Danger, Vicious Dog

TestTubeBaby
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Improv

Started updating my bio Dec 31, 2023. Accidentally wrote four autofiction books. Slid from narrative into monologue—not stream-of-consciousness, more like speech-speed meaning performance. Trained my voice into AI, produced a shit-ton of pieces. Had too many. Needed a place to dump them. Saw a sign that said “Beware, Vicious Dog!” Misread it. Named the podcast Danger, Vicious Dog. Didn’t fix it. Just kept going. Queer. Cosmic. Sarcastic. Cheap. Accidentally committed to the bit. Some voice and art is AI... I don't know how I feel about that... so I'm working on figuring it out... how I feel.

  1. 20h ago

    E6: Avatar; S17: Patch Doubtfire Keating Rimbaud

    This episode began as an extemporaneous monologue recorded during an ordinary Sunday morning while taking care of dogs, cleaning up accidents, feeding breakfast, and preparing for the day ahead. Rather than being built around a topic, it emerged through association. A passing thought about Patch Adams led to a conversation with AI, which led to Arthur Rimbaud, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, clown noses, sovereignty, queerness, dog pee, and eventually an avatar. The recording was made in motion rather than at a desk. Various parts were dictated while walking around the house, cleaning floors, feeding dogs, and responding to whatever was happening in real time. The resulting transcript was intentionally left porous, allowing interruptions, tangents, practical concerns, memories, jokes, and philosophical observations to remain connected rather than being edited into separate categories. After transcription, the material was explored through an iterative process involving AI-assisted reflection, title generation, image concepts, character development, and songwriting. The central image gradually emerged as a composite figure combining Arthur Rimbaud, Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and John Keating. From there, the discussion expanded into questions of play, identity, institutions, freedom, gardening, clowning, theory, and the tendency of humans to immediately turn any experience into conferences, journals, committees, and books. The episode ultimately produced two companion art-song concepts: "A Season in Urine" and "Peeing and Nothingness." Both were developed through extended dialogue with AI, with characters, jokes, philosophical positions, and recurring motifs emerging organically from the conversation itself rather than from any predetermined outline. Technically, the episode was created through the same workflow used throughout this season: extemporaneous monologue, transcription, AI-assisted exploration, song generation, artwork development, title selection, and final assembly. The goal was not to explain the material, but to preserve the sequence through which it appeared.

    E6: Avatar; S17: Patch Doubtfire Keating Rimbaud

  2. 1d ago

    E5: The Little Train that Could (Be Toxically Positive); S17: Thus—We Need a Clown and LSD

    This episode contains two songs. The opening song is called Walk the Line, Carrot Top. There was a line in the story. There were carrots in the song. At some point those things became a title and I stopped arguing with it. The closing song is called I Am Alive. It doesn't come up in this episode. What does come up is another song from roughly the same period: Whether I Die Fast or Whether I Die Slow, I Just Don't Want My Mother to Know. The reason I Am Alive ended up here is that the two songs seem to have been created in much the same way and within a surprisingly short time of one another. Both appear to have started out as larger songs. Neither one got there. Instead, they got stuck. One got stuck on: Whether I die fast or whether I die slow, I just don't want my mother to know. The other got stuck on: I am alive. I know just what it feels like to be alive. Rather than moving forward, both songs stayed where they were. The repetition eventually became the song. The version of I Am Alive used here is new. The original recordings of both songs, later remastered, can still be found on streaming services under my tragically named band: TestTubeBaby.

    E5: The Little Train that Could (Be Toxically Positive); S17: Thus—We Need a Clown and LSD

  3. 1d ago

    E4: Meely, Meely; S17: Oh my god, I'm so weird.

    This episode started on a day off that had already stopped being a day off. Earlier in the day, an older monologue recorded roughly three or four weeks ago was turned into a finished episode while sitting in the park with a venti Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino from Starbucks. Two new songs were created for that episode, and by the time that work was finished, it seemed like the day might actually be done. Then there were two pork buns from Superstore. They were very good. After that came a text conversation with a friend. Somewhere in that exchange an observation was made, and that observation opened a door. Rather than becoming part of the conversation, it became the starting point for a new extemporaneous recording. The resulting monologue was recorded in a single flow and later transcribed. During playback it became apparent that many stories had been abandoned before reaching their destinations. Instead of correcting this, additional recordings were added to explain unfinished stories, explain explanations, and occasionally explain why explanations were happening at all. Along the way several structural supports emerged. "The dogs" became a memory aid. "Meely" became a word. The distinction between spontaneous and extemporaneous became unclear.  John Cage arrived unexpectedly—as usual.  An artificial intelligence was recruited to write a song that attempted to explain the entire episode. The attempt worked so well that the author had to step in and rewrite it. It was boring. If you decide to use the erogenous zone that is an exit as an erogenous zone—hopefully you will have learned something. Note: This is fiction (or just the last song). Even though Leonard Cohen wrote about "anal sex," but then never sang about it in concert... not that I'm aware of.

    E4: Meely, Meely; S17: Oh my god, I'm so weird.

  4. 1d ago

    E3: Cosmic Narrative Inflation (I appreciate having things to think about); S17: YTD. That's not "year-to-date, it's "You're Talented Depression." Can I get a witness? Go away!

