Josh-A-Palooza
Conceived and Performed by Josh Kornbluth
Can’t get enough of Josh Kornbluth? Join us for Josh-A-Palooza! Audiences will have the rare opportunity to experience several of Kornbluth’s most beloved works, as well as new material that continues to expand his reputation as one of America’s most compelling solo performers. Known for his signature mix of poignant introspection and sharp comedic insight, Kornbluth’s performances engage, enlighten, and entertain. Read more about each series event below.
RED DIAPER BABY is a comic coming-of-age story about a boy being raised by Jewish Communists in New York City. Josh has been told by his parents that he will grow up to lead a Communist revolution in the United States. This plan starts to break down in kindergarten, and only gets worse in high school. Complicating matters are Josh’s less-than-heroic first attempts to lose his virginity. Will he find success first with Communism or sex? And what does “The Internationale” have to do with it? Nominated for a Drama Desk Award and selected for The Best American Plays of 1992 collection.
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY JOSH KORNBLUTH.
Thurs, Jan 16 at 7:30pm.
THE MATHEMATICS OF CHANGE is the uproarious and moving story of a young aspiring mathematician who unexpectedly discovers his limits as a Princeton University freshman. Josh has toured the U.S. extensively with this Off-Broadway hit, thrilling audiences of math-lovers and math-fearers alike. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll imagine yourself to be covered in chalk dust — and you’ll never look at the number 3 the same way again!
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY JOSH KORNBLUTH.
Fri, Jan 17 at 7:30pm.
HAIKU TUNNEL concerns neurotic temp worker Josh, who accepts an offer to go perm at a popular San Francisco law office where his carefully unstructured, ambivalent, commitment-phobic lifestyle begins to unravel. Unable to complete the simple task of mailing 17 high-priority letters for his boss, Josh suddenly finds himself face-to-face with his unusually chipper co-workers and his inability to deal. Soon, when Josh’s morning alarm rings, it’s time for him to get up and ‘fess up. Written and directed by brothers Josh and Jacob Kornbluth, HAIKU TUNNEL — which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics — is a hilarious, super-entertaining comedy about one man’s struggle to survive the 9 to 5.
FILM SCREENING FOLLOWED BY A LIVE Q&A WITH JOSH KORNBLUTH AND OTHERS.
Sat, Jan 18 at 2:00pm.
CITIZEN JOSH finds our neurotic hero in a struggle to improve his neighborhood playground in Berkeley so his young son can play there, while simultaneously struggling to complete his long-overdue (over 30 years!) senior thesis so he can finally graduate from Princeton University. Along the way, CITIZEN JOSH explores previous social-justice struggles — including the heroic actions of teenaged Elizabeth Eckford to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. The ticking clock of our global climate crisis also comes into play, in this comic (yet also serious) tale of one scattered citizen’s struggle to become an activist.
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY JOSH KORNBLUTH.
Sat, Jan 18 at 7:30pm.
LOVE & TAXES is a riveting comic tale of seven years of tax avoidance. Following the possibly real-life exploits of Josh, the film is a comedy that blends solo performance and scripted scenes to bring the subjective reality of the storyteller hilariously to life. Can our frantic hero manage to solve his terrible tax problem before the love of his life has their baby? And will she ever manage to turn left while driving? All these questions and more are answered in this movie that has garnered a 100 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes!
FILM SCREENING FOLLOWED BY A LIVE Q&A WITH JOSH KORNBLUTH AND OTHERS.
Sun, Jan 19 at 2:00pm.
BEN FRANKLIN: UNPLUGGED: One day, looking at himself in the mirror while shaving, Josh came to a shocking realization: he looked like Ben Franklin! This discovery set him on a journey to learn enough about the “First American” to make a one-man show about him. In the process, Josh found out about Ben’s disastrous relationship with his son, William, who became the most rabid Loyalist in the Colonies — and thus his father’s bitterest enemy. A historical mystery as well as a raucous family comedy, BEN FRANKLIN: UNPLUGGED takes Josh from Berkeley to New York, and finally to the Benjamin Franklin Papers at Yale University, where the archives reveal some shattering truths.
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY JOSH KORNBLUTH.
Sun, Jan 19 at 5:00pm.
Josh Kornbluth has been creating and performing autobiographical monologues for over three decades. Red Diaper Baby, his Off-Broadway debut, was selected for the Best American Plays of 1992 collection and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. He wrote and starred in feature-film adaptations of two of his shows, Haiku Tunnel (which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics) and Love & Taxes (a “100% Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes) — both directed by his brother Jacob Kornbluth. For two years he hosted his own interview program on KQED-TV in San Francisco, cleverly titled The Josh Kornbluth Show. He was a Visiting Artist, and later a volunteer, at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. He has also been a Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, based at UCSF. His “Citizen Brain” videos (citizenbrain.org) have been viewed by over half a million people. He has a Substack called “But Not Enough About Me” (https://joshkornbluth.substack.com/), which you can subscribe to for free. You can also find him at joshkornbluth.com. He lives in Berkeley with his wife and son. Josh is over the moon to be performing again at Marin Shakes!