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Tom Ballard (comedian)

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Tom Ballard
Born (1989-11-26) November 26, 1989 (age 36)
Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)Comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer
Years active2006–present
Known forCo-hosting Triple J breakfast show; Tonightly with Tom Ballard; stand-up comedy; writing the book I, Millennial

Thomas Colin Ballard (born 26 November 1989) is an Australian entertainer known for his work as a comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer. He rose to prominence through his seven-year tenure co-hosting on Triple J with Alex Dyson. Ballard's career spans stand-up comedy, podcasting, and television presenting, notably starring in the 2017 ABC program Tonightly with Tom Ballard. In 2022, he published the book I, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else.

Early life and education

Born in 1989 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Ballard spent his formative years in this regional city. He completed his secondary education at Brauer College, graduating in 2007 as both School Captain and Dux, achieving an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank of 99.80 in his VCE examinations. While still a student, he won the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law’s 2006 Human Writes Essay Competition with his entry titled "We Have More to Fear From the State than From Terrorists: Who's Afraid of Terrorism?".

Throughout his schooling, Ballard distinguished himself in public speaking by winning the Victorian plain English speaking competition and actively participating in debating, mooting, and theatre activities. He also contributed regularly as a presenter on Triple J radio during this period. In his final year, he secured the VCAA Plain English Speaking Award with a speech addressing cyberbullying and achieved second place nationally, which led to him representing Australia at the International Public Speaking Competition held in London in 2008. These accomplishments earned him the VCAA's 2007 VCE Achiever's Award.

Following graduation, Ballard intended to pursue dramatic arts but was unsuccessful in gaining entry to the Victorian College of the Arts. He briefly enrolled in law studies at Monash University but discontinued due to the demands of launching his first solo comedy show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival alongside ongoing radio commitments.

Stand-up comedy

By 2006, Ballard had been a three-time national finalist in Class Clowns at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as well as a finalist in Raw Comedy. In 2007, he toured Victoria as part of the Young Blood Comedy Tour and took part in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Eskimo Jokes show. The following year, he was featured in the Comedy Festival's Comedy Zone program as one of the emerging talents alongside Jacques Barrett, Lila Tillman, and Jack Druce.

Ballard’s debut solo stand-up show titled Tom Ballard Is What He Is (2009) explored themes of growing up and coming out within regional Victoria. He toured this show nationally and appeared at various festivals and events such as Pridefest WA in Perth during 2012.

In 2015, he presented Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred, a show inspired by a homophobic incident that occurred in a Newcastle taxi in 2013. This production was performed at multiple comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That year also saw him invited to perform at Montreal’s prestigious Just for Laughs festival alongside comedians like Wanda Sykes and Jimmy Carr. He returned to Just for Laughs the next year for Comedy Central Roast and appeared on LOL Live, hosted by Kevin Hart.

Ballard received the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer in 2016 for his show The World Keeps Happening. His 2017 production Problematic was recognized as one of the top three highest-rated shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Radio

Ballard launched his media journey as a presenter on Warrnambool's community radio station 3WAY FM, working alongside Alex Dyson. Following recognition at the Raw Comedy competition, both Ballard and Dyson were hired by Triple J to host a variety of slots, initially covering midnight to dawn shifts, then moving on to the weekday summer lunch program (10 am–2 pm), and ultimately taking over the breakfast show (6 am–10 am) starting in 2009. After seven years with Triple J, Ballard stepped down in November 2013 to dedicate more time to his stand-up comedy career.

He subsequently made guest hosting appearances on Triple J’s Nazeem Hussain Heals the World in 2015 and on 2Day FM’s Breakfast with Rove and Sam in 2016.

Hosting and acting roles

In 2014, Ballard served as host for Reality Check, a panel show centered on reality television, and he twice guest-hosted ABC’s Q&A during 2015.

Ballard took on the hosting role for ABC Comedy's news and culture series Tonightly with Tom Ballard in 2017. The program was discontinued in September 2018 following an ABC review that determined it failed to meet the broadcaster’s quality benchmarks.

In June 2023, he portrayed Sven Alderman—a well-intentioned but somewhat naive gay police officer—in the Amazon Prime Video series Deadloch.

Appearances as himself

Ballard has featured as himself on numerous programs such as The Project, Spicks and Specks, It's a Date, Celebrity Name Game, Show Me the Movie!, Hughesy, We Have a Problem, Patriot Brains (2021), and Celebrity Mastermind (2020). In 2024, he participated in Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee.

