Having a hit show has its perks.

Just ask Nadine Velazquez, the Puerto Rican bombshell who plays Catalina, Jason Lee's hotel maid and vivacious voice of reason on My Name Is Earl.

"When I go to an NBC party now, they actually know I'm an employee," she laughs during a phone interview with the Sun.

"It's all new to me. I'm meeting people who want to meet me."

Airing Tuesdays, Earl -- averaging about 15 million viewers weekly -- stars Lee as its title character, a loser who tries to right all the wrong he's done after he's hit by a car and loses a winning lottery ticket.

He's accompanied on this quest -- in the name of karma, something he picked up from Carson Daly -- by Velazquez's Catalina and his dimwitted brother Randy (Ethan Suplee).

Asked about Lee, Velazquez sums up the actor -- and show's -- appeal. "He's like a three-year-old boy with a moustache. He's sweet and awesome -- there's no dirt, sorry."

While Lee was already a star thanks to roles in such movies as A Guy Thing and Vanilla Sky, it is the supporting cast -- Jamie Pressly as Earl's scheming ex-wife, Velazquez and Suplee -- who possibly stand the most to gain from Earl's success.

Suplee -- a character actor known from supporting work in such movies as Blow, Cold Mountain and The Butterfly Effect -- says he hadn't considered a TV series as a viable career option until he became a father.

"Before she was born, I hadn't pursued television."

Seeking a steadier gig, he began reading several pilot scripts and eventually discovered Earl -- "it was by far the best."

He describes Randy -- who has desired Catalina ever since he first called dibs on her -- as "a kid. He's led very easily into things and sometimes, that means he's been led into bad stuff."

As far as the non-love story between Catalina and Randy, Suplee says fans shouldn't expect any developments anytime soon.

For example, one upcoming storyline has Randy choosing between Catalina and another girl -- sort of. "I like two girls, but I don't have a relationship with either one, and I choose Nadine."

Another instalment in which he hugged her "was a big deal."

Also a big deal is Earl's status as the perceived saviour of both NBC and the television comedy. Suplee admits ever since the show began to generate buzz, expectations have been high. "People were saying congratulations after the first show aired. But we've just been working hard and doing our best. We've never felt any pressure."

Velazquez, for one, says her experience on the show has been "unbelievable" -- especially since Catalina was written as a Russian.

"I said I was a Puerto Rican Russian girl (at the audition) and they got a kick out of that," she says.

Which brings up the concept of karma -- that if you do good things, good things happen to you.

"I do believe in karma," she says.

"The show is about doing good things and being a good person and the show's creator, Greg Garcia, is an example of that.

"Greg didn't realize how excited the network was about the show. It was a passion project for him. Now suddenly NBC is really pushing it and it's their No. 1 comedy."