Monday 26 November 2012

Tom Ballard (1989 - ), Australian.Radio host and comedian

b.  26 November 1989

A tall, blond, fast-talking, openly gay, Australian radio presenter and comedian.


Ballard began his comedy career by playing Blitzen in a local amateur production of Rock n Roll Santa in 1997. He was a three-time Class Clowns National Finalist and a Raw Comedy National Finalist by 2006. He performed in Upwey, Warburton, Healesville and Lilydale as part of the Young Blood Comedy Tour in 2007 and was a guest entertainer in the 2007 Melbourne Comedy Festival's Eskimo Jokes show.
He was one quarter of The Comedy Zone at the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Tom was a presenter for Warrnambool's 3WAY FM community radio station with Alex Dyson.[7] On the strength of his Raw Comedy performance, Ballard was given the chance to develop some demos with Australian youth radio station Triple J and, along with Alex, was given regular Mid-Dawn (1am to 6 am) shifts.
In December 2008, Tom and Alex were the presenters for the weekday summer lunch slot (10 am to 2 pm) and in 2009 moved to the weekend breakfast slot.[8] On 23 November 2009, Triple J announced that Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson would take over as hosts of the 2010 Breakfast show.

Included in the Same Same list of 25 Most Influential Australians, 2010

“Comedian, breakfast radio presenter and GLBT Youth advocate has achieved so much at only 21. I can't think of any performer more deserving to be in this list.”

Australia’s largest youth broadcaster's career and going wonderfully, from his early morning radio broadcasts to his hilarious stand-up comedy shows. In April 2009, Tom brought his debut solo show, Tom Ballard Is What He Is to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and was the youngest person EVER to take out the prestigious Melbourne Airport Best Newcomer award. His show was also nominated for a Golden Gibbo Award; an award that recognises independent shows that "buck trends and pursue the artist's ideas more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure."

Growing up and coming out in regional Victoria wasn't too bad, he reflects. "I didn’t come out until I was in Year 12, so I was never the ‘gay kid’ at school," he told the Gay News Network last year. "But there were certainly a lot of times where you’d feel like you couldn’t talk about it.
"Everyone assumes you’re straight, particularly when you’re not an overly camp and obviously gay guy. I’d never had a girlfriend but I think people were kind of surprised in their own way, then they got used to the idea."
Tom Ballard is heading for a busy 2011 of touring his comedy to funny festivals around Australia.
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1 comment:

  1. Not really. He came across as a kind of menacing pseudo alpha. He also failed to address the question at hand. Comedian Australia

    ReplyDelete