Following Kevin’s recent return to Huntington, Long Island, Kevin James, one of our most well-known and prosperous comedic actors of the past 25 years, stood outside the building that used to be the East Side Comedy Club.
“First place I ever did stand-up,” he replied. To build up courage, I believe I had a few Coors Lights. When I finally entered, it was July 26, 1989, which was the first date!”
He has a good deal to reflect on after 35 years.
James rise to fame came from his work as a deliveryman on “The King of Queens.” He became a lucrative movie star because of Paul Blart, the mall cop. However, he is still content doing stand-up, like his recent Amazon Prime special “Irregardless”.
Star football player in high school, Kevin attended Upstate New York’s Cortland State for his collegiate career. Although he did public speaking for laughs, a back ailment put an end to his athletic goals, but it did create some new ones. “I didn’t know what it was, but I had something,” he replied. “I don’t know how you bottle it and make money off it, but I never went back to school.”
He set about refining his approach, which was friendly and perceptive, never impure, and always forward-thinking. He states that he deliberately never worked “blue” since he was aware that it would make it impossible for him to be cast in a TV program. My goal is for my act to be able to perform anywhere. I feel like I want to create a character that people can identify with.”
James gained enough notoriety by the mid-1990s to be invited to audition for “Saturday Night Live,” where he had the opportunity to work with comedic greats like Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, and John Belushi.
He hit his face hard.
“It was the worst audition I’ve ever had in my entire life,” he claimed. Considering that I was the only person in the room, it was harsh. Even though nobody laughed when I first started doing my standup, I persisted.”
This is the page where you may discover everything there is to know about Kevin James, a real-life example of someone who never fails—they just give up trying.
James claimed that his unsuccessful “SNL” audition was the finest thing that had ever happened to him, even though 99 out of 100 people would want to curl up in a fetal posture and never move again.
His disappointment at not making it to “SNL” allowed him to try out for and land the main role in a pilot called “The King of Queens.” James’s self-bet upon graduating from college had proven to be profitable.
Perhaps he moved too quickly to believe in the success and to trust that it would endure, but in less than ten years, he went from operating a forklift and working as a freelancer at Long Island comedy clubs to starring in a network sitcom. “Well, that’s been my whole career,” said the man. “What if someone touched me on the shoulder and God said, ‘Hey, we know what’s going on, you know?'” I would say, “Yes.” What should I do? Is all that up? Everything is fine. Thank you, it was a great run! ”
However, Kevin would now find it difficult to argue that their 20 years of marriage are coming to an end at the age of 58. Perhaps now the only ones who have doubts? his quartet of children.
When asked if his kids find him funny, James answered, “They kind of do. Their refined taste kind of irritated me a little! They said something like, “We get it, you’re falling in the ‘Mall Cop’ thing, and it’s good.” But as you may imagine, we’re searching a little bit further.”
Despite all of his success in Hollywood, this Long Island native will never wander too far from his heritage, Kevin responded quickly when asked if he had to choose between a career in stand-up, sitcoms, or movies for the rest of his days: “Stand-up. Me, a microphone, and I, and I get to do it. Furthermore, neither the studio nor the network has a procedure wherein they decide to alter something in a particular way. We’re attempting to cast in this direction.
I indeed find the procedure to be enjoyable. And there will be instances when nothing goes as planned, and you don’t connect with individuals in the manner that you had hoped for. Occasionally, however, you’re told, “Yes, you can still do this.” I love this! However, the chance exists to take it on.
And because of that, Kevin expressed gratitude. “I’m grateful that I’m still here!”