Dom Irrera
Since the late 1980s, writer and stand-up comic Dom Irrera has won over audiences with stories about his working-class upbringing and Catholic-school education in south Philadelphia, rapid-fire observations about the Italian-American experience and seemingly endless punchlines that leave him just as breathless as his doubled-over fans. Though he appeared on "The Tonight Show" in 1986, his first big break came the next year, when comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield chose him for "Nothing Goes Right," an X-rated showcase for HBO that included controversial performances by fellow comics Bill Hicks and Andrew Dice Clay. Since then, he has made a steady stream of appearances in movies and on sitcoms and late-night television. Irrera's most memorable roles as an actor include the hapless prop comic Ronnie Kaye on the fifth season of "Seinfeld," the wise-cracking chauffeur in the Coen brothers'a post-modern comedy "The Big Lebowski," and the racist screenwriter in 1987's "Hollywood Shuffle," writer-director Robert Townsend's classic send-up of race in the film industry. Throughout his long career, Irrera has managed to apply his uniquely Northeastern sensibilities to both clean and blue material. He was a regular on animator Tom Snyder's decidedly adult "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist," yet he also won fans among younger Nickelodeon viewers as demolition man Ernie Potts on 1996-2004's "Hey Arnold!" and as Duke the Dog in animator Steve Oedekerk's "Back at the Barnyard" franchise.