The internet works fast. One minute you’re walking down a New York City street, brain half-busy digesting a phone call with a friend, and the next minute strangers are quoting you like you’re a cult sitcom character. That’s the accidental rise of Sharty Marty, a 22-year-old New Yorker who got stopped mid-walk by street interviewer Eric Jeng and somehow became the internet’s favourite human tangent.
Jeng’s video doesn’t feel staged or polished. It feels like real life bumping into a camera. He asks Sharty Marty basic questions. Age. Relationships. What she wants out of life. What he gets back is ten minutes of unfiltered thinking, self-interruptions, nervous laughs, and honesty that lands because it’s messy. She even admits why she agreed to the interview in the first place: “you caught me… I didn’t have enough time to like think about it and be like do I want to do this.”
She’s 22. Born March 20. A Pisces-Aries cusp, apparently. Not that she’s convinced. “I don’t really fight I’m scared of confrontation but I do get angry sometimes that’s a lie a lot but it’s more for fun yeah.” That’s the rhythm of the whole interview. Start a thought. Backtrack. Correct it. Laugh at herself. Keep going.
When asked how she feels about herself, she doesn’t posture or fish for compliments. “I think I’m great. I am the funniest person in my life.” She pauses. Clarifies. “No one makes me laugh like I make myself laugh.” It’s funny, but it also explains why people connected so quickly. She’s not performing confidence. She’s practicing it out loud.
The comments section clocked that immediately. “If ‘thinking out loud’ was a person,” one viewer wrote. Another added, “She’s the kind of person to say ‘I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not so sure.’” Someone else nailed it with, “I applaud her being decisively indecisive.” Others just leaned in. “I could spend a lifetime just watching this girl talk and smile.” Internet hyperbole, sure, but earned.
Sharty Marty talks openly about therapy, insecurity, and learning boundaries. Her therapist might be her favourite person. “She cares about me and I know that but she’s also paid too.” She admits she used to be “a lot more miserable” and explains why without dressing it up. “I made myself available to anyone who needed me… now I’m like I need myself more.”
Her takes on dating feel real too. She’s been in one relationship. Learned that bare minimum needs aren’t crazy. Learned you can’t outsource taking care of yourself. When asked what she wants in a partner, she doesn’t list traits like a résumé. Kind. Funny. Honest. Has hobbies. Lets her have alone time. Doesn’t text nonstop. Likes to walk. Or not. She’ll negotiate that one.
Then there’s the name. Sharty Marty. It came from a childhood accident on a swing at a family barbecue. Instead of burying it, she branded it. Changed it. Changed it back. Stuck with it for nearly a decade. “It’s too late now,” she shrugs, knowing exactly why it works.
That’s why the internet fell for her, and the videos racked up so many views. Not because she’s polished. Because she isn’t trying to be. She’s figuring things out in real time, on a New York sidewalk, reminding you that being tolerable, self-aware, and a little awkward still goes a long way. And sometimes that’s enough to stop the scroll.
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