Metrano's first film role was as a truck driver in the 1961 Cold War thriller Rocket Attack U.S.A.. Among Metrano's TV appearances were a 1968 episode of Ironside, a 1968 episode of Bewitched, a 1976 episode of The Practice, and The Streets of San Francisco. In 1977, he was a regular in the cast of the short-lived CBS situation comedy Loves Me, Loves Me Not. However, he is better known for his frequent appearances on talk and variety shows in the early 1970s, especially The Tonight Show, as a "magician" performing absurd tricks, such as making his fingers "jump" from one hand to another, while constantly humming an inane theme song – "Fine and Dandy", an early 1930s composition by Kay Swift. Art worked with Dick Towers, a singer and entertainer, as his straight man early in his career.
Metrano seriously injured his spinal cord due to a fall at home in 1989 and temporarily became a quadriplegic. He created a one-man show titled "Jews Don't Belong on Ladders...An Accidental Comedy" which has raised more than $75,000 for Project Support for Spinal Cord Injury, to help buy crutches, wheelchairs, and supplies for disabled people.
In December 2007, Metrano filed a lawsuit against Seth MacFarlane, the producers and studio behind the television show Family Guy, asserting copyright infringement, and asking for damages in excess of two million dollars. The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms.
