EDINBURGH 2016: BWW Q&A - Tom Ballard

Tom Ballard speaks to BWW about his Edinburgh Fringe 2016 show The World Keeps Happening.

Tell us a bit about The World Keeps Happening.

It's an hour of me yelling my opinions about all the global chaos that is going on right now. Terrorism, drugs, capitalism, refugees, love - all the classics. I have heaps of punchlines and no solutions.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

I reckon that all the readers of [INSERT YOUR PUBLICATION HERE] will love my show!

What have you been up to since your 2015 Edinburgh run?

I had a delightful week at the Soho Theatre in London, moved back to the awesome-cool city of Melbourne, wrote a 70-minute comedy lecture about Australia's treatment of refugees (better than it sounds), lost some weight, supported Danny Bhoy on his Australian tour, gained some weight and now I'm back here.

You've won and been nominated for a number of awards - does that add any pressure?

YES THE MENACING SHADOW OF FAILURE LOOMS OVER ME CONSTANTLY.

But then I remember that the sun will explode one day and lots of people work in call centres, so if my comedy show isn't extraordinary it's probably going to be alright.

What advice would you give to someone making their Fringe debut this year?

(Try to) enjoy every minute of it, the fun stuff and the scary stuff. Flyer with your heart on your sleeve, go see lots of shows, love your audience and don't kid yourself and buy a month pass at the local pool because it seems like good value and you honestly believe you'll be healthy and go swimming every day only to discover at the end of the month that you only went twice and effectively ended up paying £35 per swim, which is f-ing ridiculous.

Timings and ticket information for The World Keeps Happening are available on the edfringe website.