Tom Ballard | |
|---|---|
 Ballard at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | |
| Born | Thomas Colin Ballard (1989-11-26)26 November 1989 (age 35) Warrnambool,Victoria, Australia |
| Occupations |
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| Political party | Australian Greens |
| Awards | Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer (2016) |
Thomas Colin Ballard (born 26 November 1989) is an Australian comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer. Starting out in radio, he became known as aTriple J host, along with his friendAlex Dyson, over seven years with the station. He his known for hisstand-up comedy, as a host ofpodcasts, and as television presenter, such as the 2017 ABC Television comedy showTonightly with Tom Ballard. He is author of the 2022 bookI, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else.
Thomas Colin Ballard[1] was born in 1989 inWarrnambool,Victoria, and grew up there.[2][3]
He attendedBrauer Secondary College, graduating in 2007 as School Captain andDux and achieving anEquivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank of 99.80 in hisVictorian Certificate of Education (VCE).[4] In 2006, when he was still at school, he submitted an essay to theCastan Centre for Human Rights Law atMonash University, titled "We Have More to Fear From the State than From Terrorists: Who's Afraid of Terrorism?",[5] which won its 2006 Human Writes Essay Competition, open to all year 11 and 12 students across Victoria.[6] Also while at school, he won the Victorian plain English speaking competition; was presenting regularly onTriple J radio; was one of a school team which won the Apex Australian national debating final; was chosen to attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention in Canberra; as one of a team of three won the nationalmooting championship; and, after selection as one of the top theatre students in Victoria, performed inTop Acts at a local theatre.[7] During his VCE year, Ballard competed in and won the VCAA's Plain English Speaking Award with a speech titled "bullying.com". He went on to place second in the national competition to Daniel Swain, with the two being chosen to represent Australia in the International Public Speaking Competition held inLondon in May 2008.[8] He was also awarded theVCAA's 2007 VCE Achiever's Award.[9] His success in the public speaking competition and his activism with school and local youth communities on topics such asanti-homosexuality and cyberbullying helped earn him the Achiever's Award.[9]
After leaving school, he had wanted to become an actor, and applied to do a bachelor of dramatic art at theVictorian College of the Arts, but missed out on a place in the first round.[7] He moved toMelbourne studied law atMonash University for around six weeks,[10] but found his life too busy, after presenting his debut solo show at theComedy Festival as well as presenting on radio.[11]
Ballard was a three-timeClass Clowns national finalist in theMelbourne International Comedy Festival,[10] and aRaw Comedy national finalist by 2006.[12] He performed across Victoria as part of the Young Blood Comedy Tour in 2007, and had a guest spot in the 2007Melbourne International Comedy Festival'sEskimo Jokes show. He also performed in the 2008 Comedy Festival as part of the Comedy Zone,[13][12] as one of the "stars of the future" (along with Jacques Barrett, Lila Tillman, and Jack Druce).[14]
Ballard performed his first stand-up show in 2009, entitledTom Ballard Is What He Is, "about growing up andcoming out inregional Victoria. He has performed stand-up in festivals, on television, and on tours around the country,[10] including at Pridefest WA inPerth,Western Australia in 2012.[15]
In 2015, he toured his showTaxis & Rainbows & Hatred, which he based on a 2013homophobic incident directed at him in a taxi inNewcastle, around various comedy festivals,[10] including theEdinburgh Festival Fringe. He went by invitation to theJust for Laughs festival inMontreal, Canada, where he performed alongsideWanda Sykes andJimmy Carr. He returned the following year, and participated inComedy Central Roast and performed onLOL Live, presented byKevin Hart.[12]
Among other awards, Ballard won theHelpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer in 2016, forThe World Keeps Happening.[16]
In 2017, his showProblematic was one of three best-reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.[16]
Ballard was a presenter for Warrnambool's3WAY FM community radio station withAlex Dyson.[17]
After being noticed in theRaw Comedy event, Ballard and Dyson were recruited byTriple J to host the midnight to dawn show, then the weekday summer lunch slot (10 am to 2 pm), from 2009, the breakfast show (6 am to 10 am).[18][2] In November 2013, Ballard resigned fromTriple J after seven years with the station, to focus on his stand-up comedy.[12]
He has since made various appearances on radio, including as a guest host onNazeem Hussain Heals the World on Triple J in 2015, and on2Day FM'sBreakfast with Rove and Sam in 2016.[12]
In 2014, Ballard hostedReality Check, a panel discussion program aboutreality television.[12] He guest-hosted onQ&A twice in 2015.[12]
