@TomCBallard Sorry to hear that you’ve turned into a concrete parking pole, I was looking forward to your show! pic.twitter.com/HZTtZ0pM5u
— Madi Stroomer (@madistroomer) February 17, 2015
Throughout the comedy festival season I’m blogging for Crikey’s arts site, the Daily Review.
You can read my first entry from the Adelaide Fringe here, featuring audio of a 12-year-old in my audience on Saturday night.
Comedian, writer, TV & radio host and outspoken activist Nazeem Hussain escaped the watchful gaze of ASIO to join me in my house for a chat.
The creator and star of Legally Brown discussed comedy, the white media landscape and his intense martial arts training, as well as reflecting on his approach to Islam and his single mother’s role in fostering his commitment to helping other people.
The Lupe Fiasco Alien Abduction Interview
Aamer Rahman on reverse racism
John Safran’s article on Musa Cerantonio
My opinion piece on children in detention
Cause of the Week: RISE (riserefugee.org)
Lately I’ve been getting a few questions from journalists and some folks on twitter about the fate of Reality Check in 2015 and I figure I owe it to fans (and hey, even haters) of the show to let y’all know what’s going on.
Unfortunately we won’t be back this year. It’s a real bummer but I can hardly complain about getting to host my own show that I’m very proud of for an entire season. Thank you so much to every single one of you out there who tuned in every week and let us know how much you enjoyed it, whether you were a reality tragic and loved finding out about all the inner workings of the genre or if you despised it all and enjoyed us taking the piss.
I’d also like to thank the incredible team at CJZ for putting their trust in me and working so hard to make the show happen; writers Richard Thorp, Sophie Braham and Ben Pobjie; Jon Casimir, Sophia Zachariou and everyone at ABC TV and of course, the amazing and generous panellists who were so willing to tell fascinating stories about the industry and laugh at themselves.
Obviously, the biggest thanks goes to my BFF Brynne Edelsten.
If you want to hear Dicko‘s voice again, check out my podcast interview with him here.
And because it wouldn’t be a blog post without a plug for my stand up, remember I’m touring my new show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred all over the place, details here.
Here’s to the good, overly dramatic times…
For an in-depth breakdown of what exactly is going on with Australia’s immigration policy and the number of laws we’re breaking, I talked to academic and advocate Senthorun Raj.
Currently completing his PhD in law at Sydney University, Senthorun has worked extensively with the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Amnesty International, ACON Health and many other organisations. Hear us discuss how his Tamil family background (and a TV show) influenced his passion for human rights, our society’s tendency to ignore certain kinds of violence and how Australia is, as we speak, complicit in state-sanctioned torture.
Senthorun’s writings for The Guardian
Cause of the Week: Amnesty International, The Pinnacle Foundation
On Monday nights I like to watch the ABC’s Q&A program.
This week during the show I tweeted this:
The only way to watch #qandapic.twitter.com/RqmBTMbGnL
— Tom Ballard (@TomCBallard) February 9, 2015
And then, wouldn’t you know it, people responded with stuff like this:
@TomCBallard cat still here but the dog has left the room pic.twitter.com/CudNDlv1sX
— Team Lottie Schnauze (@LottieSchnauzer) February 9, 2015
and this:
@TomCBallard pic.twitter.com/2CPHC5Nw1v
— Emma (@emylee7) February 9, 2015
And from there it just got better and better and Buzzfeed even did a thing about it which you can check out here if you fancy.
Soooooo good.
Children’s illustrator Claire Richards is putting on this lovely exhibition at the Urban Cow Studio in Adelaide during the Fringe called Funny Bunnies in which she’s illustrating comedians as children.
She very kindly asked me to be involved and this is what we came up with:
HOLY SHIT YOU WANT TO ADOPT ME RIGHT????
If you’re in Adelaide and would like to check out some gold like this, here’s the exhibition’s Facebook event.
It’s a February night in 2014 and I am travelling on a packed tram through the Adelaide CBD with a helium-filled representation of male genitalia on my head.
Let me explain.
You can read the full thing on indaily here.
And to hear me talk about such things live on stage with more swear words, check out the dates for my new show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred here.
Last year my mate Tommy Dassalo and I cheekily stole some hard cash from SBS Comedy and made a pilot for a web series.
She’s out next week so keep an eye out or even both of them.
You probably know Dicko best as that arsehole judge from Australian Idol, but there’s a lot more to the old codger than that. He’s been a window washer, a music journalist, a radio host and more, all the while retaining his trademark unflinching honesty.
Here we discuss his father’s remarkable story, the political colouring of his youth, stories from his time working with everyone from Pearl Jam to Rage Against the Machine, political correctness and why he’s found himself in hot water with Quentin and Paulini.
Cause of the Week: The Australian Children’s Music Fund
Dicko’s story about Quentin on ABC iView