Rocking Laughs

You may know Tom Ballard from his years on the stand-up comedy circuit (an impressive feat in itself given his young 23 years). You may know him from slots on various television programs. You may know him as one half of triple j's morning breakfast team. Or you may even know him from his most recent endeavour, Listening Party, a live show where Ballard interviews three guests about their lives, careers and a specific song choice that is then played for the audience.
With the month-long Listening Party experiment drawing to a close, it seems only fitting that Ballard will combine comedy with music once more, with a set on Homebake's Comedy stage at the upcoming festival.
“I'm all about comedy at music festivals,” says Ballard, who was also billed on last year's Homebake. “I think it's really fun – in the UK it's really big and I think more and more festivals are taking it on around here and that's good. There's a huge crossover between music audiences and comedy-goers, and lots of comedians fit into that middle-ground.” Ballard then rattles off some rather impressive examples: “Bill Hicks used to open for rock acts, Nirvana used to have Bobcat Goldthwait open for them when they were touring, so there's a bit of tradition there.”
Given his recent efforts, I request a little Listening Party-esque run down of Ballard's top picks for the festival, and among fellow comedians Mel Buttle and Rhys Nicholson, there's a nice spread of musos. “I do like Tim Minchin. I think it'd be really cool to see him in a live festival context. Blondie I think will be bizarre, but great, you know, it's odd that they're on this line-up, but it's cool too, they're great pop people! And Tame Impala – I think people are just going to go apeshit for them, they're so much fun and they make really interesting music. So they're the big ones for me.”
While he's all for more comedy at music festivals, there is the small problem (which, granted, bands are not excused from either) of timing clashes. With The Saints and Ball Park Music scheduled for sets while Ballard brings the laughs to the comedy stage, I ask him – in good spirits – what he'll offer that they won't.
“Well, The Saints are punk legends of the Australian music scene, and Ball Park Music are one of the most interesting bands kicking around at the moment who put on an incredible live show. So… I have been on the telly, and, um, there's shade. I won't go on for ages, and I won't sing songs that you don't know, I won't sing any songs at all! Did I mention there's shade? And if you want to throw empty beer bottles at me I don't mind so much.”