In 2017, Ballard was appointed host of news and culture TV program on ABC Comedy,Tonightly with Tom Ballard.[19] The show was dropped from the ABC line-up and aired for the last time on 7 September 2018, following an ABC review which determined the show failed to meet a quality threshold.[20]
He was cast inDeadloch[2] (released June 2023 onAmazon Prime Video) as Sven Alderman, a well-meaning but simple gay police officer.[21]
Ballard has also appeared onThe Project,Spicks and Specks,It's a Date,[12]Celebrity Name Game,Show Me the Movie!,Hughesy, We Have a Problem,[16]Patriot Brains (2021),[22] andCelebrity Mastermind (2020).[2] In 2024, he was a contestant on the Australian showGuy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee.[citation needed]
In 2016, Ballard was cast in the second season of SBSreality show/documentary seriesFirst Contact.[23]
Ballard wrote and broadcast the podcastLike I'm A Six-Year-Old for eight years, from around 2015 until May 2023.[24]
As of 2024[update] Ballard co-hosts the left-leaning political podcastSerious Danger, with Emerald Moon,[25] "about our broken political system and its greatest threat, theAustralian Greens". The 100th episode was performed live inMelbourne on 18 November 2023.[24]
Apart from comedy written to be performed live, Ballard has written forThe Warrnambool Standard,Good Weekend,Triple J magazine,Guardian Australia,The Sydney Morning Herald,Junkee, andFairfax Online.[12]
He also wrote a humorous but scathing critique ofneoliberalism and its impact on the economy and politics of Australia, a book calledI, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else, published in 2022.[26]
Ballard makes no secret of the fact that he is left-leaning politically. He endorsed theVictorian Socialists for the 2018 Victorian state election.[27][28] In a 2020 tweet he revealed that he was a member of theAustralian Greens.[29]
He has also criticised specific commentary, policies, and people, including:
Ballard is gay.[34] Ballard describes himself as "gay Gen Y middle-class public school-educated son of left-leaning-parents."[30] He is an atheist and critic of religion.[35]
He and comedianJosh Thomas were each other's first boyfriend.[36] As their two-and-a-half-year relationship was ending in 2010, Thomas was on tour with his showSurprise, "all about being young, gay and in love for the first time". Ballard premiered his show,Since 1989, at theBelvoir St Theatre the following year. Dealing with his childhood and first relationship, and largely written prior to the break-up, Ballard described the experience as giving him "an element of closure".[37]
As of 2024[update] his partner is Harley, whom he met in early 2020. He has afixie road bike, and has never owned a car.[2]
In June 2014, Adelaide comedian JooYung Roberts reported to theSouth Australia Police that Ballard had allegedly sexually assaulted him in a hotel room after a comedy show,[38][39] but the police had told him that the actions he had reported had been within the law.[40] Inspired by the#metoo movement, in December 2017 Roberts reported the matter to SAPOL again, who re-investigated and said that it had been finalised.[40] Roberts identified himself by describing the incident on his Facebook page, in which he said that after striking up a conversation at the hotel bar, Ballard invited Roberts, then 20 years old, up to his hotel room then kissed him[41][42] and placed his hand on his (Ballard's) penis.[40] He said that it had been "a traumatising experience for many reasons, one of those being I'm a heterosexual".[41] In response, Ballard released a statement on his website denying the allegation "in the strongest terms possible" and insisting the encounter wasconsensual.[43] He said he had only become aware of the claim that the sexual interaction was not consensual around six months earlier.[40][38] Ballard said the allegation had caused distress to him as well as his family and friends, affecting his work and his mental health. He stated: "I abhor sexual assault and sexual violence. I absolutely support the philosophy of the #MeToo movement. I believe in supporting victims and ensuring those who have done wrong face justice. But I have not done anything wrong."[44]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Push Up | Michael | |
| 2009 | Shiny Thing | Lochlan Duffy | |
| 2014 | It's a Date | Mark | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Fully Furnished | Dayne | |
| 2020 | Stamptown Comedy Night | Tommy Tucks | |
| 2023 | Deadloch | Sven Alderman | 8 episodes |
| 2024 | Fisk | Stefan | 2 episodes |
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| The Bits We're Least Ashamed of (withAlex) |
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| Tonightly Album |
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Ballard has won twoARIA Music Awards, a set of annual ceremonies presented byAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Bits We're Least Ashamed of (withAlex Dyson) | ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release | Won | [45] |
| 2018 | "Sex Pest" (with Bridie and Wyatt) | Won |
Other awards and nominations include:
