Comedian Michael McIntyre's earnings near £5m over two years

Michael McIntyre once told an interviewer he was "a loser, but I win in the end" . If proof of his triumph were needed, the host of the BBC's Comedy Roadshow has earned £5m in the past two years, according to the Sun . Figures lodged at Companies House by McIntyre's company, Buddywaldo Limited, show that the stand-up comic has paid off a £3.2m mortgage on his six-bedroom north London home, bought in 2009, as well as banking a further £1.6m. This is a far cry from McIntyre's days of struggling to earn a living on the live circuit. He has previously admitted to having had debts of up to £40,000, and has joked onstage about shopping for bargains in Ikea and being unable to afford to fix a car that could only turn left. In January 2010, McIntyre signed a "golden handcuffs" deal with the BBC worth a reported £500,000 each year (a figure the Corporation refused to confirm). His autobiography was released last Christmas after a reported £2m deal. Fourteen months ago, the Sun had estimated McIntyre's annual earnings at £2m on account of his bestselling DVDs and hosting Comedy Roadshow. The figure placed him well behind such comics as Sacha Baron Cohen, Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay, all of whom were estimated to have earned over £7m . That could be set to change in 2012, however, when McIntyre embarks on a 58-date stadium tour of the UK and Ireland, stopping off at the O2 and Wembley Arena. At the time, the newspaper suggested McIntyre "would double this [figure] if he was touring this year". His 2009 tour Hello Wembley! was estimated to have earned him £5m in tickets, merchandise and DVDs on its own. More than 750,000 people own a copy of his previous DVD, Live and Laughing. Though the comic was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer award at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe, his big break only came in 2006 when he appeared at the Royal Variety Performance . Just four years later, he was hosting it.