New Patriots star Jonas Gray once opened for Screech as stand-up comic

Jonas Gray is the newest star of the New England Patriots, thanks to his 199 rushing yards and four touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts on “Sunday Night Football.”

Going into the game, the former Notre Dame running back had just 132 yards and no touchdowns during his three-year pro career. So while he’s the toast of Foxborough this morning, there’s probably a lot that folks don’t know about Gray.

Like, he’s tried his hand at stand-up comedy. Gray revealed in a recent interview with Boston.com that not only has he performed at several open-mic nights, but he even once opened for a legendary comic.

Gray and Boston.com writer Erik Frenz only refer to the comic in question as “Screech,” but we’re assuming they’re referring to actor Dustin Diamond, who played the iconic character in “Saved By the Bell” and more recently attempted a career in stand-up comedy.

Back in his Notre Dame days, Gray said, a comedian friend thought the football player was a pretty funny guy and encouraged him to start writing jokes.

So that’s just what Gray did. And his friend liked what he saw.

“He said, ‘You know what we need to do? We need to have something at Notre Dame where you just do open mic or something. We’ll get a headliner, and you just do your thing. Get all your teammates to come out, and it’ll be fun,’ ” Gray said. “We ended up doing it.”

And, according to Gray, that headliner ended up being “Screech.”

“My friend knew him,” Gray said. “He just hooked up with his agent, he knew him, and made it happen.”

So there you have it, Patriots fans. Unless Gray goes around rescuing puppies from burning buildings or has a master plan for world peace, I’m pretty sure you now know everything you need to know about your team’s breakout star.

Twitter: @chewkiii