In 2016, Ballard was featured in the second season of SBS’s reality/documentary series First Contact.

Podcasts

Between approximately 2015 and May 2023, Ballard was the writer and host of the podcast titled Like I'm A Six-Year-Old.

As of 2024, he co-hosts the politically left-leaning podcast Serious Danger alongside Emerald Moon, which focuses on Australian politics and the Australian Greens. The podcast celebrated its 100th episode with a live performance in Melbourne on 18 November 2023.

Writing

In addition to his comedic work, Ballard has contributed articles to outlets including The Warrnambool Standard, Good Weekend, Triple J magazine, Guardian Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Fairfax Online.

His book published in 2022, titled I, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else, offers a critical examination of neoliberalism’s effects on Australia's political landscape and economy.

Political views and advocacy

Ballard openly identifies with left-wing politics, having supported the Victorian Socialists during the 2018 Victorian state election and disclosing his membership in the Australian Greens in 2020. He has publicly opposed various policies and individuals, including:

  • In 2012, Ballard disputed Miranda Devine’s opinions regarding family structures.
  • He has been outspoken against the Australian Government’s stance on asylum seekers.
  • In 2016, he criticized a controversial Bill Leak cartoon published by The Australian that portrayed an Aboriginal father negatively.
  • Ballard actively campaigned for marriage equality prior to Australia’s 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite.
  • In 2018, an ABC executive issued an apology to an Australian Conservatives candidate following Ballard’s comments about him on his program Tonightly.

Personal life

Ballard is openly gay and characterizes himself as a "gay Gen Y middle-class public school-educated son of left-leaning parents." He identifies as an atheist and is critical of religion. His first romantic relationship was with comedian Josh Thomas (comedian), which ended in 2010. Both comedians toured shows during that period that explored themes of young gay relationships.

As of 2024, Ballard's current partner is Harley, whom he met in early 2020. He is known to ride a fixed-gear road bicycle and has never owned a car.

Sexual assault allegations

In June 2014, Adelaide-based comedian JooYung Roberts filed a report with the South Australia Police alleging that Ballard had sexually assaulted him in a hotel room following a comedy performance. However, police initially determined the incident did not breach the law. Motivated by the #metoo, Roberts lodged a second complaint in December 2017; SAPOL reopened the investigation and later concluded it. Roberts publicly recounted the episode on Facebook, describing how after meeting at a hotel bar, Ballard invited him—then aged 20—to his room, kissed him, and placed his hand on Ballard’s genitals. Roberts described the event as "a traumatising experience," particularly because he identifies as heterosexual.

Ballard vehemently denied the claims, asserting that the encounter was consensual and stating he only became aware of the allegations approximately six months prior. He expressed that these accusations caused significant distress to himself, his family, and friends and negatively impacted his mental well-being and professional life. Ballard stated: "I abhor sexual assault and sexual violence. I absolutely support the philosophy of the #MeToo movement. I believe in supporting victims and ensuring those who have done wrong face justice. But I have not done anything wrong."

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Push Up Michael
2009 Shiny Thing Lochlan Duffy
2014 It's a Date Mark 1 episode
2015 Fully Furnished Dayne
2020 Stamptown Comedy Night Tommy Tucks
2023 Deadloch Sven Alderman 8 episodes
2024 Fisk Stefan 2 episodes
2025 Claire Hooper's House Of Games Self 5 episodes

Albums

List of albums
Title Album details
The Bits We're Least Ashamed of (with Alex Dyson)
  • Released: April 2013
  • Label: ABC, UMA (3713506)
  • Formats: CD, download
Tonightly Album
  • Released: October 2018
  • Label: ABC
  • Formats: download

Awards and nominations

Ballard has earned two ARIA Music Awards, which are prestigious annual honors presented by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

! |- | 2013 | The Bits We're Least Ashamed of (with Alex Dyson) | rowspan="2"| ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release | | rowspan="2"| [1] |- | 2018 | "Sex Pest" (with Bridie and Wyatt) | |-

Additional significant recognitions include:

Publications

  • I, Millennial: A Snowflake's Manifesto Challenging Boomers, Billionaires, and More, Simon & Schuster Australia, 2022, ISBN 978-1-76110-064-2

External links

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named awards
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