Before he became the nation's economic hero, Martin Lewis had a surprising career in comedy.
The world would have been a very different place if the money saving expert had carried on with doing stand-up routines.
Thankfully for us, perhaps in more ways than one, Martin switched to a very different role as a financial advisor and has been behind some incredibly successful campaigns over the years.
He's taken on unfair bank charges, uncapped energy bills and student finance - and will be back on our screens tonight on his live ITV Money Show.
Rewinding back to his university days, Martin became friends with comedian Gary Delaney while he was General Secretary of the Students' Union at the London School of Economics.
Gary, who went on to appear on Mock the Week and Dave's One Night Stand, wrote jokes for Martin because he was too nervous to perform himself.
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While Martin was General Secretary, which was the equivalent to President elsewhere, Gary was the Entertainments sabbatical and was responsible for bringing the Chuckle Club to the LSE.
Writing on his blog in May 2006, Martin explained: "We were always mates, so much so that when I decided to try my hand at doing stand-up the next year, Gary wrote for me, as frankly he’s one of the naturally funniest people I’ve met.
"At Uni he was always the funny one, yet I was much more comfortable with a microphone, hence why I did the comedy and he wrote.
"My comedy 'career' was great fun, but by no means my calling, though it did teach me a huge amount.
"Yet in the end real talent will out, and Gary put his nerves behind him and has ended up a superb comic."
While Martin is no longer in the comedy game, he has been the subject of some of Gary's jokes over the years.
The money specialist was once humiliated at a gig when he attempted to heckle his old friend from the crowd.
Gary, who is the only comic ever to have got two gags in the same top 10 for Dave’s TV Funniest Jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe, used to write jokes for Basil Brush.
During one gig, Martin decided to cheekily shout out Basil's catchphrase 'boom boom' when Gary mentioned his old job.
Martin said: "He first explained how he’d written a joke for me once that I didn’t think was funny, so I’d said to him 'if you think it’s so good, why don’t you do it?' and that was the germ of his comedy career.
"Yet he then told how he’d been telling his mates about this and that 'I wrote the joke for the guy who now does all the Money Saving TV programmes,' to which their reply was 'what the black American guy????'.
"You can imagine the reaction of the six friends I was with to this, and Gary ended it with 'you see Martin, I always win!' And to be fair, he always did!"
Gary got married to fellow comedian Sarah Millican in December 2013 and his last tour was extended four times and took in over 200 venues.
On his website, his bio reads: "He loves each and every gag and you can’t help but be carried away by his infectious charm. He’s like a cheeky schoolboy who can barely hide his glee with each and every punch line."
Meanwhile, Martin is back on his ITV show tonight with an 'Ask Martin Anything' Special, where he will be tackling the cost of living crisis.
The money saving expert will be giving savvy tips on how to make the most of your money if you’re holidaying this summer – whether home or abroad – in time for half term holidays
Martin, who has been in sunny Spain talking to holidaying Brits this week, will also look at how to prepare for Christmas without breaking the bank and give advice on how to talk more openly about household finances.
*The Martin Lewis Money Show airs tonight on ITV at 8pm
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