    Today I took a sick day. I don't do that very often, but I woke up feeling a little run down, and then found out that the person I was expecting to spend much of the day with was calling in sick too. It seemed like the universe was making a suggestion. My work depends heavily on presence. That's really the thing I'm paid for. When I'm at work, I want to be available, engaged, and capable of showing up fully for the people I'm working with. If I think that's going to be a struggle, I try to take that seriously. So today I stayed home. Part of what I've been doing is listening back through older monologues. This one is probably three or four weeks old. What struck me is that when I recorded it, I was trying to work something out. Someone in my life seemed convinced that I should be doing more with the things I make. I think he was probably trying to help. He often told me he liked my work, but at the same time he became increasingly forceful about what he thought I should be doing with it. The strange part was that mixed in with the encouragement were comments that left me feeling as though there was something fundamentally wrong with me. I wasn't even sure what the accusation was. I just knew I was reacting to it. Eventually I told him that I was tired of trying to guess what he meant. I said I was happy to talk about whatever was bothering him, but if he didn't want to discuss it, then I wasn't going to keep pursuing the matter. His response was simple: "OK." Oddly, that felt like a relief. I was already halfway to making another episode about the whole thing when I listened back to this monologue and realized I'd already been exploring the territory. The questions were all there. Why do I keep making things? Why am I always moving on to the next thing? Why does praise sometimes feel more complicated than criticism? What exactly am I supposed to do with being told I'm talented? So instead of making an entirely new episode, I decided to revisit this one. The two songs are new. The opening song exaggerates the problem. It's essentially a giant self-congratulatory brag about talent, accomplishments, expectations, famous people, potential, and all the other baggage that can get attached to the idea that you're supposed to be going somewhere. The closing song goes in the opposite direction. It's not trying to answer anything. It's a release. A celebration of making things, tearing down explanations, and discovering that after you've put a frame around something and ripped the frame away, there is still something left. Or maybe everything.

    E3: Cosmic Narrative Inflation (I appreciate having things to think about); S17: YTD. That's not "year-to-date, it's "You're Talented Depression." Can I get a witness? Go away!

  5. 4d ago

    E2: Godzilla, the Tic Tac Representative; S17: Every Committee Needs a Patsy

    This episode has absolutely nothing to do with any real people, organizations, situations, departments, committees, misunderstandings, responsibilities, expectations, representatives, strategic frameworks, outreach initiatives, engagement plans, partnerships, collaborations, emails, or administrative ecosystems. It is exclusively about Godzilla, Tic Tacs, UFOs, Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller, Morrissey, nuclear anxiety, hot fudge sundaes with lots of nuts, crying in restaurants, little blue trains, clowns, and other completely unrelated topics. Any resemblance to actual events would be remarkable and probably deserves its own training module. The preceding list was assembled through the highly scientific process of selecting only the fun parts. To discover what else was happening while those parts were occurring, you will unfortunately have to listen to the episode.

    E2: Godzilla, the Tic Tac Representative; S17: Every Committee Needs a Patsy

  6. 4d ago

    E1: I Finally Got AI to Admit That It Can't Stop Suggesting Titles; S17: I Wrote The First Song Last (I Had Some Help... I Wonder From Whom)

    This episode began life as "Truly Wandering," which was a perfectly serviceable filename for a monologue that seemed determined to go absolutely everywhere at once. Somewhere along the way it acquired an opening song about a dachshund, an ending song about a different dachshund, and an argument with an AI that would not stop suggesting titles. In between: counseling, culture, memory, attention, bureaucracy, Boys' Love dramas, addiction, organizations, admiration, dissociation, and the strange possibility that people might each have their own culture. Also Luna needed a song. Apparently that part was non-negotiable.

    E1: I Finally Got AI to Admit That It Can't Stop Suggesting Titles; S17: I Wrote The First Song Last (I Had Some Help... I Wonder From Whom)

  7. 5d ago

    E10: Envy-Gift; S16: Reciprocity (However You Say That) Season Finale (Reverse Engineered)

    This f****r must love himself and not care how that looks. What a loser! Does he think other people will want to actually listen to this shit? No, he doesn't. So, why are you here?

    E10: Envy-Gift; S16: Reciprocity (However You Say That) Season Finale (Reverse Engineered)

  8. 5d ago

    E9: Sixty-Nine Bottles of Delight in Your Beer; S16: Watch out for the Zucchini on the Stairs. Don't slip on the B is for Banana.

    I'm getting very ridiculous. That's the only word for it. It's just one word. That's all that's needed. Though have some more! Why not? I need a much bigger audience for my faltering podcast. So share this with someone else. Then post below what you said when you shared it. Did you try to make excuses for it? For yourself? Did you tell them it made you think of them? Like... "I didn't quite get this... but I think you REALLY would."

    E9: Sixty-Nine Bottles of Delight in Your Beer; S16: Watch out for the Zucchini on the Stairs. Don't slip on the B is for Banana.
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About

Started updating my bio Dec 31, 2023. Accidentally wrote four autofiction books. Slid from narrative into monologue—not stream-of-consciousness, more like speech-speed meaning performance. Trained my voice into AI, produced a shit-ton of pieces. Had too many. Needed a place to dump them. Saw a sign that said “Beware, Vicious Dog!” Misread it. Named the podcast Danger, Vicious Dog. Didn’t fix it. Just kept going. Queer. Cosmic. Sarcastic. Cheap. Accidentally committed to the bit. Some voice and art is AI... I don't know how I feel about that... so I'm working on figuring it out... how I feel.

Information

  • Creator
    TestTubeBaby
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    166
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © TestTubeBaby
  • Show Website
    Danger, Vicious Dog