You wouldn’t expect a random guy working in a kitchen at a comedy club in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to someday take off his apron and actually take the stage.

Brian Regan, who is quickly becoming one of the most popular stand-up comics in the United States, did just that and is currently performing at comedy clubs across the United States as part of his “You Too” tour.

What began with a nightly 10-minute opening slot at the comedy club where Regan worked in the kitchen has turned into a blossoming career full of tours and TV spots on shows such as “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and his own special on “Comedy Central Presents.”

The Daily had a chance to talk with Regan, who touched on everything from his aspirations of becoming a famous harpsichordist to the aftermath of getting harpooned in the chest by a whaler during a club gig.

Dan Hopper: At what point did you realize you had made it?

Brian Regan: I remember when I got booked at this place and they put me up in a hotel with a pool. I remember floating around in the pool thinking there’s gotta be something else I’m supposed to be doing right now, like writing more jokes.

DH: What do you think you’d be doing if you couldn’t do stand-up comedy?

BR: When I was in college I wanted to be a cartoonist. I sent some stuff to a syndication company. I don’t remember which one, but they sent me back a rejection letter and that was it. I was done. I had no concept of persistence, to know that people get rejected all the time but keep trying. I think I’d be in the entertainment business in some aspect.

DH: Have you ever considered being a musician?

BR: Yeah, but I’ve never really learned an instrument.

DH: What instrument do you think you’d want to learn?

BR: I think I’d play the harpsichord.

DH: Nice.

BR: I don’t know what the harpsichord is, but it sounds funny.

DH: It was one of those piano-type things those composer dudes had back in the day with two keyboards or something.

BR: OK. So, I’d be floating around in a pool somewhere and playing harpsichord.

DH: Well, what type of music are you into normally?

BR: I like a lot of classic rock and I probably have about 500 polka albums.

DH: When did you first get into stand-up?

BR: I was in college. Our dorm was split – guys on one side and girls on the other. We were gonna do this comic dating-game-type thing, and they asked me to host it.

I don’t know why they wanted me to do it, maybe they thought I was funny. I didn’t know how it would go. Everyone laughed and I was making wisecracks and having a good time.

DH: That part in your Comedy Central gig about your roommate from New Jersey wanting to split a pizza, but referring to it as a “pie” and you getting confused with the New Jersey lingo was pretty funny. When you referred to your college days it reminded me of that.

BR: Yeah, I don’t know what happened to him. I’ve always wanted to cross paths with that guy again. I was at a club in New Jersey and someone said this guy popped in during the afternoon and told the club owner to say hi for him, but the guy didn’t leave a number or any way for me to contact him.

DH: So, did he not study or anything? Is that why he left school?

BR: Actually he studied a lot more than me, yet somehow I managed to stay in school. I never bought books. When I was there books cost around $15 or $20, which was ridiculous at the time. I thought, “I know I can spend $15 on a book I won’t read, or I can not buy the book and use the money to buy pitchers of beer at one of the bars.”

I knew I could get six or seven pitchers of beer for $15, and that would last me a while. And I knew I was going to actually drink the beer.

DH: What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you at a show?

BR: I played at a club in Florida when I got hit in the chest with a whale harpoon.

DH: Whoa, that sucks, man. Did the place compensate you at all?

BR: I originally had a deal where I got one free Budweiser during the night, so they let me drink for free the whole night.

DH: Yeah, I’m sure it feels good to have a free ice-cold Budweiser while standing at a bar with your blood gushing out and a whale harpoon lodged in your chest. Seems to me like you got the better deal. Did they do anything else, like kick the guy’s ass for chucking a whale harpoon at you?

BR: They made a rule that from now on, anybody caught throwing a whale harpoon, you get escorted out of the place.