PowerPoint and storytelling combine in a masterclass of hilarity and precision
2000 slides, 75 minutes. US comic, actor and writer Josh Sharp has just 2.1 seconds per slide on average and, through fiercely intelligent construction and delightful silliness, makes superb use of every single one. Ta-Da! plays like a naughty TED talk, with Sharp pacing the stage armed with presentation clicker, delivering an impressively dense, varied array of jokes. Likeable and with propulsive comic timing, he smuggles some genuinely affecting stories amidst the rapid-fire comedy – his experiences wrestling with being gay; his mother’s losing battle against cancer; his own near-death experience – both amplifying the laughs and arresting the audience’s attention in an instant.
Ta-Da! is an impressive feat in its own right, with Sharp learning 2000 individual cues; even more incredible is how genuinely funny and well-constructed each moment feels. Despite this tight choreography, there’s an easy confidence to Sharp’s delivery, and he’s unafraid to go off-script when the moment calls for it. The slides themselves – mostly black text on a plain white background – amplify the laughs by adding visual gags, or veer off-piste to deliver their own punchlines. Ta-Da! is most compelling when Sharp delivers his narrative alongside a different idea being told by his slides – a bold demand of a late-night Friday audience, yet expert pacing and natural charisma ensure everything lands.
This performance remains compulsively accessible despite its cleverness. The slideshow’s rapid momentum combines with dense, varied jokes to push the show along at an incredible pace. With 2000 slides, if one joke doesn’t land, another is just around the corner: don’t enjoy Sharp’s pun about ejaculation opening the show? You only need wait a few seconds for an incisively observed rant about umbrella etiquette, and a few more for meta-commentary on the show’s construction. Laughter rolls through the audience, ebbing and flowing depending on individual taste; when Sharp wants to slow down and provoke emotion, it’s more powerful by contrast. Some credit must go to director Sam Pinkleton, bringing the same chaotic comic energy he most recently lent to Oh Mary! (also in the West End, and also possessing a titular exclamation mark).
Beneath the laughter lie genuinely touching stories. Sharp becomes teary-eyed at a photo of his parents onscreen, outlining his mother’s up-and-down battle against cancer; a childhood deal with God to avoid being gay is heartbreaking. Sharp shows real flair walking this tightrope between hilarity and pathos.
If ever a show deserved a Netflix special, or at least an Edinburgh run, Ta-Da! is it. This is a performance everyone needs to see. The room fills with genuine laughter from slide 1 to slide 2000, rippling through the audience as a continuous wall of joy. Like all good TED talks, there’s a hopeful message at the show’s core – but what’s truly remarkable is its precision and side-splitting comedy.Josh Sharp: Ta-Da! plays at the Soho Theatre, having just extended until 7th March. Tickets here