Before hosting Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” after-show “Shark After Dark,” the extent of Josh Wolf’s interest in the monster fish was watching videos of airborne sharks and interviews with shark-attack survivors.
But after swimming with sharks for last year’s inaugural show and tagging them with a marine lab for an episode this year, it’s fair to say the comedian is hooked.
“The more I got into ‘Shark Week’ … the extent of my interest has opened up even more,” Wolf tells The Post. “But I will tell you that after seeing so many shark-attack videos, I think I’m scarred for life. When I walk in the ocean, if my foot nudges up against something, I let out such a high-pitched screech, it’s really quite embarrassing.”
“Shark Week,” the annual programming event celebrating all things shark, starts Sunday. And, for the second year, “Shark After Dark” will air five nights (through Thursday) at 11 p.m. The live talk show — which averaged more than 2 million viewers in 2013 — recaps “Shark Week” highlights, teases the next day’s programs and features guest interviews.
“One of the beautiful things about live TV is the network can tell me what they want me to do, but when the camera turns on, they really have no choice,” Wolf says.
Though shark experts are on hand to share information, last year also saw cringe-worthy interviews like “Sharknado” star Tara Reid trying to describe a whale shark, and wacky games like sidekick Bob Oshack as Bob the Shark bobbing for seals — a tone Wolf hopes to replicate this year.
“The goal is still to mix comedy with entertainment, but for my style of humor, I would rather have some awkward moments and train wrecks,” he says. “I love that type of ‘I can’t believe that’s on television right now’ feeling.”
There will, once again, be celebrity guests, like “Let’s Be Cops” stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., Ashley Tisdale and Matt Walsh. Chelsea Handler will also drop by (Wolf is a frequent contributor to her talk show, “Chelsea Lately”). Craig Ferguson, an executive producer of “Shark After Dark,” will likely make a cameo.
But Wolf is most interested in chatting with guests who have dealt with sharks first-hand, like shark-attack survivor Paul de Gelder, subject of the “Shark Week” program “Great White Matrix.”
“For me it’s less about the big celebrities,” he says. “Those are the kind of people I want to talk to because they don’t get that much of a platform and they have crazy, interesting stories.”