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Tom Ballard: Solastalgia

Stand-Up Specials

The world is on fire and we’re all going to die lol.

Recorded in his hometown of Melbourne, Solastalgia is the first Radio 4 stand-up special from award-winning Millennial Australian comedian Tom Ballard. It’s his terrified, emotional and hilarious response to the climate crisis – what it means, how it makes us feel, what if anything we can do about it, and whether any of it is funny.

He’ll even tell you what Solastalgia means.

Tom was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer in 2015 and for the main prize in 2016, and hosted his own daily late-night comedy show for ABC, Tonightly with Tom Ballard. He can be heard regularly on the smash-hit satirical podcast The Bugle, and his work is “unrelenting and uproarious” (Chortle), “brave, biting, ballsy and ultimately, brilliant” (Time Out), “multi-dimensional and multi-layered, adding twist upon twist and full of little parcels of surprises” (Beyond The Joke), and “engaged, conscientious and consistently, archly funny, Ballard is precisely the sort of political commentator the world needs” (The Scotsman).

Written and performed by Tom Ballard

Recorded by Kristina Miltiadou

Post production by Rich Evans

Produced by Ed Morrish

Recorded at Comedy Republic, Narrm/Melbourne – on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4