Children!!!!!!!

No not my own, I don't have any kids which is why I look at least 10 years younger than I am *grin*.

This is about other people's children. Specifically 12 year old Tom* and 14 year old John* who were sat in the front two rows of the gig I did last night at Leatherhead Theatre.

It was the first night of a new Jongleurs On The Road at the venue. I was the MC, and the line up consisted of Bennett Arron, George Egg and Aussie comic Pommy Johnson.

The venue was fantastic, I do love doing little theatre gigs, makes me feel like a proper 'artiste'. The audience numbers weren't bad considering it was Valentine's Day, about 200. Quite a few couples too, long term couples obviously, when you're fresh you don't go to comedy on Valentine's Day! But there he was front row, centre, little Tom.

I clocked him as soon as I walked out onstage, and thanked god I wasn't doing a set! We had a little chat and he was a really cool kid. Then I looked at the row behind and spotted John who was there with his folks. Now I don't have a problem with the kids being there as such, I doubt there is very little anyone could say that would shock a 12 or 14 year old these days. However this was billed as an evening of Adult Comedy and you gotta wonder about parents taking youngsters to a show like that. The main problem I have with juveniles being in the audience is that it inhibits the other adults' enjoyment of the night.

I hastily self-censored and brought Bennet on. It was a joy watching just how much the kids got of his act, probably more than their parents did to be honest! Incidentally Bennett has become a bit of a spokesman on Identity Theft after he wrote an Edinburgh show about his own experiences as a victim... check out his website www.bennettarron.co.uk .

George and Pommy did the business, and a great time was had by all. After the gig Tom came and thanked us, it turns out he wants to be a stand-up and had pestered the hell out of his dad to come along. I wonder if us old duffers put him off?

I'm glad they were there really, it made me think about what I was doing and proved I can do 'clean' well clean-ish, little challenges like that make my day.

*not their real names