Easily one of the funniest and more thought-provoking shows at this year’s FRINGE WORLD, ‘Tom Ballard - It Is I’, is a much welcome hour of eye-watering stand-up comedy with a familiar underdone of socio-political cynicism that resonates well with the audience and leaves us with plenty to think about, long after the tears have dried.

Since he last visited our ‘Hermit Kingdom’ (as he ‘fondly’ refers to Western Australia), Tom Ballard has written a book (‘I, Millennial: One Snowflake’s Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires & Everything Else’) and starred in a comedy special (‘Enough’). Unfortunately, as he pointed out, you’d probably only have seen the special if you had heard of, or subscribed to, Paramount Plus (this audience had not), or if you had tried to watch his set on Channel Ten, mis-labelled as belonging to Tom Gleeson (oops!).

Ballard provides some comedic relief against the fears of the burgeoning AI revolution, the perpetual machine-learning resulting in automation and replacement of traditionally manual tasks, at the expense of human necessity. He presented a questionable (yet cackle-inducing) joke written by the seemingly omnipotent ChatGPT, before contemplating a not-too-distant dystopian future where our jobs are replaced by robots, we’re all on Centrelink and running from the robots dishing out Robodebts. While cleverly delivered and chortle-inducing, I’m sure it left more than a few of us contemplating how on earth we will adapt. I pondered asking ChatGPT to write this review… (kidding?).

Providing light-hearted reflections on darker topics, Tom Ballard seemingly weaves elements of comedy and tragedy together with ease. The achievement of his late Grandmother making it to 100 and outliving the Queen was backdropped by his sobering first-hand critique of Australia’s failing age care system. And not one to shy away from controversial opinions, he shared that the media spectacle of the Queen’s death was the ‘funniest thing to happen last year’, and the time has now come for a republic, though, an Australian President would never ACTUALLY be taken seriously would it?

On a more personal note, Ballard charmingly regaled us with some of his own highs and lows, sharing his vulnerabilities as well as his achievements and aspirations, and his audience were more than happy to come along for the ride. For countless laughs and a good dose of brain stimulation, I highly recommend Tom Ballard’s latest stand-up instalment: ‘Tom Ballard - It Is I’.