Transcript / Trapped, Zapped & Glued – Episode 201, by Vicki Solá.

Music/Intro: Hi there, I’m author and radio host Vicki Solá, welcoming you to Perswayssick Radio: Unearthly Comedy. I invite you to escape with me into the bizarre dimension of Perswayssick County, where wackiness rules! The laughs begin when I morph into my alter ego, radio DJ Nicki Rodriguez and clash with the zany, alien canine-humanoid Gneeecey! And now, I turn it over to my other self, Nicki, and the gang….

SFX: [Magic Spell] [Boxed In-Latin]

VICKI SOLÁ: Hey, everyone, it’s me, Vicki Solá, here with the bonus episode I promised you for this week, “The Making of This Podcast.”

First of all, I want to thank you so much for listening to and supporting my work, it means a great deal to me. Producing Perswayssick Radio: Unearthly Comedy is a total labor of love on my part.

This special marks my two-hundred-second episode, and also over 25,000 downloads from all over this planet.

In this podcast, logic takes a coffee break, and chaos runs the show when stranded Earthling radio DJ Nicki Rodriguez—an alternate version of myself—is stuck in the bizarre dimension of Perswayssick County, ruled by canine-humanoid Diroctor Bizzig “Zig” Gneeecey— an elbow-high, fast-talking, dog-shaped disaster. From catastrophic car rides to alien encounters and tricycle-themed fine dining, I strive to make every episode of this one-woman show a laugh-out-loud blend of comedy, sci-fi, and fantasy, served up with a generous side of absurdity.

I do the writing for each episode, adapting some of the material from my two books, my novel, The Getaway That Got Away, and my novella, You Can’t Unscramble the Omelet. And I do write a lot of new material, too.

I also do all of the character voices—Diroctor Bizzig “Zig” Gneeecey, Fleaglossitty “Flea” Floppinsplodge, also known as “Sooperflea,” therapist Ingabore Scriblig, also known as “Grandma,” Doctor Alexandra C. Idnas, rotten Nurse Maudlyn, Doctor Gongilafromba Frombilagonga, two-headed canine-humanoid alien Vloxx, Professor Willard Wallbang, Brunhilde, Detective Clover Arlo Cookie, and the evil Markmen, like Dorothy. Sometimes I end up taking a fifteen minute time out for a coughing fit after doing voices like that last one. Sometimes I have to do several takes because I start laughing.

And I don’t do Sun Conure parrot Conrad’s voice. SFX: [Bird-Sun Conure] And every time you hear Gneeecey belch, that’s a sound effect, not me.

I do all the audio production as well. Having a background in radio, I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to editing and mastering. My DAW, or digital audio workspace, is the Hindenburg Journalist Pro, and I record, utilizing four tracks. Generally, it takes me an hour to produce each page of a script. I have a real blast SFX: [DishCeramic] using my sound effects library—I have a pretty extensive library. I’m like a kid in a candy store when I’m acquiring these. SFX: [Automobile Crash] [Glass Shatter] [Flushing the Toilet] [CanTin] [DishCeramic][Blue Danube] [FistFight] [Glass Shatter] [Blow on Table] [Wood Demolition] [BodyFallHuman] [CanTin] [CanMetal] [Cartoon Slip] [Slip & Fall] [Duck Horn] [Police Siren] [Airplane Alarm] [DoorbellRing] [Door Open] [Door Slam]

I also have to thank amazing musician Sam Leviatin, for helping me out by producing Gneeecey and Flea’s lovely violin and piano music, their lovely, relaxing rendition of legendary Planet Eccchs composer Zirbert Shriekensobb’s “Plight of the Goonafish.” SFX: [Plight of the Goonafish]

A little about me. Like Nicki Rodriguez—and Rodriguez is one of my family names—I do radio. The salsa and Latin jazz show I created, Que Viva La Música, can be heard Saturdays, 1-6pm ET on Mundo Salsa Radio, that’s mundosalsaradio.com.

As I established my show, I worked full-time at a New York Spanish commercial station, like Nicki, and part-time at a faraway one that offered oldies along with local fishing reports, and I took evening classes at a local university where professors apologized for keeping me up. I also performed freelance audio production, usually at three a.m.

In short, I spent years guzzling black coffee, gulping down cold pizza, and walking into walls. SFX: [Wood Demolition] After I banged my head against a particularly hard cinder block, it dawned on me that the stories I was cranking out during my spare time were autobiographical. And I felt compelled to share them—and still do.

And I certainly can’t neglect to mention the inspirations for my stories—the real Gneeecey and Sooperflea, pictured in this episode’s thumbnail.

The real Gneeecey was a feisty seventeen-pound white-and-black chihuahua-terrier mix who had an attitude and walked on two hind legs for a five dollar bill. And Sooperflea was a black beagle-terrier mix, rescued as a two-pound puppy being sold at a garage sale. Flea was highly intelligent, even understood words when we spelled them. All four of our dogs were rescues—golden beagle-terrier mix, freelance percussionist Flubbubb, who appears in some episodes, and Flubbubb’s larger lookalike, shepherd-hound mix Horsey Cookie, who I’m sure will become a podcast character.

I have very strong views regarding animal welfare and hope one day I can do much more to help these beautiful sentient beings.

Thank you again, for listening, and don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you! I’ve always thought radio should be two-way communication—I feed off my listeners’ energy—and I feel the same about this podcast!

SFX: [Music, Horror]
Our stories, happening in two alternate timelines, continue next week. Does Nicki survive? And what happens to Gneeecey and Flea, in that other timeline, imprisoned in evil Nurse Maudlyn’s house, isolated from the rest of their world, and finding themselves in the dark, with no food? We’ll find out more on June 24th when our new Season 21 begins!

SFX: [Magic Spell]

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode! We thank Marysol Rodriguez, Sal Solá, Sandi Solá, Marcellina Ramirez, Rick “El Molestoso” Rivera, Diane L., Brunie Cariño, Toni Aponte, and Aileen Bean for being generous supporting members through BuyMeACoffee.com.

And thank you for tuning in to “Perswayssick Radio: Unearthly Comedy.” We hope you enjoyed traveling to this loopy dimension with us and that you’ll come along again! Our new episodes drop every Tuesday! Please make sure to tell a friend! And keep on laughing!

Frank: It’s a Gneeecey thing! [SFX: Door Slam] ###