“I might be chubby, but I’ve been on the telly so I’m better than you,” Tom Ballard laughs, pulling his top up at an audience member whose guffaw was just awkward enough to stand out above the rest.
It may be a cliché, but it’s always a genuine joy to watch Ballard perform. He knows his audience intimately, knows how to draw them in and rile them up just the right amount: provided there are no fans in the audience of Christopher Pyne, rowing clubs or Liberal Party policy. He’s probably not so quite so endearing if you’ve flown into the show by helicopter.
Nailing the relatable self-deprecation without being mopey, and just as easily slipping into hilarious and spot-on rants about trickier topics like the government, ISIS and our failing in the war on drugs – with no shortage of almost excruciatingly accurate descriptions and, yes, demonstrations of sex between men – he seems to purposely take the crowd almost to the point of losing them, then in seconds turn it all around with a side-splitter. He does, though, seem to almost brace himself for a lacklustre response – even when I’m struggling to breathe through my giggles, I hear “Melbourne! Come on!”. We’re with ya Tom, I promise you.
The ex-triple j breakfast presenter and one-time Q&A host, as he’s keen to remind us two, three, four times (complete with an unfortunate slip of the tongue he didn’t quite filter through his head before saying in front of a very politically aware ABC audience) gives us some pretty solid solutions to society’s big problems of today: making all drugs legal on election day, sending people to eradicate ISIS as a form of euthanasia – you know, the usual.
The jokes in the show, which Ballard has been touring and perfecting for nearly a year now, flit from instantly hilarious to the kind where you have to throw your moral compass away before cackling with laughter. He involves members of the audience the whole way through, breaking the fourth wall in a way that doesn’t fill you with dread (well, unless you found Tom on Grindr before the show – then you should watch out), keeping each show personalised and fresh, and just being genuinely likeable and endearing – which is no mean feat when you suddenly realise you’re watching a 26 year-old man simulate his parents copulating with great enthusiasm.
BY MATILDA EDWARDS
