Tom Ballard (Triple J, The 7pm Project) : Exclusive MICF Interview

Ever since Tom Ballard played the role of Blitzen in a local amateur production of Rock’n'Roll Santa back in 1997 in his home town of Warrnambool, his comedy career has been on a steady decline. Having overcome serious sex and chocolate milk addictions at the age of 14, Ballard has since managed to become a three-time Class Clowns National Finalist and a RAW National Finalist by 2006.

On the strength of his RAW performance, Tom teamed up with his hometown pal Alex Dyson and took on the coveted role as Triple J Breakfast presenter in 2010. He now hits the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with his show “Since 1989″.

WATCH OUT FOR | COMEDY nerd, Sean Lynch, caught up with the young ragamuffin to talk all things comedy… and the Chk Chk Boom Girl.

You’ve had a different lead into Comedy & TV than most (very big, very early), have you found others have been supportive of that (or a bit jaded and cynical)?

Everyone has been lovely so far, at least to my baby face. I realise I’ve been extremely lucky in my career to date, but I guess that is just how the industry of funny works.

I know plenty of awesome, talented, hard-working, mature comedians who are more than worthy of the success and exposure that I’ve experienced, but just through the nature of luck and randomness, it hasn’t happened for them as yet.

I think everyone is aware that that’s just a fact of life when you work in showbiz.

But yes, on the whole, I think the Australian comedy community is bloody lovely and genuinely supportive. I feel honoured to be a part of it.

What is it about Comedy that appeals to you more than anything else?

I think the lack of bullshit involved.

In comedy, you know whether something works or if it doesn’t. It’s a brutally honest meritocracy that fights against censorship and lame things. What’s not to like?

I first saw you at Spleen about a year ago and I remember just noticing how confident and at home you looked on stage. Especially with a lot of the “I am gay” material (of that particular set) which can often be confronting to some audiences, the confidence just immediately leveled it out and took away the taboo (if that makes sense at all?).

Audiences really warm to that sort of confidence – do you think that is part of the key to success in comedy – is that something you were aware of when constructing your earlier sets?

I think presence is really important. An audience wants to be entertained and it’s your job to take control and entertain them. When you’re standing on a stage under lights in front of a crowd, giving your opinions and observations into an amplification device, you really do need to just go for it.

I think it’s vital that you own your material, too; I’ve seen a lot of great jokes fail because they weren’t delivered with the appropriate chutzpah.

Who was the first comedian you ever had a “humour” crush on that shaped your way of “comedy thinking”?

Seinfeld is the original one for me. He was just so fucking funny and so fucking cool. I’ll admit to cheating on him with the likes of Monty Python, Shaun Micallef and pretty much anyone who has appeared on the Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala in the late 90s/early 2000s.

You’ve been a Studio A regular on C31, as well as The 7pm Project on Channel 10 – the big question is : who has better catering and why?

While I do love sandwiches in glad-wrap and complimentary bottles of water, I love cheese, risotto balls and olives a lot more.

I’ll let you decide who provides what.

You’ve just climbed another rung in the ladder at Triple J. How did radio come knocking at Alex & your door?

Our radio career has been somewhat haphazard. Alex and I started out doing community radio in our hometown of Warrnambool. Then the Program Director at Triple J saw me perform in RAW Comedy in 2006, we sent in tapes of our show, they said we could stick around if we learned to talk better and now here we are.

Who is the brains behind the operation?

I think I’m what’s known as the “generator” of the pair; Alex is the “reactor”. I tend to come up with a lot of segments and talking points and ideas and stuff and Alex is extremely good at making that stuff funny. I make it my business to know stuff about music and comedy, Alex knows his movies and sport.

We both try to keep up with Chk Chk Boom Girl news.

Young comedians always hear the success stories, but very rarely do the success stories explain the “middle part” of the process. What was your method pros / cons to infiltrate the industry – especially being launching outside of the CBD comedy hub?

A big part of me becoming a comedian was moving to Melbourne and regularly going to rooms. I gigged as much as I possibly could, completely unpaid, and just watched and did as much as I could. I like to think I wasn’t much of a schmoozer, except when it came to trying to be on the good side of Comedy Festival staff.

I guess I was just extremely keen to learn as much as I possibly could about how the whole sha-bang worked and how you could best go about kick-starting a career.

As a comedy fan, what were your first reactions when you finally saw “behind the green curtain”. You know, when the mystery of the performer and the actual person collided (and didn’t quite match up to your hopes).

I was lucky enough to go on the Comedy Festival Roadshow with Greg Fleet and was quite terrified. You hear some horror stories about Fleety involving substance abuse and him just not turning up to shows, but he was nothing but an absolute gentleman, an incredible comedian and a great friend to hang out with on tour.

Who was the biggest letdown?

The biggest letdown? Well, I think it’s just the realisation that comedians are simply human beings who are generally pretty normal.

It was incredible to meet Ross Noble, but slightly underwhelming at the same time. You expect to be surrounded by dragons and talking grilled cheese sandwiches when hanging out with Ross Noble and it just doesn’t happen like that.

Also Josh Thomas. That guy’s a douche.

Ben Kweller : Country or Not Country?

No, human being…

LOL!

Seriously, though, I am a much bigger fan of his pop/rock work, like “Sha Sha” and “Ben Kweller”.

You’ve bared your arse on JTV, do you feel Mel Gibson went through the same mental preparation process as you when he filmed Lethal Weapon 2?

I am yet to see the Lethal Weapon films. I am not ashamed of that at all.

We love our Viral Videos at WATCH OUT FOR | COMEDY, Do you have any particular favourite internet viral videos at the moment?

Look, it’s not particularly original, but OK Go’s Here It Goes Again film clip is just brilliant on a heck of a lot of levels. It always reminds me to try and do things in an awesome fashion, if possible.

Finally – a question we ask everyone – if you were about to die a horrible graphic history making death and the last words you heard was someone yelling out to save you… what would you like this unfinished sentence to say “TOM, WATCH OUT FOR…..??? “

“… All your Oscar and Barry Awards! They’re tipping dangerously above your head, which is situated on your extremely buff shoulders! The only thing that could possibly save you is your legion of dedicated fans, who truly respect your body of work! Oh, and watch out for all those hot young sexually adventurous men who are clambering to make out with you!”

“WATCH OUT, FOR GOD’S SAKE! IF WE WERE TO LOSE YOU, THE WORLD WOULD SURELY BECOME A DARKER PLACE!”

TOM BALLARD CAN BE HEARD EVERY MORNING ON “TOM & ALEX” ON TRIPLE J

TOM BALLARD – SINCE 1989 – BUY TICKETS HERE