Wiggles, P.I.: Two Bites of the Cherry

Show: Wiggles, P.I.: Two Bites of the Cherry

Role(s): Mary Jensen, Veronica Starr

Creator: Noircast Media

Status: Release ongoing (premiered November 22, 2025)

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About the show: A comedic 1940s-style noir detective story featuring Mr. Wiggles, Private Investigator. Does he drink too much? Perhaps. Does it get in the way of his detective work? Also perhaps. When Mrs. Mary Jensen, recently widowed, walks into Wiggles’ establishment looking for someone to investigate the death of her husband, she’s ready to reward the detective handsomely if he can prove it wasn’t suicide. But the many confusing leads bring this private investigator to Fatso’s nightclub, where he meets the headline singer Veronica Starr, and soon she becomes a person of interest in more ways than one. Gamblers, gangsters, and girls alternately help and haunt Wiggles as he gets closer to the answer. Will he solve a man’s death and collect his paycheck? Or will he end up the next unsolved murder connected to this beautiful stranger?

Character Description (Mary): She’s a widow who deeply loved her troubled husband. But though she needs Wiggles’ help to resolve the outstanding issues surrounding Hank’s death, she’s no damsel. She can be bitter and prickly, willing to insult Wiggles when he’s not behaving, not at all playful in her interactions. She is all business inside her grief, and does not want to be taken advantage of. And though she comes across as willing to hold her own with some intelligence, she is actually a lot more cunning than she seems.

What do I like best about playing this character (Mary): I like that she doesn’t take any crap and I can be a little mean when I play her. She doesn’t really bother with sarcasm: she’ll just straight up say the mean stuff. But she gets to be vulnerable, too, and I had to spend some time thinking about how I wanted that to come across. I like playing a smart woman who knows how to get what she wants but doesn’t show that part of herself to the outside world.

What do I like least about playing this character (Mary): I’d heard the proof of concept episode for this show before I got involved and picked up on the vibe, but I was very unconfident about whether I could duplicate it. I am still not sure if the speaking patterns I chose for this character are too awkward or inauthentic-sounding. Also, she’s a smoker and I had to pretend to smoke.

Character Description (Veronica): She’s a star who knows what she’s worth. Everyone at Fatso’s comes to see her sing and perform, which lends her more power than most women of her era. She’s confident, sexy, and willing to undertake enormous ruses to get what she wants. She comes across as very feminine and demure most of the time, but she can mean business when someone doesn’t treat her right. According to the creators of this production, “she is both carrot and stick.”

What do I like best about playing this character: I REALLY got to get out of my box for her–I don’t do a lot of leading lady/femme fatale/flirty types, and it was fun getting my feet wet with it. I got to spend a lot of time with this character as it was a very large role, so getting to shape the scenes and go on a journey with it was very educational. Bantering with Wiggles in a very different way from Mary, acting like I like him, it was all great fun.

What do I like least about playing this character: The bubbly, breathy tone I used for her wasn’t my favorite vibe. I didn’t feel like the versatility was there for some of it because of the constraints of the voice, and I always feel like I could have done it better.

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