Barry Award takes Tom to the world

TOM Ballard's satirical take on his "crippling condition" has earned him a major gong and ticket to the world's comedy stage.Ballard was crowned the Best Newcomer at Saturday night's Melbourne Comedy Festival Barry Awards night.The 19-year-old stand-up's prize was a $6000 ticket to either the Brighton Comedy Festival or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the United Kingdom.After a 15-minute Comedy Zone debut at last year's festival, Ballard's first full-length solo show, Tom Ballard Is What He Is, has received rave reviews."...Tom Ballard has crafted a solid and satisfying evening of stand-up for his first solo show at the Comedy Festival," wrote reviewer Richard Watts in The Age."The 55-minute show is structured around the subject of Ballard's sexuality: growing up gay in Warrnambool and coming out to his family and friends. He is, he says, "quite comfortable with my crippling condition", and it shows."Rather than an angry or angst-ridden coming-out story, Ballard displays wit and warmth as he embarks on a series of humorous anecdotes about the challenges of pretending to be straight, the masturbatory habits of teenage boys and the difficulties of finding a date."Ballard was also a finalist in the Golden Gibbo, which was struck in memory of Lynda Gibson.Yesterday, he was still coming to grips with his success and the opportunity to take his show to the world."Yeah it is really massive," he said."I know the other nominees who were alongside me for the Best Newcomer award and I respect their comedy, so it's huge to win this in front of them," he said."Other comedians have done coming out shows before, but I hope mine was a bit different. It was very personal to me."The show goes from me thinking about being gay, to hiding it, to coming out and being out."Ballard now works as a weekend breakfast announcer for Triple J radio and writes a regular blog for The Standard's website. He came out to close friends in 2007 towards the end of his VCE.