A Birthday Party Clown

Firstly, it is standard practice in the entertainment industry to pay before the entertainment starts... at movies, concerts, sporting events, etc. Live shows are no different.
Unfortunately, from our experience, people are very slow to pay after the event, and sometimes they don't pay at all. The reason for this is that they know there is no way for us to repossess the show, and we have no other leverage to force them to pay.
The bottom line is... our contract is based on a lot of trust and goodwill. We need to trust that you will pay us, and you need to trust that we will provide quality entertainment. However, one of us will have to make the first move. We are confident that we can fulfil our end of the bargain, but if you are not entirely sure about booking us, then we would prefer not to go ahead with the booking.