It took falling off a bike to knock a sense of humour back into Yiannis Koullas, a young Greek comedian whose latest venture, Bollocks Without Borders is debuting at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival next week.

“Deep down I always knew I wanted to do comedy but it was not until my bike got caught in a tram line and I came tumbling down and broke my fingers that I thought I’d give it a proper shot,” he said.

The 29 year old left the corporate world five years ago to take a short course in comedy, and began performing as a sketch and (later) a stand-up comedian from there.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Koullas spent his younger years admiring the comedic antics of George Kapiniaris and Acropolis now, and says he developed a sense of humour from listening to his mother’s funny stories of growing up in Cyprus.

“It was the way she would tell the stories, and the absurdity of all the characters in her village,” he smiles. “There was one of everything and the village only had 20 people. I always think I should tape her stories- I might have to do that now!”

Though when asked whether his Greek heritage has influenced his comedy style, he says that, “whilst I still appreciate the Greek-Australian style of comedy, I don’t want to do the same stuff. As I got older I have been influenced by comedians like Simon Palomares and Judith Lucy, and on the sketch side of things, Gina Riley from Cath and Kim. He adds, “There aren’t many Greek comedians around and so as my comedy is developing I definitely want to embrace the Greek side of life as well as comedy in general.”

Koullas’ current project, Bollocks Without Borders is an unlikely trio born from three friends- Don Tran, Linda Beatty and Yiannis Koullas, who met six months ago whilst performing at the Comics Lounge in North Melbourne.

The show’s set-up includes Tran, whose jokes have an average length of 12 seconds, Beatty, a world first combining stand-up, song and celtic harp (seriously, Google it), and Yiannis, a Greek boy who has a secret to share…but not with his family!

So what’s Koullas’s secret?

I’ll leave it at the carrot, you will have to come where they’ll all be shared on the night,” he laughs.

Bollocks Without Borders will play from the 14th to the 19th April, at 8pm at Neverwhere, 185 Smith St, Fitzroy.

Tickets can be purchased from Ticketmaster 1300660013 or at the door…and just incase you are wondering- there is Tightarse Tuesday!