MOST comedians can name a legendary comic who inspired them or a stand-up routine that changed their perspective of live comedy.

But Jimeoin just wanted to get all of his mates into a comedy club for free.

The Irish builder-turned-comedian, who now lives in Queensland in Australia, launched his stand-up career quite by chance at an open mic night in Sydney 26 years ago.

"It was just a ballsy thing to do," he said.

"I put my name down and said: ‘Yeah, I’ll do that’. It was a way to get my mates in all for free and that’s how it started.

"The first time I didn’t have anything to lose. It was like a bungee jump. I just thought: ‘I’ll give this a go’.

"Sometimes I wish I could go back to that feeling of not taking it too seriously.

"It felt like a new part of my life had started. Even going to work the next day, I thought: ‘It’s all changed now’.

"By my third or fourth time on stage I really felt that I’d found my voice. I knew I was talking about things differently to other comics on the circuit.

"I didn’t really know anything about stand up but I just had a natural ability to remember jokes."

Jimeoin then threw himself into the comedy circuit at full pelt, often performing six nights a week to make a name for himself.

"It was great," added the dad-of-four.

"I got my stage confidence up and then didn’t stop working.

"I appeared in numerous variety shows on TV and I was in my own show as well which really made me write new material every week. It was great fun."

But at first Jimeoin was in the strange position of becoming a big name in Australia and yet relatively unknown back home in the UK.

Everything changed when he was invited on stage for Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Live At The Apollo. Suddenly he was on millions of UK TV screens.

"That introduced me to a much bigger audience," said the 49-year-old.

"It was a big turning point. Considering there were only a handful of small TV things I’d done in the UK it was very encouraging.

"There’s nothing worse than going somewhere and people don’t turn up so the fact that I’m now starting to get an audience in the UK is something that has given me new wings."

From performing for 200 people at his first open mic night to a crowd of 25,000 at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Jimeoin's stand-up career has taken him on quite a journey.

Jimeoin added: "My highlight was doing the O2 Arena and then getting on a bike and flying across town to do my own gig at Bloomsbury Theatre. That was special. I'm at my most alive on stage."

- Jimeoin is at the Parr Hall tonight, Friday. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345 for tickets.