Popular us comic Dom Irrera returns to his regular slot near the top of the Cat Laughs pile. Despite a few lucrative film and TV gigs, he tells Brian Boyd club work is the only kind that matters

From playing Las Vegas to a pub in Kilkenny, from working with the Coen Brothers and Jerry Seinfeld - not forgetting being Cher's support act of choice - Italian-American comic Dom Irrera is as experienced as he is funny. This year, he makes a remarkable 10th appearance at the Smithwick's Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny, having becoming something of a cult in the Cathedral City.

Irrera's pre-eminent status among the gaggle of international comics who are annually parachuted into Kilkenny is a strange one, given that in year one of the festival he was the most hated comedian - ever.

"It's a strange story," he says on the phone from his Los Angeles base. "I've done every Cat Laughs except for the first one back in 1995. It was a situation with my booking agent. He had told the organisers that I was coming over, but never told me about it. I had never been to Ireland, had never heard of this crazy festival. The organisers had spent all this money printing up stuff about my appearance and putting me in the programme and everything and I didn't show - because I was never told I was booked to do it.

"This caused so much confusion in the festival office, apparently, that they cut my picture out of the programme and used it as a dart board. They hated me, really hated me."

Festival organiser Richard Cook, who had long had his ear burnt by other comics telling him just how good Irrera was, reluctantly granted a reprieve and invited him for the second festival. All misunderstandings were cleared up and since then Irrera has become a Cat Laughs staple - so popular he's the only US comic who regularly stays on in Ireland to tour around the country after the festival finishes.

So enamoured is the Cat Laughs of Irrera that Cook sponsored and produced the comic's award-winning Edinburgh debut a few years ago. So enamoured is Irrera of the Cat Laughs festival that earlier this month he flew into Dublin from Los Angeles for the day to launch this year's programme.

Irrera's appeal is simple: he has old skool comic values. He doesn't do surreal flights of fancy or try to create new comedic forms. He just possesses a very impressive gag-per-minute ratio. While a considerable part of his material is taken from his Italian upbringing in Philadelphia, Irrera also casts a sardonic eye at almost all aspects of contemporary life.

"Vegas or Kilkenny, it's still a comedy crowd," he says. "All I try to do is avoid the fill-in-the-blanks bullshit comedy. I don't have any gimmick, I don't use any props, I don't preach. And the really funny thing about playing Cat Laughs so many times is that now I get Irish people who have seen me at the festival coming to my gigs in the US."

While most comics use stand-up as an entree to television or film, Irrera is content to play the clubs. "Doing TV is fine, because you're doing your set," he says. "I've done countless Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O'Brien slots, but then you get more notice because of an appearance in a Coen Brothers film [ Irrera featured in The Big Lebowski].

"The problem about moving into film is that you're going from working for 50 minutes to hanging around on a set for 12 hours. Also, there's a lot of bad comedy on television. The only sort of show I could see myself doing is something like Seinfeld. I worked a lot with Gerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who were behind the show. They used to ring me and ask me on the show, but I was so busy touring around I never realised what a good show it was until it had been on for a few years.

"Then one year I was nominated for a comedy award alongside Bill Hicks and Carrot Top [ an inane prop comic]. Larry David told me that the prop comic was going to win the award and then he wrote a scene for me in Seinfeld which had me playing a prop comic."

Another fan is Cher, who insists that Irrera open up her concert tours. "Cher always seems to be on this neverending farewell tour. I've opened for her in casinos and at big outdoor shows. Once you've played in front of 28,000 Cher fans you don't get nervous about club gigs. She's a nice lady, she's changed a lot over the years - with all the work she's got done, I'm not sure she can even smile any more."

Despite wowing audiences at his debut Edinburgh appearance four years ago, Irrera seems reluctant to develop a European fan base beyond Kilkenny.

"I loved doing Edinburgh. It's a great festival and a great city. But it really is playing for a British TV market and, as I said, I'm not one of those comics who got in the job to launch a TV or acting career. I really am happier playing the clubs. I've seen too many people getting in to comedy for the wrong reasons. It shows in their material. And if they're lucky, they may just end up in some crappy series and then they're finished.

"I already have a job, I don't need a producer or director to tell me how to do it. I'm a joke monkey - I should be on the end of a piece of rope."

Dom Irrera plays Langton's on June 2 (in a show with Tommy Tiernan, Owen O'Neill and Lewis Black); The Venue Bar on June 3 (with Mike Wilmot, Tommy Tiernan and Bill Burr); The Village Inn on June 4 (with David Kay and Joe Rooney); Club 51 the same night (with Lewis Black, Mike Wilmot and Andy Kindler); The Kilbride on June 5 (with Lewis Black, Mike Wilmot and Andrew Maxwell); and The Rivercourt the same night (with Omid Djalili, Joe Rooney and Colin Murphy)