[2][3] He attended Brauer Secondary College, graduating in 2007 as School Captain and Dux and achieving an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank of 99.80 in his Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).

[4] In 2006, when he was still at school, he submitted an essay to the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, titled "We Have More to Fear From the State than From Terrorists: Who's Afraid of Terrorism?

[7] During his VCE year, Ballard competed in and won the VCAA's Plain English Speaking Award with a speech titled "bullying.com".

[9] His success in the public speaking competition and his activism with school and local youth communities on topics such as anti-homosexuality and cyberbullying helped earn him the Achiever's Award.

He has performed stand-up in festivals, on television, and on tours around the country,[10] including at Pridefest WA in Perth, Western Australia in 2012.

He went by invitation to the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, Canada, where he performed alongside Wanda Sykes and Jimmy Carr.

He returned the following year, and participated in Comedy Central Roast and performed on LOL Live, presented by Kevin Hart.

[12] He has since made various appearances on radio, including as a guest host on Nazeem Hussain Heals the World on Triple J in 2015, and on 2Day FM's Breakfast with Rove and Sam in 2016.

[20] He was cast in Deadloch[2] (released June 2023 on Amazon Prime Video) as Sven Alderman, a well-meaning but simple gay police officer.

[12] He also wrote a humorous but scathing critique of neoliberalism and its impact on the economy and politics of Australia, a book called I, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else, published in 2022.

[36] As their two-and-a-half-year relationship was ending in 2010, Thomas was on tour with his show Surprise, "all about being young, gay and in love for the first time".

Dealing with his childhood and first relationship, and largely written prior to the break-up, Ballard described the experience as giving him "an element of closure".

[41] In response, Ballard released a statement on his website denying the allegation "in the strongest terms possible" and insisting the encounter was consensual.