Author Archives: Tom

58 – Sally Warhaft

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Journalist, anthropologist and broadcaster Sally Warhaft is a former editor of The Monthly, host of The Wheeler Centre’s Fifth Estate podcast and mother to one-year-old twins.

In this wide-ranging chat, Sally diagnoses the current state of Australian politics, laments the lack of great political oratory today, explains why Malcolm Turnbull is politically “rooted”, shares her thoughts on the cruelty of the death penalty and her friendship with Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and gives me a bit of an insight into anthropology.

I gots nominated for the 2016 Barry Award golly gee!

The World Keeps Happening at the Melbourne Comedy Festival

Boundless Plains To Share at the Melbourne Comedy Festival

The World Keeps Happening at the Sydney Comedy Festival

The 2016 MICF Great Debate on tenplay

Article: “I’ve cried researching my comedy show about refugees”

The Wheeler Centre’s Fifth Estate podcast

Well May We Say: The Speeches That Made Australia  

Cause of the Week: Reprieve Australia (reprieve.org.au)

Direct download        iTunes          libsyn

The MICF Great Debate

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I did this alongside the brilliant Urzila Carlson and Alex Edelman against the evil Joel Creasey, Nazeem Hussain and Sara Pascoe, all moderated by the legend that is Barry Humphries.

I even dressed up and everything!

I Got Nominated For A Thing

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Today my two shows The World Keeps Happening & Boundless Plains To Share were nominated for a Barry Award at the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  It was all very lovely, particularly for Barry Humphries who, as this photo clearly shows, was stoked to meet his hero (me).

Congrats to all the other nominees and I say a big fat thanks to all the good people of Token Artists, the Moosehead Awards, my brilliant director Scott Edgar and my industrious and lovely producer Olivia Allen.

Just one week of ‪#‎MICF‬ left! I’d love you to come along if you can.

Guardian Piece

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When it comes to Australia’s treatment of refugees who arrive by boat, there’s at least one thing everyone agrees on: the seriousness of the dilemma. Laborites, Liberals, Greens, advocates and rightwing columnists alike always preface their comments on the debate with a sombre acknowledgement of just how “complex”, “difficult”, “uneasy”, “uncomfortable” and “heartbreaking” it all is.

I’m tempted to use another term: a term that begins with the sixth letter of the alphabet and rhymes with “ducked”.

The situation is ducked. It’s ducked up and it’s been ducked up for a long time.

Read the full thing here.

2016: The World Keeps Happening

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Here’s my brand new stand-up show for 2016 hurrah hurrah. It’s about the state of this crazy ol’ world in which we find ourselves. And my phone. And drugs. And James Bond.

Please come!

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PERTH FRINGEWORLD @ THE GOLDDIGGER

Friday January 22nd – Saturday January 30th, 8:30pm (no show Tuesday Jan 26th). Tickets available here.

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ADELAIDE FRINGE FESTIVAL @ THE GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS (STUDIO 7)

Friday Feb 12th – Sunday Feb 28th, 8:15pm (no show Monday Feb 15th). Tickets available here.

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BRISBANE COMEDY FESTIVAL @ THE BRISBANE POWERHOUSE (VISY THEATRE)

Tuesday March 15th – Sunday March 20th, 8:45pm (7:15pm Sunday). Tickets available here.

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL @ THE SUPPER ROOM, MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

Thursday March 24th – Sunday April 17th, 8:15pm (7:15pm Sunday. No show Mondays or Wednesdays.) AUSLAN-interpreted show on Thursday March 31st. Tickets available here.

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SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL @ THE COMEDY STORE

2 SHOWS ONLY! Thursday April 28th & Friday April 29th, 8:15pm. Tickets available here.

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57 – Simon Hunt (Pauline Pantsdown)

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paulinepantsdownlogo500YES I KNOW IT’S BEEN QUITE A WHILE I’VE BEEN VERY BUSY SORRY LOL.

The good news is this episode is well worth the wait. Simon Hunt is a political satirist, film maker, lecturer, sound designer, musician and activist who’s best known for his creation “Pauline Pantsdown” – a hugely popular and scathing parody of the One Nation politician Pauline Hanson.

In this extraordinary chat (recorded on the day of Mardi Gras 2016), Simon recounts his experiences of growing up gay in NSW in the 80s and explains his his fascination with religious right-wingers like Fred Nile and Anita Bryant, his politicisation in the face of the AIDS crisis, how he came to create Pantsdown and what Hanson says about us as a country today. Plus he’s got some stories that are fucking funny.

The World Keeps Happening at the Melbourne Comedy Festival

Boundless Plains To Share at the Melbourne Comedy Festival

My episode of Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy

My piece for The Saturday Paper on visiting detention centres and writing a comedy show about refugees 

SBS’s The Feed story on Boundless Plains To Share

@PPantsdown  

Pauline on Facebook

Pantsdown clips on YouTube

Pauline Pantsdown on the Star Observer

Electoral Guerilla Theatre in Australia: Pauline Hanson vs. Pauline Pantsdown by Lawrence M. Bogad

Cause of the Week: minus18 (minus18.org.au)

Direct download      iTunes       libsyn

SBS’s The Feed on Boundless Plains To Share

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It’s a decidedly unfunny topic, yet Tom Ballard is using his latest stand-up comedy show to speak about Australia’s…

Posted by The Feed SBS on Tuesday, March 29, 2016