Josh Sharp's show 'Ta-da!' features a one-man performance supplemented by a PowerPoint presentation with 2,000 text-based slides. The show includes elements of gross-out comedy, personal trauma, and moments of near-death experience. Sharp challenges typical one-man show formats by maintaining dual narratives, engaging the audience through both spoken content and visual text. His approach contrasts starkly with the more polished, trauma-based narratives common in contemporary comedy. Sharp's journey leads from crass humor to an exploration of life’s complexities through a unique comedic lens.
Sharp runs through a total of 2,000 text-based slides, cuing each one up in real time with a clicker in his hand. What begins as an opportunity to include more types of jokes evolves into the show's whole idea: that humans are gloriously capable of mentally juggling two things at once.
A one-man show is supposed to have one clear idea, and Sharp is presenting two, thereby bucking the formula with an innovative approach.
In a post-Mike Birbiglia world, every year sees more comics turning their trauma into fodder for pleasant-enough one-man shows that have clean arcs, contrasting sharply with Sharp's distinct style.
Prior to Ta-da!, nobody would expect Sharp to make a show in what is perhaps the most staid genre in New York, given his reputation for filthiness in comedy.
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