It was roughly a decade ago when Jamie Kennedy burst onto the scene with his portrayal of the video store worker, horror movie expert Randy Meeks in director Wes Craven’s “Scream.” Meeks, through Kennedy’s enthusiastic performance, mocked horror movie cliches through sarcastic commentary provided by screenwriter Kevin Williamson.

It’s at a drunken party, that Meeks, and by extension, Kennedy, came into his own. He gave the audience the rules to successfully survive a horror movie. Then, with only the primary characters left in the house, Meeks yelled at the television to convince the protagonist to avoid the killer. Except, his own potential killer is right behind him, and everything he said, he should have done himself. A scream by Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) saved him from a vicious stab.

Later, with the plot unfolding, reporter Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox) knocked out Meeks, only later to be shot in the shoulder by Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) once he stumbles into the scene. In spite of the bullet wound, and breaking the horror movie rules (he was drinking), Meeks lived, while giving life to Kennedy’s career.

It took a lot to get that point – his first major role in a motion picture.

Kennedy, who performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the University Union Ballroom, didn’t land the “Scream” role until seven years after his first role as an extra in “Dead Poets Society.”

Kennedy grew up in Upper Darby, Pa., trying to make people laugh. Once, according to his Web site bio, he faked a heart attack “to turn the tide of a losing basketball game.”

Childhood friend and personal assistant Chris Roletter has known Kennedy since they were 7 years old. He remembered Kennedy mimicking the characters they’d watch on “Saturday Night Live.”

“All of our friends were goofballs, but the two of us are some of the goofiest and (most) immature,” Roletter said in a phone interview. “While everyone was drinking beer and trying to be cool, we were imitating ‘Saturday Night Live’ bits.”

After high school graduation and one semester at Delaware County Community College, Kennedy was off for Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

Kennedy figured his career would follow the path of a domino: following from one job to the next. He would spend some time working as an extra, get a small part in a sitcom and then land his own show.

“If you spend a few months out here, you realize that’s not the case,” Roletter said. “There are millions of other people trying to do the same thing.”

Kennedy channeled his pursuit of Hollywood into a standup act.

“He started out doing open-mic nights,” said Roletter, who works as Kennedy’s personal assistant. “That was encouraging … I thought, ‘Hey man, he’s got a shot at this.'”

Once he had his act down, Kennedy then did something original: He created an agent for himself. He pretended to be an old-school agent named Marty Power. Over time, legitimate agents showed up to his acts, and Kennedy eventually signed with one.

Thirteen years after arriving with his buddies from home, Kennedy got his own show – “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” which Kennedy wrote, produced and starred in.

Kennedy remembered the beginning. He was hiding in a closet, wearing a fake nose and about to burst out to pull out joke on someone.

“It was huge production of a joke,” Kennedy said. “I was like, ‘what the hell am I doing? How did I get here? I am hiding in a closet waiting to jump out and do a joke on somebody.’ Then we did it. Everybody laughed and started thinking maybe this could work.”

“The Jamie Kennedy Experiment” ran for three seasons. He parlayed one of his television characters into the comedy “Malibu’s Most Wanted,” is now producing “The Starlet” and “Living With Fran” for the WB, and is working on a pilot for MTV.

Thursday night, when Kennedy stops into Sacramento, fans should expect an original experience.

“He does a lot of impersonations, but when he works the crowd, takes his cell phone out, and takes someone out from the crowd and asks them if they want to crank call somebody they know, that’s always great,” Roletter said. “They get their own, personal Jamie Kennedy experiment right there on the spot.”

“I just like to make people laugh,” Kennedy said. “It makes me feel good. I don’t know. It makes me excited. People seem to like it too.”

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected].