You can read my blog for Assembly Festival here.

I am stoked/terrified to announce that I’ll be making my Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in August 2015.

Here’s the shit to get that sweet international buzz cookin’:

Australian TV and radio star Tom Ballard has arrived for his Edinburgh Fringe debut. Having sold out shows across his home country and supported the likes of Stephen Merchant and Wil Anderson, his blistering new hour of stand up tackles the big issues: love, sex, loneliness, scabies and finding the courage to be one’s self.

At just 16 years of age, Ballard was a national finalist in RAW Comedy (the Aussie version of So You Think You’re Funny). In 2008 he was handpicked by the Melbourne Comedy Festival to be showcased in The Comedy Zone and the following year he became the youngest ever winner of the Festival’s coveted Best Newcomer Award for his hilarious and deeply personal show, Tom Ballard Is What He Is.

The Aussie public is mighty familiar with Tom’s voice and boyish, pale face. For four years, Tom co-hosted a top-rating breakfast show on national youth network triple j; a CD of his finer broadcasting moments took out the gong for Best Comedy Release from the Australian Recording Industry Association. Last year, at just 24, Tom hosted his very own TV panel show, Reality Check – a gleefully fun and whip-smart deconstruction of reality television.

But it’s live onstage that Ballard truly feels at home. Catch Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred and see what all the fuss is about.

Tickets are on sale now and you can get them here.

Haggis and good shout and heroin etc!

Ahhh classic Eddie. If that makes you uncomfortable, please read this piece I wrote for comedy website Chortle on gay jokes becoming hack.

(I’m not in the above photo).

This show was insane fun and was such a joy to celebrate the dickheadedry that is this podcast. Treat yourself and listen back to it here.

Wendy Zuckerman interviewed me for this brilliant ABC podcast, allowing us all to laugh AND learn.

Senator Eric Abetz wrote this silly opinion piece so I had a crack at one too.

Like a 15-year-old Tom Ballard catching himself admiring his friends’ bodies at the school swimming carnival, Senator Eric Abetz is confused.

The world is a confusing place: Ireland has voted in favour of marriage equality by popular vote, the US Supreme Court held that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and now radical hippies like Warren Entsch plan to co-sponsor a bill calling for change to the Marriage Act.

Amid all this insanity, Senator Abetz wrote an opinion piece for Fairfax and was interviewed on ABC radio and Sky News about how the media has an agenda to silence critical voices on this issue.

(FYI newspapers, radio stations and TV networks are generally considered to be part of the media.)

 

A new Australian documentary Between a Frock and a Hard Place (Thursday June 18 at 8.30pm), examines the inspiration and social context of the iconic Australian movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and highlights the extraordinary change in social attitudes and laws around homosexuality, masculinity and gender over the last 40 years.

 

Following on immediately from that will be Q&A SPECIAL: BETWEEN A FROCK AND A HARD PLACE.

 

Guests will include: gay rights activist and author Dennis Altman, entertainer Paul Capsis, broadcaster and journalist Julie McCrossin, President, Christian Democratic Party Rev. Fred Nile, transgender woman Julia Doulman, and student and queer activist, Katherine Hudson.

 

They’ll be joining host Tom Ballard LIVE on the Q&A panel.

 

 

You can watch or download the whole show on the Q&A website.

You can also catch the Monday Conference on “Homosexuality: Rights & Wrongs”, filmed in Mt Isa in 1976, on ABC iView.

Big thanks to everyone on the panel, the incredible team behind the show, the questioners, the studio audience and all youse who tuned in to the show and tweeted/facebooked/yelled at your telly. I’m really proud of the discussion we got to have and hope everyone felt they had a chance to have their say and hopefully hear some new stories and perspectives.

I didn’t get to say “I’ll take that as a comment”, but hey, maybe next time…

My tales from the road are up here, featuring me dancing badly and wearing anti-masturbation gloves!

When I was a wide-eyed little thing I entered and won an essay on human rights run by the Castan Centre for Human Rights (based in the Monash Law Faculty). It was an awesome experience for me, I learnt a lot and I think it’s really important we have places that celebrate, discuss and bemoan the degradation of human rights in Australia and around the world.

Plus if it means a few slick young law students with dollar signs in their eyes are reminded about fighting the good fight for the little people during the studies, that’s nothing but good news.

The Centre is running its annual appeal at the moment so if you have a dollar or two to chip in, you can do so here.