April Brucker wants to take over the world, one singing telegram at a time.
The rest of the story
Brucker, who comes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, moved to New York to pursue acting. Instead, she found comedy. Brucker now makes a living as a ventriloquist and a singing telegram and hopes that, one day, she’ll make it big and take over the world.
Transcript
The thing that keeps me going as a telegramer is knowing that each performance is its own, and I always get to be a special part of somebody’s event, just in a funny costume.
What got me hooked was the fact that I could come in, I could crash the party, I could be the center of attention, I could use my training as an actor, I could use my comedy, I could dress up in costumes I could write original routines, it was everything I had always dreamed of doing since I was a kid, and they were paying me for it.
I graduated from NYU and I needed a job. So one night, I was depressed, stuffing my face, gave up on life, was watching Beaches, right, and I saw Bett Midler fail in that bunny suit and I’m like This is what I want to do!
So I googled Singing Telegrams, my boss’s name came up and I told him, I need a job. I actually called him at 10:00 at night, I thought I was going to leave a message, he picked up, I said I need a job he said, can you do a yenta tomorrow and I’m like, I’m not even Jewish. but I did it, and that’s how I got my job.
I was actually not an outgoing kid, that was the crazy thing. But once I discovered I could make people laugh and that I was somewhat funny, like, I became more outgoing, but initially I was not outgoing.
Oh gosh, going in and surprising them. Then hearing the first laugh is always my favorite part.
[singing] Hellooo… is Stephanie here? Is this Ms. Stephanie?
Today is your birthday…
What do I see in my future? I’m going to take over the world, that’s what I see as my future. I’m going to take over the world, that’s all there is to it.
Listen, the only goal that’s too big to accomplish is the goal that — is the goal that you don’t have. And everybody always tells you it’s too hard, it’s too big, you’re never going to do it.
But this is the thing: naysayers push you forward, they don’t push you back. Naysayers can be your greatest asset if you let them.
So yea, you know, it’s like world domination is not too big of a goal. The world is not that big. I will take over the world, mark my words. 2016, 2017, even this year — I’m taking over the world, watch out.
