INTERVIEW: Josh Sharp has a trick or two up his sleeve
Photo: Josh Sharp performs in his new one-person show, ta-da! Photo courtesy of Emilio Madrid / Provided by Print Shop PR with permission.
Josh Sharp’s celebrated new show, ta-da!, is the talk of the off-Broadway scene this summer. The monologue piece has already won over critics, and audiences are flocking to the Greenwich House Theater, where the show continues its extended run through Sept. 27.
Directed by recent Tony winner Sam Pinkleton, ta-da! is billed as a one-man comedy show that finds Sharp speedily running through a 2,000-slide PowerPoint presentation. His comedic abilities are on full display, ditto for his memorization skills, which is an impressive given that the slides change ever 2.1 seconds.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Sharp to learn more about the show and the personal details he reveals during the evening. The actor is one of the stars, writers and executive producers of Dicks: The Musical, an A24 film that was adapted from Sharp and Aaron Jackson’s successful off-off-Broadway show. Other credits include Comedy Central’s The Opposition With Jordan Klepper, HBO’s Search Party and TruTV’s At Home With Amy Sedaris, among other shows. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
When did the idea for ta-da! first come to you?
I first tried out a new comedy hour with a ton of slides in 2019, but because of all the cues, I read it from a script and (to me) the show … sucked. Post-Covid when I was getting back into stand up, I decided to try the “manic amount of slides” bit on a show during a 10-minute set, and this time I memorized all the cues, which unlocked it as a performance idea to me. From there, it grew to 20 minutes, then 30, then 40, then 60, then ta-da!.
But from the beginning, I was really into the idea of having an audience take in two things at once. Especially now, where we’ve become so adept at second screen viewing, where we’re always on our phones while we watch Netflix — it felt interesting to flip that into a more active state in a theater setting rather than the numbed-out passive way we usually do it on our couch. And comedically, it allowed me to find so many more opportunities to pack in jokes — some that are highlighting the words I’m saying, some that comment on it, some that fill in the gaps between my words, etc. Ultimately though, the whole thing is sort of a magic trick and hence: ta-da!.
Are you generally a very open person about your family and personal life?
Yes, but with boundaries. I understand parts of my show are rather confessional, but I don’t always like material that’s only confessional unless it’s also got something else to say about the performer’s POV. I’m equally interested in what the story is and how I tell it. But in general, I’m lucky, and my family is so fab. And thus, I am relatively open in sharing about how fab they are.
How difficult has the challenge of memorization been?
Girl, hard. But since I slowly built the show over a few years, I’ve been able to routine it in chunks. Really though, I — and I’m aware how cr*zy this sounds — have memorized it more like music than text. I tried to put the rhythms of when I press the clicker into my body more than just memorize it as a piece of text. It’s PowerPoint as percussion instrument really.
What was it like working with director Sam Pinkleton?
Sam is the absolute best. He cares so deeply about theater and was so protective of this piece and encouraging of it becoming the best version it could be. He’s an incredible sounding board for ideas, a phenomenal manager of talent who knows all the right people to bring on board and someone who really loves to be in a theater with a coven of lovely talented people all trying to make the thing we’re making into the absolute most big slay version possible. He shaped this show into something much greater than I thought it could be. He rules.
What do you hope is one lesson that the audience has in their mind as they exit?
Isn’t it cool what our brains can do? Also, chase down weird sex. Sorry, that’s two.
What’s next after this off-Broadway run?
A nap. But no fr, it’d be lovely to do this show in some other places and share it with other audiences. The universe has yet to reveal some of those plans in detail, but hopefully we’ll be doing the show a little more — if the fates allow. But most immediately, a nap.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Josh Sharp’s ta-da! continues through Sept. 27 at the Greenwich House Theater in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
