In one of the early scenes of Channing Tatum’s male-stripper movie, “Magic Mike,” a rookie stands awkwardly on stage after his first solo act.
The character, known as “The Kid” and played by British actor Alex Pettyfer, takes in the applause wearing baggy briefs and socks pulled halfway up his calves.
It’s not the best of looks.
For Tatum, 32, who appears in the title role and is also a producer of the film, the embarrassing moment hits very close to home.
The star began his showbiz career in a Chippendales-style dance troupe based out of Tampa, Fla.
Speaking to The New York Post, one of Tatum’s former strip “colleagues” Thomas “Awesome” Austin recalls Tatum was always a “phenomenal dancer,” but adds that, “stripping was a different matter.”
The 46-year-old North Carolinian, who shared a stage with Tatum at the Dollhouse nightclub in Raleigh, N.C., describes how the teenager would peel down to a thong and a pair of sports socks.
“I politely suggested he put something else on his feet,” says the old timer, who led various male exotic acts across the South for 22 years.
“It didn’t look very professional dancing around in white athletic socks.”
While the gig doesn’t quite fit with Tatum’s current A-list image, it became the inspiration for “Magic Mike,” a fun coming-of-age flick directed by Oscar winner, Steven Soderbergh.
In the film, out Friday, Tatum plays an expert older dancer who takes The Kid under his wing and shows him the ropes.
While Tatum insists that the events are fictitious and none of the characters is based on real people, it’s hard not to wonder how much of the film came from his own experience.
In addition to suggesting the then 18-year-old change his footwear, Austin, who’s currently running a tree landscaping business in Eden, N.C., also told “Chan Crawford” — as he was known on the stage — to get a little more sun.
“He was white as a zombie,” Austin says. “He was appreciative of my advice. He was a very good-looking, talented young man. I’d have given him a 10 out of 10 after a few years in the business.”
But Tatum’s stripping days lasted a mere eight months. He swiftly moved into modeling and caught the eye of a female casting agent who put him in the video for Ricky Martin’s 2000 mega-hit “She Bangs.”
Six years later, after concentrating on modeling, he landed his break-through role in the hit dance movie “Step Up,” where he met co-star Jenna Dewan, 31, now his wife.
Tatum’s flamboyant past came to light in 2009, a few months after their wedding, when London Steele, the manager of his former act Male Encounter, released a cheesy 10-year-old video of him stripping. (With a name like London Steele, it’s hard not to think he inspired Dallas, the club owner and emcee in “Magic Mike” played by Matthew McConaughey.)
“He was shy at first, but he really knew how to work the stage,” Steele told Us magazine when the video first surfaced. “The women went crazy for him!”
Tatum’s handlers were horrified about the publicity, but the star shrugged it off.
“I could dance,” Tatum says. “It sounded like something I could do for fun for a while.”
Two hours of work netted him $150 cash.
“[It] was a ton of money at the time,” he explains. “I really enjoyed the performing aspect of it, though being in a thong can be a humbling experience. The more you try to look sexy, the lamer it is, so you just have to commit to the comedy and the skit because that can be hilarious.”
The corniness added to the bizarre nature of the job.
“If it’s a fireman skit, it has to be the corniest possible version of a fireman, but the women love it; they scream and laugh and stuff money into your underwear,” recalls Tatum. “It was wild. We thought we were rock stars.”
A dozen years later, Tatum was reflecting on the weirdness of it all to Soderbergh, who directed him in the thriller “Haywire.” He told the filmmaker how he’d always thought about doing a story about male strippers because people found it so fascinating. Before they knew it, they’d made a deal to make “Magic Mike.”
Tatum stresses that he only “brainstormed” on the script, and plays down even the slightest suggestion that the film is biographical and The Kid is really him.
Those nerdy athletic socks, however, tell a whole other story.
jridley@nypost.com