Tom Ballard’s got a new show, it’s called ‘The World Keeps Happening’. The comedian says the title came from reflecting on the big issues that affect the world and the constant stream of bad news.
“It was a weariness that inspired that title, that feeling of, ‘Oh! – the world keeps happening’. You just never get a break.” Ballard told OUTinPerth, “When you think about the state of the world it just feels like it’s just overwhelming in every single direction, from suicidal and homicidal maniacs on the other side of the world, to our sense of privilege, to sometimes my own stupidity, and trying to work out how to live my life. It’s all of that spun comedy gold.”
Ballard agrees that sometimes when the news you’re reading seems like you can lose faith in humanity, you can go always go one step lower by reading the comments.
“It’s true, you should never read the comments. Why would we go there for interesting and enlightened debate on any topic?” Ballard asks, “Especially when someone like Waleed Aly writes an article that is most likely, a really sizeable, considered, heart felt and article piece on the state of the world or an issue facing the Australian people, and then ‘HotDog64’ leaves his thoughts, probably calling him a terrorist.”
The comedian admits though that he can’t help reading the comments on articles he’s written and stressed that while sometimes it feels like there’s a large population of idiots, he counts himself as one of the masses.
“This is not ‘Hey everybody, I’ve got the answers, I know what’s going on.’ I am very much an idiot too. I’m a non-smoking vegetarian who accidently ate some smoked ham, (it was like a double betrayal).” Ballard said. “I’m just trying to figure out how to live a good life and asking ‘is that even possible?’”
Lots of things weigh on the comedians mind, from the constant stream of rebooted movies franchises coming out on Hollywood studios, to why constantly scandal plagued politicians never lose their jobs.
“So much of writing process for this show was me getting angry about things and then trying to think about a joke that applies.” Ballard laughed.
Catch Tom Ballard’s ‘The World Keeps Happening’ at Fringe World from Friday January 22nd.
Head to www.fringeworld.com.au for tickets.
