Kevin James reveals why he avoids political stand-up — and new doc ‘about getting in shape’
Kevin James’ stand-up special, “Irregardless,” is a breath of fresh air focusing on observational humor — sans politics or profanity.
The Prime Video special is a nice change of pace in a genre that’s morphed into opinionated takes on topical issues peppered with a barrage of F-bombs that, long ago, lost their ability to shock an audience.
These days, it’s actually more shocking to see a comedian who eschews all of that for a more good-natured approach.
“Very early on, when I started doing stand-up, I knew that if I was going to get a spot on ‘The Tonight Show’ or another TV show, I had to change my act,” James, 58, told The Post about “Irregardless.”
“I didn’t want to be limited by these things . . . and I wouldn’t write about politics or current events, and I didn’t want to lose my material.
“I wanted to be as universal as possible and not have to edit my act to go on TV,” he said. “It kind of stuck with me that way and [my act] grew into being more family-friendly — it’s sometimes trickier and harder to write that way, but I like it.”
James, of course, doesn’t have to worry about broadcast television-type censorship on Prime Video, but, still, it’s refreshing to see him stick to his observational narrative in “Irregardless,” filmed during his titular 2023 comedy tour.
(James is about to kick off his next comedy tour, “Owls Don’t Walk,” Feb. 3.)
In the special, the former “King of Queens” and “Kevin Can Wait” star covers everyday concerns in a conversational fashion, joking about aging (his doctor, he points out, told him he’s “pre-diabetic” . . . but why?); fear (“I find things to be afraid of”); trust; trying to motivate his kids (he refers to them as a “slug farm”); punishment (back in his day, it was “the belt”; now it’s a “time-in”); and his childhood, drinking water out of the backyard hose from rusty spigots to “suck all the asbestos and lead out of the house.”
“Irregardless” runs a bit over one hour and James is rarely static onstage; he’s a constant flurry of movement and physicality.
“We’re actually shooting a documentary right now about getting in shape,” he said. “I have a couple of projects coming up; one is an action-comedy that I have to be in shape for, and the other was a movie I already shot . . . but I fell out of shape and we had to do some reshoots.
“The documentary is me trying to get back to that place again and see if I can stay there consistently … or if it’s too late and I’m just going to be [98-year-old] Dick Van Dyke for the rest of my life — who, by the way, is in better shape than me.”
James works on writing his act before going out on tour, testing out new material.
“I add it into little spots and see if it goes then. I’ll do the new stuff in a show and always have a fallback if it’s not going well; I can get out of it and the audience won’t know, but I’ll know. If it’s an area that’s not working, then I might have to take it to the [local comedy clubs] and try to rework it.
“My favorite time ‘writing’ is when I’m actually up there with an audience,” said James. “Because that’s what it’s going to be.”
