A comedian now only advertises his gigs to over 30s as he does not want younger "snowflakes" going to his shows.

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Whitstable resident Colin Mills, 53, fears the cancel culture could lead to his "saucy seaside postcard" humour dying out.

He is inspired by end-of-the-pier entertainment, which refers to an old-fashioned style of comedy seen at pleasure piers in British seaside resorts.

But now he only advertises his shows to over 30s because he fears he will offend youngsters and is angered by them sitting on their phones during his performances.

"I tell puns and one-liners, and I never set out to be offensive and I have never swore in a joke either," he said. "But there are certain words you can never say anymore.

"I do feel like a dinosaur when you compare it to the old days and I’m only 53, but it has changed so fast in the past five years and it’s getting tougher.

"If I didn’t self-fund my own shows, I wouldn’t be able to do it anymore because I don’t think there is a way [to perform] my kind of old-fashioned, saucy seaside postcard type of comedy."

He told how comedians must have a "pretty thick skin" to tell old-fashioned jokes, but does not want to stop doing the career he loves.

However, he fears "PC madness" could be the end of comedy and may put him out of a job.

"I was standing outside of the King’s Hall in Herne Bay [the other day] and I was thinking there used to be a whole host of comedians I would go and watch," he said. "TV comedy is political, safe and there is no edge to it.

"When I watch the comics on TV, they don’t make me laugh anymore. Obviously they are good at what they do, but it’s a totally different sort of humour."

His career first started in 1989 when he appeared on ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks.

When he prepares for a show now, he says more thought is going into whether he can get away with it.

After he first advertised his shows for an over 30 audience before the lockdown, he received anonymous texts accusing him of being discriminatory.

But he insists youngsters are not banned from attending.

"When I put no under 30s on the posters, it is because I’m not looking for an audience of that age," he added.

"The singers I book, their music is from the '60s and '70s, so I don’t think the youngsters will like that anyway.

"The music includes The Beatles, The Searchers and that era, with the comedy to match it. If the [under 30s] do come along, they won’t be turned away, but I don’t want to aim at that age range."

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