11:58pm Thursday 4th October 2007
By Emma Clayton
Justin Moorhouse
Alhambra Studio "Is there any need for this?" Justin asked, pointing to his microphone.
His audience - all 40 of us - tittered, awkwardly.
But there was no tumble-weed blowing across this stage. Despite the poor turn-out, Justin whipped his small audience into a frenzy of belly laughs. Getting us all to move onto the first few rows, he chatted to us with the quick wit of a gifted comic and we all felt like friends by the end of his 90-minute set.
In his show, Who's The Daddy?, Justin addressed the realities of parenthood; the expense, stress, irritations and awkward questions. "Dad, can I ask you something?" his ten-year-old son piped up. "Ask me anything son, I'm your dad." "Okay - what do you think about gay adoption?"
Justin also drew on his own upbringing, by a man who wasn't his real father. When he finally met his dad he wasn't a superhero after all - he just wore rubbish shoes. "I'd say I'm over it," said Justin. "But then you're thinking: You're clearly a comfort-eater and here you are talking about it to a bunch of strangers on a drizzly night in Bradford'."
It takes a big talent to turn an almost empty auditorium into a barrel of laughs and Justin proved he was just that.
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