Daniel Radcliffe tries his hand at some stand-up comedy magic on the Jimmy Fallon show... by telling a Peter Kay joke

He has become famous the world over for battling the evil world Voldermort as boy wizard Harry Potter.

But last night Daniel Radcliffe tried his hand at something a little bit lighter on the Jimmy Fallon talk show.

The talk show host persuaded the 21-year-old actor to have his first try at stand up comedy, after hearing that he was interested in telling jokes on stage.

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Talking it out: Jimmy Fallon persuaded Daniel Radcliffe to have a go at some stand up comedy on last night's edition of his talk show

But Daniel denied he was going to start doing his own shows, telling Jimmy: 'I told some horrendous jokes.

'I've always admired stand ups and love stand ups, but I've always been completely fearful of doing anything like that because you have to be insane and crazy.'

The clearly nervous star also revealed he was not going to use his own material, but instead tell a joke from British comedian Peter Kay.

'How do you kill a circus?' he asked the audience. 'Go for the jugular.'

Joking aside: Daniel tries to wow the late night audience with a one line joke from Peter Kay

Congratulations: Jimmy was clearly impressed with the Harry Potter star's comedy efforts

Despite the brief performance, Jimmy seemed impressed with the star's effort, giving him a hug afterwards.

The actor was on the show to promote his role on Broadway musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in which he plays J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who climbs the corporate ladder in a short space of time.

'What's great about the part is that the stuff he does is pretty unpleasant,' said Daniel. 'He gets people fired, but you love him for some reason.'

Broadway star: Jimmy holds up the poster of Daniel's new play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which has been critically praised

'You believe in him and want him to succeed and it's great fun.'

Daniel had singing lessons for his musical debut on the Broadway stage, which has largely won good reviews.

He will star as Harry Potter for the last time in the final part of the saga: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which is released in the U.S. on July 15.

Acclaim: The actor soaks up the applause on the first night of Broadway Play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying last month