Interview With David Pendleton - Part 10

Today, David Pendleton shares his thoughts on getting started with ventriloquism and making it a career. This is part ten of an eleven part interview. You can find David’s website at: http://www.anythingcantalk.com/

Video Transcript:

I naturally got into ventriloquism when I was a kid. This was before I ever even considered that it would blossom into a career—certainly not a career where I’d be doing it full-time.

Ventriloquism, performing for people, is something you do because it’s fun. You need to be willing to give it away, and give it away a lot.

I think it’s probably a bigger challenge for somebody who’s a grown-up to get started in ventriloquism, especially if their aspiration is to do it as a career. I actually have people come up to me and say, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to do what you do.”

My response to them—somewhat tongue-in-cheek but also true—is, “Really? Because I never have.” What I mean by that is, I didn’t just decide this was what I wanted to do, at least not that I can remember. Does that make sense?

It’s just something I’ve always done. For me, it wasn’t so much a decision. It was just something fun that naturally blossomed into a career.

That’s why I think it’s important people don’t get the cart before the horse. You need to first decide: is this something I really have fun with? If I truly enjoy it, if it’s part of who I am, then I’ll be willing to do it for free—for whoever will have me.

The idea of, “Well, I’ve got to make money from this,” is something that happens organically. If what you do is good and people are willing to pay for it, then yes, you can begin to charge for it. But first, it has to be something you’re willing to do for nothing before it can become something you charge for.

I hope that makes sense.