James Brubaker

**James Brubaker** is a long-running friend of *halfwayokay* whose calls and prerecorded contributions reach back to the earliest episodes. His appearances include spooky stories, literary discussion, puns, poetry, corrections, paranormal accounts, soundboard impressions, birthday messages, and deliberately escalating suggestions for show bits.

Across the archive, James moves comfortably between absurd performance and reflective conversation. Later appearances revisit aging, nostalgia, media criticism, the ethics of on-air jokes, his history with Bingo, and a Tender Moment with Bruce about regret, a missed record-shopping trip, Camp Winkler, and Bruce’s friend Bella.

Calls and appearances

• Episode 9: Fussy Little Sasso — James Brubaker leaves a prerecorded voicemail responding to a record-shopping recollection and saying he enjoys the podcast.
• Episode 15: Weird Easter — James Brubaker submits one continuous spooky-story voicemail about a frightening childhood experience.
• Episode 33: Roseanne Will Not Divide Us — James Brubaker contributes a prerecorded Trick 'em Up voicemail about a Belize tsunami warning ending with the pun 'what a reef.'
• Episode 41: Get Con'd — An older Belize honeymoon recording begins and is stopped when the hosts identify it as the wrong archival file.
• Episode 41: Get Con'd — James gives a facetious Congo plot about two grifters ending in a how'd-that-con-go pun and is disqualified.
• Episode 46: Goblin Maze — James Brubaker delivers a prerecorded birthday wish for Danny.
• Episode 53: Pickle-Party at the Skeleton House — Dr. James Brubaker responds to the Catcher in the Rye discussion and explains his view of reading and teaching literature.
• Episode 64: The Secret Tickle — James initially selects Bingo, retracts that choice after listing criticisms, and votes for Danny as the nicer host.
• Episode 65: Party of Sixty-Five — James says he did not watch Party of Five season one, watched an R.E.M. performance clip instead, and may catch up next time.
• Episode 67: Weird Easter: The Harvest — James introduces and reads an attributed Dan Crocker scary poem as his recurring Weird Easter story contribution.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 1.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 2.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 3.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 5 using a different name phrase.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 6.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 7 with a color-name variation.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 8 with a Pokemon variation.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 9 with a prolonged delivery.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 10 with long pauses and repeated name fragments.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — James records soundboard impersonation attempt 11.
• Episode 74: Dragon Dice In A Nutshell — The deferred fourth Bingo soundboard impersonation attempt plays as a post-credit sting.
• Episode 98: Teatime for Severed Heads — Brubaker calls while driving in light rain and discusses changing his view of decaf coffee as he has aged and become more sensitive to caffeine.
• Episode 100: Last Chance for Homecoming King — James Brubaker performs a Bruniverse quintuple haiku.
• Episode 101: Squirrels and Ghosts — James reminds listeners that a newly released episode means it is Thursday rather than Wednesday.
• Episode 105: Strange Company — James recounts three paranormal experiences in one presentation pre-edited from three cut-off voicemail source files: unexplained typing, his deceased grandmother's familiar figure, and a woman in white disappearing near a cemetery.
• Episode 107: Bed Full of Dogs — James argues that historical context should temper modern reactions to old media, discusses David Lee Roth and political correctness, and asks whether the hosts have seen Midsommar.
• Episode 109: Great Value Brand Nemesis — James corrects the hosts' pronunciation of Tate Dose and says the phrase does not mean only what they claimed.
• Episode 109: Great Value Brand Nemesis — James explains fluid Generation X and millennial boundaries and describes identifying culturally with both.
• Episode 111: The Exorcism of Jonathan Van Ness — James supplies the short Fact Checked correction that the Montreal Expos no longer exist.
• Episode 116: Knowhutimean, Vernius? — James suggests that the hosts play charades on the audio podcast.
• Episode 116: Knowhutimean, Vernius? — James retracts the charades idea and suggests reacting to old commercials.
• Episode 116: Knowhutimean, Vernius? — James adds a rule to drink cheap gas-station tequila whenever an old commercial causes nostalgia.
• Episode 116: Knowhutimean, Vernius? — James replaces tequila with an escalating ipecac and vomit-drinking rule for nostalgic reactions.
• Episode 116: Knowhutimean, Vernius? — James proposes punching a wall and window, licking blood from the wounds, and lamenting aging whenever nostalgia occurs.
• Episode 122: Danny Fastpaws' God Damn Castle of Blood III: The Final Bloodening 3-D — James tells a final short spooky story in which the ended podcast continues haunting podcast services forever.
• Episode 142: Truth or Darren — (Call Moment - YouTube) — James Brubaker weighed the ethics and possible consequences of Bingo publicly mocking Richlife.
• Episode 150: Eternal Sunshiny Sweater — (Call Moment - YouTube) — James Brubaker called for a friendly extended conversation with Bingo and Bruce.
• Episode 300: Mistress of Horse — (Call Moment - YouTube) — James Brubaker called for a Tender Moment with Bruce in which they discussed life regrets, a missed record-shopping trip with Bingo, Camp Winkler, and Bruce’s old friend Bella.