VETERAN comedian Bobby Ball ? one half of double act Cannon and Ball ? had his audience falling about with laughter when he entertained a packed Charter Hall in Okehampton. Bobby has performed in seven Royal Variety command performances and confessed that this was his first visit to Okehampton. The previous night he had performed with his lifelong friend Tommy Cannon in Crewe, before travelling down to Devon with his support team. Wherever Bobby goes, the town in which he performs becomes the butt of his jokes and Okehampton was no exception. He said upon reaching the town, his in-car satellite navigation system simply said, ?Okehampton, keep going and don?t stop.? People were arriving to secure seats well over an hour before the official start and queues were soon forming in Market Street. Numbers soon reached capacity and some were allowed to view from the upstairs Turret Room of the Charter Hall, with others standing in the foyer and outside waiting for a glimpse of Bobby. The safest place for any bystander was off the stage and not in the front row of the audience ? as those seated there soon found out as Bobby pulled them into many of the gags. Bobby held no punches from the start. He explained in comic form his childhood, talked about first meeting his longtime friend Tommy Cannon and how they formed the much-loved showbusiness duo of Cannon and Ball. He spoke of his poor upbringing, the difficulty of building his career through the working men?s clubs of northern England and how he made it into the big time. Having told numerous jokes, he spoke about the more serious side of his life. With the constant pressure of being away from home so much due to worldwide performances, he became heavily addicted to alcohol and was drinking one and a half bottles of whisky each day. He also had numerous adulterous relationships. He then told how a theatre chaplain once spoke to him and although Bobby believed he had everything, realised something was missing. Twenty years ago, Bobby took the decision to accept Jesus into his life and reform his ways, and his family soon followed his new direction. The evening began with 20 minutes of worship led by Justine Davies (Inspiration) and the band included Matt Rotheram (Inspiration), Kathryn Timms (Inspiration), Lawrence Pledger (New Life), Tristan Cooke (New Life) and the Rev Philip Wagstaff (Fairplace) on the keyboard. After pouring out much of his life story to the audience Bobby asked if anyone had been in a similar position to him and knew that something was missing in their lives and invited people to come forward and accept Jesus into their lives. Six people stepped forward and Bobby personally prayed for each one. He finished the evening with a song and spoke to all those who had gathered in the foyer and outside. The Rev Mike Davies of Inspiration, who organised the event said: ?You can see he has lost nothing of his old touch. Even his support team were laughing and they must have heard the jokes numerous times.? Mr Davies added, ?This was a wonderful evening. Especially for the six new Christians. I hope we can bring others like Bobby to Okehampton.? He said he had first mentioned the idea of bringing Bobby Ball to Okehampton to those in leadership within Inspiration and said he was pleased to say the evening went better than he could have dreamed.