Tom Ballard

Stand-up comedian and TV and radio star Tom Ballard has become a popular and familiar face in Australia and if his career to date is anything to go by, it looks as if he will achieve the same popularity on international comedy stages too.

Tom began performing in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Class Clowns competition when he was in high school and at just 16 years old, he was a national finalist in RAW Comedy 2006. Based on that performance he was approached by national youth radio network triple j who offered him some airtime and he hasn’t looked back since.

In 2008 Tom was selected to perform in the MICF’s Comedy Zone, a showcase of up-and-coming comedic talent. In 2009, along with his silly friend Alex Dyson, Tom took over the triple j Weekend Breakfast shift, as well as performing his debut solo stand-up show, Tom Ballard Is What He Is. The show was nominated for a Golden Gibbo Award (an award that recognises shows which “buck trends and pursue the artist’s ideas more strongly than [they] pursue any commercial lure”) and saw Tom become the youngest person ever to win the prestigious Melbourne Airport Best Newcomer Award.

Since then, Tom has performed at the invite-only Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at sell-out shows at comedy festivals, fringe festivals, theatres and comedy clubs all over Australia. He has also supported such comedy greats as Wil Anderson and Stephen Merchant.

In 2010 Tom and Alex took over the weekday triple j breakfast show, following in the footsteps of Wil Anderson, Adam Spencer, Helen Razer, Mikey Robbins, Marieke Hardy and Paul McDermott. After four years of Breakfast with Tom and Alex (and winning an ARIA), Tom decided to hang up his headphones in 2013 for a well-earned sleep in and to focus on his first love, stand up.

You may have seen Tom wearing make-up and telling jokes on Good News Week, Spicks ‘n’ Specks, Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight, Can of Worms, This Week Live, The Circle, triple jtv, ABC’s The Drum or as co-host of ABC TV’s broadcast of the 2011 RAW Comedy Final with Hannah Gadsby. He also appeared fortnightly throughout 2011 and 2012 as The Project’s Resident Expert where he pretended to get angry and know things about issues.

In 2014, Tom had his very own weekly show on ABC TV, Reality Check, where he got to celebrate and laugh at the insane inner workings of the cultural phenomenon that is reality television. He also hosted SBS2’s coverage of the 2014 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi-Gras and appeared in series two of It’s A Date.

Whether it’s a top-notch comedian or whip-smart MC you’re after, Tom Ballard is a great choice. He’s a talented and intelligent performer and already regarded as a comedy veteran.