Tom Ballard’s show is a high-speed collision of politics coupled with technology and a comedian who seems physically incapable of lowering his voice (impossible edition). Celebrating 20 years in comedy, Ballard charges through everything from Donald Trump and Andrew Tate to the manosphere, Australian politics, immigration, Nazis and the war in the Middle East. To say the least, you will definitely leave the show feeling educated about today’s societal issues.
His comedy is extremely animated and relentlessly quick, with a slideshow that races alongside him, often landing a punchline before you have quite worked out what pops up on the screen. He revisits the media storm surrounding his own Nazi-salute controversy, scrolls through news-site comments and, most effectively, reads reviews of his previous work, dissecting and roasting the critics that have hilariously spoken against him. As someone currently writing one of those reviews, I am suddenly very aware that I should probably choose my words carefully. I would rather not become part of next year’s slideshow.
The show’s most unexpected highlight comes when his laptop decides to malfunction. Rather than derailing the performance, Ballard turns the technical failure into an extended comic triumph. I could give this three stars, purely because Ballard has clearly been given three stars enough times to make it a running joke. But that would be almost too predictable.
Tom Ballard: Be Funny Challenge (Impossible), 16:25 at O’Neills (The Tron) at Monkey Barrel Comedy at 4:25pm from August 3-17th – 19-30th
