Before comedian Jim Breuer ever sold out theaters, he was screaming about bugs.

In 1985, at an open mic night in New York’s Long Island, a freshly graduated high schooler stepped onto the stage at Governor’s Comedy Club in Levittown, imitating why people shriek when they spot a crawling intruder and setting the foundation for a comedy career that would stretch more than four decades. 

According to Breuer, he walked into that performance already thinking, “When they see me tonight, little do they know, they’re seeing a superstar.” 

“I thought I was going to get discovered that night,” Breuer said. “I was always extremely confident, borderline cocky. Even if I didn’t really destroy the room in the beginning, I already knew I never took failures.”

From jokes about exaggerated bug panic to the way New York pigeons walk with attitude, the audience was anything but quiet. 

“The crowd was super receptive,” Breuer said. “The host said, ‘Dude, that was really your first time?’ I don’t know what would’ve happened if it didn’t go well, but when I got those first laughs, it set me up with full-blown confidence to do this for the rest of my life.”

Through college, Breuer balanced comedy and acting. When his parents moved to Florida in 1989, he decided comedy would no longer be a side pursuit, but the main focus.

That decision eventually led him to a national audience, including a run on “Saturday Night Live” from 1995 to 1998.

Decades later, after taking a break from stand-up comedy to produce online content, Breuer returned to the stage last fall with a performance in Naples, Fla.

“I was definitely uneasy for the first time in 30 years,” Breuer said. “I don’t like doing material I’ve already done, so I told new stories, and I tried out a bunch of new stuff. The new stuff went over way better than I anticipated. That kick-started me to do great for the next few months.”

During a string of Florida performances, Breuer refined material for his “Find The Funny” tour, running from February through late May.

“In the beginning of my career, it was more like just get right to it,” Breuer said. “I made them laugh immediately and kept them laughing. Now, every bit I do has a science behind it. It’s going to build and have its peaks, then I’m going to let you breathe, and then I’m going to come back and crush you at the end.”

Six shows into the tour, Breuer will perform on Friday, at 8 p.m. at the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, with tickets ranging from $52 to $281.32. 

For Breuer, the goal of the night goes beyond just laughs, he said.

“We need laughter more than anything else in the world right now,” he said. “It’s the beginning of all healing.”

More than 40 years after his first open mic, Breuer is still chasing the same reaction and betting audiences in Colorado Springs will be able to do exactly what the tour promises: find the funny.

“I want to escape the world we’re living in right now,” he said. “I want to take an hour and a half of your life and make you escape what’s being flashed in front of your face every day — what’s trying to control your emotions, what’s trying to control your energy and what’s distracting everyone — and just bring the focus back to you and what makes you laugh.”

IF YOU GO
What: Jim Breuer, “Find the Funny”
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, 190 S. Cascade Ave.
Price: $52 to $281.32, AXS.com