Tom Ballard - Since 1989

Tom Ballard is younger than most people. He believes age is just a number, just like AIDS is a series of letters. He’s the epitome of Gen Y: a gay, vegetarian atheist with ‘indie cred’, and he’s running for prime minister in two thousand and unlikely. He’s not a man yet, despite turning twenty one last year. He can’t make soup, and he ate yoghurt off a plate last week because he couldn’t be bothered doing the dishes. But he’s here to defend his generation nonetheless.

Performance-wise, it’s hard to believe Ballard is only a few years out of high school. Sure, his talk about Facebook, penis jokes in high school and taking drugs for the first time are not exclusively for the ‘young’ but definitely more relatable for those who are born after 1980.

Ballard gets off to a nice start, but after establishing his age several times over, there was a bit of fear that this would be a ‘defence against Gen Y’ type of show. But once he brought out a dancing cat with a bowtie that played Shania Twain from its belly, it was clear we were in for a good time.

The rest of Ballard’s material is based on things he learnt last year. He moved to Sydney, discovering that Melbourne is actually better. He contracted Scabies, which he initially thought was a combination of scurvy and rabies, and most significantly of all, Josh Thomas broke his heart. The rest of the show is based on his relationship with his ex, and is used as a friendly type of revenge against Thomas’ show ‘Surprise’ last year that was also based on their relationship.

Despite the fact that Ballard still seems pretty hung up on Thomas, he manages to share and joke about a lot private details of their relationship, without making it cringe-worthy, which quite a feat. Ballard’s ability to poke fun at himself, as well as his brilliant comedic timing is what really makes this show enjoyable.

Ballard has great composure on stage and knows how to work his audience. He performs with an air of experience, which is very impressive for any young comedian, let alone a 21 year-old. It’s quite exciting to imagine what this fresh talent is capable of, once he actually becomes a grown up.