Fans who braved the winter sleet and snow were not disappointed as internationally-renowned stand-up comedian Dom Irrera opened a four-night engagement at Easton’s Funny Bone Thursday in front of a packed house.

Irrera’s mixture of tried-and-true material combined with new, left fans of all ages and backgrounds spent with laughter.

Irrera said he enjoys doing stand-up because it is the only place left untouched from political correctness and the niceties of life.

“I can be honest on stage,” Irrera said.

Irrera is known for his stand-up comedy as well as his many acting appearances. His credits include “The Big Lebowski,” “The Godson” and Nickelodeon’s “Hey Arnold” as well as various Comedy Central appearances on “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn,” “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” and “Comedy Central Presents.”

Irrera studied acting at Biscayne and Barry Universities in Miami before working as a fourth-grade teacher at a Catholic school in Philadelphia.

He said he was never as tired as when he was a teacher.

“The classroom is harder than the club because it’s a longer set,” Irrera said. “You do a three-hour set in the morning and a two and a half hour set in the afternoon – that’s brutal.”

After his teaching stint, Irrera moved to New York where he got involved with improv groups, began working as an actor and worked on making it as a stand-up comic.

“I just started auditioning at the Improv and Comic Strip,” Irrera said.

Irrera said that his acting training really helped him with his stage presence.

“I got over a lot of nerves doing plays,” he said. “After doing improv so much I wasn’t nervous (doing stand-up comedy).”

Irrera enjoys the variety of combining stand-up and acting.

“It’s like having a wife who lets you have a girlfriend,” he said.

Irrera prefers the intimacy of smaller venues to the large college auditorium scene because of the diversity of the audience.

“I love the variation,” Irrera said. “To come in here and see a full house on a night of biblical proportions and have the warmth and fun of an audience with biker-looking guys, Jerry Springer types, sophisticated business people, college kids and even a Rastafarian-looking black guy … I love that mix.”

He said if it were not for his audience’s diversity he would have no act. However, there are subjects, such as physical and mental disabilities, that are too taboo for even him.

“I never pick on people who can’t defend themselves,” Irrera said.

Irrera is not too disappointed at Fox’s recent rejection of a Bruce Willis-backed situation comedy series for which he was to play a lead.

“I’m really happy doing clubs and some TV as opposed to getting married to a show,” he said. “I’m not willing to sacrifice to take that unbelievable gamble – I really enjoy what I do.”

Irrera was recently selected as one of Comedy Central’s top 100 stand-up comedians of all time and was scheduled to be on a four-member panel for Comedy Central’s five-episode series on the list.

Irrera said it was a great honor to be selected since the list includes comics both alive and dead.