Irvin's directing credits include Guilty as Charged, Oblivion, Elvira's Haunted Hills, and all the episodes of two television series: Dante's Cove and From Here on OUT.

Irvin authored the acclaimed biography Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise (Simon & Schuster), the children's book parody Sam's Toilet Paper Caper!

[citation needed] As a teenager, Irvin edited and published two issues of the fanzine Pit (69-70), and four annual issues of Bizarre (1972–1975), a fanzine on fantasy, horror and science fiction films, for which he twice traveled to England to conduct in-person interviews, including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Jane Seymour, Joan Collins, Terence Fisher, Freddie Francis, Sir James Carreras, Michael Carreras, etc.

Then, Irvin worked as De Palma's assistant on Dressed to Kill starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon.

Released by New Line Cinema, the film starred Tim Choate, Wendie Jo Sperber, Wallace Shawn, Cathryn Damon and Jane Badler.

During this period, Irvin won The Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards for designing the movie posters for François Truffaut’s Confidentially Yours and Paul Verhoeven’s The Fourth Man.

[citation needed] Irvin's first directorial effort, which he also wrote and produced, was the 1985 dark comedy short Double Negative, which starred Bill Randolph, Justin Henry, Wayne Knight, Dori Legg, and William Finley.

For television, Irvin directed several episodes of Comedy Central's Strip Mall starring Julie Brown, Cindy Williams, Jim O'Heir, Carolyn Hennesy, Maxwell Caulfield, and Stella Stevens.

Irvin directed all the episodes of the hit television series Dante's Cove starring Tracy Scoggins, Charlie David, Jenny Shimizu, Thea Gill, Stephen Amell, Booboo Stewart, and Reichen Lehmkuhl.

Irvin was the sole director and co-producer of the comedy series From Here on OUT starring Terry Ray, T. J. Hoban, Juliet Mills, Suzanne Whang, and Julie Brown.

Irvin was also the first season director and co-producer of the television series My Sister Is So Gay starring Terry Ray, Wendy Michaels, Tilky Jones, Debra Wilson, and Loni Anderson.

Also for television, Irvin directed the opening of The 100th Anniversary of the World Series (October 18, 2003) for the Fox Network (a "through the ages" montage featuring the music of and starring Sheila E).

Irvin directed several segments for the Fox Network's 2005 Super Bowl XXXIX including several comedy sketches starring Eugene Levy as a nutty gadget inventor trying to improve the entertainment value of football.

His credits as a producer include: Irvin's first book, Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise, was published by Simon & Schuster (November 2010) and was honored by Kirkus Reviews and The Theatre Library Association Awards as one of the "Best Biographies of 2010."

(an extra included in Paramount's Centennial Collection DVD edition of Stanley Donen's Funny Face starring Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Kay Thompson).

38 focusing on the making of Frankenstein: The True Story, published June 2017, including Irvin's 50,000-word chronicle on the movie which won the 2017 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Article of the Year.

Factory's 2020 Blu-ray release of Frankenstein: The True Story—including a three-hour audio commentary plus newly-filmed interviews with Jane Seymour, Leonard Whiting and co-screenwriter Don Bachardy.

Between projects, Irvin has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts where he taught graduate courses on directing.