Vic DiBitetto will display his brand of observational comedy during a show Friday at Mauch Chunk Opera House, located on West Broadway, Jim Thorpe.

“The Italian Hurricane,” who first performed stand-up 40-plus years ago, achieved his biggest success with a YouTube video. “Bread & Milk,” a feigned-panic response to a February 2013 nor’easter, has amassed around 20 million views.

Having posted thousands of YouTube clips, DiBitetto’s characters and videos include Tony Gaga, Uncle Vic’s Garage and Ticked Off Vic. The comedian/actor, who has co-headlined shows with Andrew “Dice” Clay, released his first album, “Working Class Zero,” in 2020.

Before his show at the opera house, DiBitetto - born in Brooklyn, New York, and residing in Manalapan Township, New Jersey - discussed his career, viral success and more.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to pursue comedy, and what do you remember about your earliest performance?

A: In high school, in Brooklyn. I loved making my friends and classmates laugh. Then I went to Pips in Sheepshead Bay and did an open mic. I must have been 18 or 19. Once I was on stage and people were actually laughing, the needle was hooked.

Q: What do you admire about some of your comedic idols?

A: The older performers, the physicality of the humor, as well as the brilliance of the writing. When Abbot and Costello show the landlord why they owe less money in rent, it’s visually hilarious, but also so brilliantly written. Richard Jeni and George Carlin were brilliant. Carlin would write 60-minute-plus rapid-fire, mind-blowing comedy that was so smart and dead-on. There was and is nobody like him.

Q: Your mock-ventriloquist-act video, with your son, won a 1991 episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Why submit it, and did the win surprise you?

A: Back then, what other choices did you have? What did I have to lose? So I did it. It was fast and easy. When I won, I was completely blown away. But like most everything else, those kinds of appearances were 1 minute of fame and it did nothing for a career.

Q: Why start posting YouTube videos, and do you have a favorite?

A: I was bored and driving a bus, and had all this time in the middle of every day. My kids were on social media, so I figured, why not. “Bread & Milk” was 29 seconds long and I almost deleted it. It was so stupid, I thought. But I left it. It gave me more notoriety than 30 years in stand-up to that point. It’s like a Christmas carol. It comes back every year and gets seen all over the world on socials, weather channels and local news.

I don’t have one favorite video. How could I when I’ve done 9,300 so far? Some of the Giant and Yankee news conferences are so funny, sometimes I have a hard time getting through them. I’ve done some really fun ones with Lucy, my wife; Russ, my manager, and Alan, my neighbor. In general, I love the diversity of my work. I wish I’d get more credit for that and for all the characters I play.

Q: Do you think it’s tougher for up-and-coming comics to break through today?

A: For new people coming into comedy, it’s almost impossible. There were less comics and more clubs in the ’80/’90s. Now, everyone is a comic and so many venues have shut down. I would hate to be coming up today.

I’m glad I started when I did. I should have gone to L.A. when all the other New York comics did and got sitcoms. But I was married with two small children and decided to stay home and work in sanitation, do comedy on weekends, raise a family and be a good husband.

Q: You had hoped to perform on “The Tonight Show.” Is that still high on your list of goals?

A: Not at all. Like I said earlier, put those appearances on the list of things that do nothing anymore. In the old days, one appearance on Johnny Carson and your career was made. Now? You can go on six times and you still can’t get a decent booking. I want a national commercial spot. I want to be a cast member on a real TV show. Or in a real film.

Q: Did Kevin James, after seeing your videos, really call you to extend an invite to appear in 2015’s “Paul Blart: Mail Cop 2?” How did it feel, and do you want to pursue acting further?

A: Yes. I didn’t think it was him. I said, “Who the f is this really?” But once I realized it really was him, I went into like a slow-motion coma. He based Gino Chizetti on Tony Gaga. That was a huge compliment.

I do want to act more. I’m a cast member on the Amazon Prime series “Gravesend.” But I want much more and much bigger. A couple of exciting ones in TV I can’t talk about - yet.

Q: What inspired your more unusual merchandise items, such as Cawfee and toilet paper?

A: I love coffee and so many of my fans do, so that was a no-brainer. The toilet paper, we thought a lot of my fans would love to have it on display in the man cave and send as gifts to buddies, and just have it in a bathroom during a party or whatever.

It’s like, “Look how funny. You can wipe your rear end on Vic’s face.”