's it's it's what we do. All the characters in the show have a very distinct category. You got the the miser, you got the megalomaniac. You've got the artist and the technician and whatever, and so they don't nobody really steps on each other as far as the characters go, and it's and it's a challenge to have them interact sometimes and and have that little overlap of of of characteristics. So it's one of the writing challenges for for everybody. But yeah, we're all very distinctive in our in our little little niche of who we are. If there's an art thing going on, squid Word has to be a part of that, you know. If there's money involved, Crabs has to be a part of that. You know. Talking about all those dynamics, Roger like, these characters are also amazing. They also have such great dynamics with one another, and there really isn't overlap. I mean, even squid Word at his worst, he's not the antagonist of the show. That's Plankton, right. You know, we know what kind of role squid Word has with this friend group and this cast of characters. Do you have a favorite dynamic to play with, whether it's squid Word and SpongeBob, squid Word and Patrick squid Word and Crabs, like, which one of those is your favorite to kind of play around with? Yes, there's I tell people there's a lot though that I have Tom and I have a kind of a rapport and it relates to uh, the old nineteen fifties show of the Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Art Carney was the SpongeBob kind of character, the goofy kind of character, and he would oftentimes go off on a repetitive gag like if you're trying to sign something, he would, you know, throw the throw the arm out to get the cuff of the of the sleeve up. And he would do it again and then again and again and again and again to the point of surrealist. Uh. And then finally Jackie Gleeson would have enough of this and he would go all right. And that's exactly the dynamic that we do quite often with SpongeBob and and and squid Word, and we as its two actors interact quite quite well. We have this just this little chemistry, that's all. But we had the same thing with everybody else. But I just noticed that in the times that it's only SpongeBob and and Squidward. So that's that's the one that I like. Is there a dynamic that you haven't explored yet? Well, I have. I haven't really had that in mind because and and it's a good thing because the writers keep coming up with those those new interactions. And so there was the one time when Squidward fell in love with this girl and he had to have and he was just frozen and he could he was incapacitated, and so SpongeBob had to do a practice date with him. And that's that's a very very fun episode two. Oh no, you don't, Patrick, You cannot just barge in here like this. SpongeBob and I are in practicest dates. Open, well, this is my home, silly next scres me, How is this supposed to help me on my real date? Which, by the way, it begins in five nuts. But but yeah, the writers keep coming up with because they have to. Long running comedy shows have a voracious appetite for material, and you've got to come up with new things, very real. This is what I love about. Also, Mr Lawrence is writing, because it's it's way off there. It's I I see some of his scripts and I say, do you often write in an opium? Den? Uh? But all the writers are really really great. I mean I just I just know that he wrote this one particular thing, and I went my Gosh, Doug Decalf, you know way out there. One of my personal favorites is Squilliam fancy Son. Like that whole episode. The fact that you have met Squilliams several times, that you have this kind of counterpart is just that was delightful. Squill Young fancy Son from band class. I hear you're playing the cash Register now, but sometimes how's the Uni Brown. It's big and value. I'm the leader. I'm a big empty band now and we're supposed to play the Babble Bowl next week. That's right, I'm living your dreams. Squid word, Yeah. De d Bradley Baker is is an absolutely a very prolific, prolific voice actor. He can do he's he's one of our what I call utility of cast members that do all these all these characters that sometimes there's just one one character. Him and Serena. Everyone also um and he does um the bubble bass and Perge Perkins. Those are recurring characters. But he does all kinds of just one one time things and he's very very good and so but his his squillium is spot on. Everybody in the show has had to do squid squid word at some time when when I went when I had the early episodes of going to Squidville, Uh, the entire cast had to do the various residents there, and so I feel so ununique because everyone can do my character, but Roger, like you, one like you. I mean, it's true, like Tom is just perfect for SpongeBob, you know, Bill is Patrick. You guys are so perfect in these roles. And it's so fun to hear everybody to, you know, doing the impressions of everyone else. We finally found you. Get off me, and I'm not squid word or you squid word. No gravant, says first town is that gravance? There should be a long and so many stuck up type wads living in one place this city type destroyde or at least painted a different color. F Y, I you don't have to live here, you know. Hey, you're right, and I'm leaving you squid wid No, Roger, do you have a favorite type of SpongeBob episode? A type of episode? What I love really is, first of all, the range that squid word is required to perform in He he is the sarcastic observer of the insanity behind him, and when he has that that comment of um, God got him both, you know kind of thing. And then the opposite end of that is when things get too much for him and he gets to go apoplectic and I get to scream a whole lot. I do love to scream. It's very therapeutic. I save a lot on psychiatry fees. And so that is what I really do love is when he talks, but not long winded. I never get long winded passages of dialogue anyway. But it's it's when that just little talk thing that and that observation thing. That's what I really do like about. But squid word, But what that one episode when SpongeBob discovers Mermaid Man's utility belt and he zapps squid word and it shrinks him down to action figure size, and he keeps it, keeps trying to scream to transform him back by by pushing the buttons again, and each time he does it, it's more horrible thing, no skin on fire, no no bones, whatever, And he had to scream each time. From that point on, they learned that I could scream, and they make me scream every episode. Roger, it's no question that SpongeBob has left its mark on pop culture. But how did you react when you found out that Iron Man called a bad guy from outer space squid word? Oh that was great? How cool was that the time start SpongeBob SquarePants. I absolutely love that kind of a thing in my collection. I might add I have a book of uh newspaper comic strips through the years that mentioned SpongeBob everything, and that in itself is a testament to the iconic status of the show. It's like monopoly pieces if when you're in a comic strip in reference to your show is something that the artists in the car tunas thinks is a funny, good thing. You've You've You've arrived. That's great. Has Squidward been a jeopardy answer? Yes, yes it has. Um, I don't know if its Squidward has. I think it has. But but SpongeBob for sure has been a jeopardy thing. Yeah. Where do you go from there? Where we go from here? Where do you see the future of SpongeBob SquarePants go? I I am still amazed that we still have legs and I have six and uh, that people still like us, they are still watching their and we're multigenerational. Definitely. Two generations, but I've seen a third generation now, so you know, it's it's it's it's to be a part of that legacy. To be a part of something so literally iconic in American culture is something to be exceedingly grateful. Roger. We we're grateful for you, man. This has been such a joy for Frank and I to get to talk to you. We thank you. We hope you know that like we love this character, we love the show. We appreciate everything that you guys have been doing over the past twenty two years now and can't wait to see week where it goes from here. Thank you so much, man, Roger, You're hilarious man. Thank you well, thank you, thank you. And and just just for my own personal feelings, I'm hoping that the future that the SpongeBob universe lasts just a little longer than the Pyramids. Yes, Roger bump Us, everybody did not disappoint. He's funnier than squid word. He was so hilarious and so gracious and so grateful and thankful. Like I'm not usually start struck, even like with Mary Joe, who I love so much, but there was something about um Roger that just made me kind of like a little bit star truck. I think it's because of the character. Also, like your squid word takes himself so seriously, so I was like, I was like, oh no, Like maybe Roger does too. But he was so wonderful and it was so um crying once again, huge thanks to Roger Bumpus. Folks, we hope that you enjoyed. He was really hysterical. We hope that you guys like that interview. Let us know what you thought, let us know what your favorite part of talking to Roger Bumpus was. Let us know about your favorite squid word moment. And we're gonna be back with more interviews, more episode breakdowns, and more SpongeBob binge pants next time. We'll see you then. By

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