Originally spelled FIZZ-NIK, the inspiration for my stage name comes from a fun food product of the early 60’s. A FIZZ-NIK is a hollow, plastic sphere, split in half, with a short stem on opposite ends. The happy FIZZ-NIK user puts a scoop of ice cream in it, screws it back together and inserts one of its stems into the opening of the glass receptacle of a carbonated soft drink. This creates an instant ice cream float right on top of a bottle of soda pop!

In the early eighties, I formed a two-man musical comedy team with my friend Patrick Raftery. One night, as we were rehearsing, Patrick turned to me and said, “Hey, Rick, let’s call ourselves The Fiz-Niks!” This immediately brought back fond memories of an early childhood junk food binge so, without hesitation, I heartily agreed. Soon, Patrick was calling me Fiz-Nik Rick, the moniker that has stuck with me ever since.