Josh Kornbluth

Kornbluth's live and filmed works are almost entirely solo monologues based closely on events and people his life, his upbringing, and his career. As such he is among a small group of artists that includes Eric Bogosian, Lily Tomlin, and Spalding Gray.

Most of Kornbluth's monologues relate to personal and societal ethics, self-fulfillment, and the role of the individual in society, drawing a connection between his own personal foibles and larger issues of citizenship. Playing a hapless, sincere, and sometimes buffoonish everyman caught up in world events, he demonstrates the relevance of these concepts to daily life. His live performances occasionally include a question-and-answer session with academic lawyers or other experts and scholars. Despite the serious messages and somewhat dry themes his works are all lighthearted and highly humorous.

Major filmed work includes:

• Haiku Tunnel - his experience as an inept legal assistant
• Red Diaper Baby - an affectionate account of growing up Communist in America
• Strange Culture - a documentary on the bizarre case against Steve Kurtz

Live monologues and other staged works include:

• The Mathematics of Change - describes how despite a love for mathematics he "hit the wall" in his freshman classes at Princeton; draws parallels between calculus and life
• Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan - a San Francisco Mime Troupe show (co-author)
• Ben Franklin Unplugged - describes how in the course of researching the personal and public life of Ben Franklin, he realizes that his affinity with Franklin goes far beyond their obvious physical resemblance[5]
• Love and Taxes - revisits the events of Haiku Tunnel, the royalties from which he did not report to the IRS for years despite working for a well-known tax lawyer; explores the meaning of the tax system and necessity to pay income tax, as well as events surrounding his marriage. In 2004 a judge at the United States Tax Court called Kornbluth to say he had cited a pivotal scene from the monologue in which a former Commissioner of Internal Revenue calls Kornbluth the Yiddish invective "pisher" for not paying his taxes, in a judicial opinion he had just completed, the first known instance of the word in American jurisprudence.[6] Kornbluth and his brother released a film version of the monologue in 2015.
• Citizen Josh - in which he completes his final requirement for an undergraduate degree by writing a monologue about the role of civility in public debate
• Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? - a monologue commissioned by the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco, about the exhibit Warhol’s Jews: A Retrospective.[7]
• Sea of Reeds - a play with musical accompaniment about Kornbluth's preparations for having a bar mitzvah at the age of 52, and his learning to play the oboe.[8]

Kornbluth hosted a television talk show, The Josh Kornbluth Show, for two seasons (2005–2007) on KQED 9, San Francisco. Guests included Alan Alda, Rita Moreno, and Amy Sedaris. The show often included a "man on the street" segment, "Wandering Josh".[9]