You can take the comic out of the comedy club but you can't take the comedy club out of the comic. At least that's the case with Kevin James, one of the many television success stories to have taken the leap from comedy club stage to TV sitcom success. Whenever his hit TV show, King of Queens, goes into summer hiatus Kevin James bids a warm goodbye to his co-stars Leah Remini (Carrie Heffernan) and Jerry Stiller (Arthur Spooner) and takes off for the road using the opportunity to return to his first love, the comedy club circuit. “I love it,” says James of the passion he still has for performing standup, “Number one it's what got me here. But more so… to be able to get an audience to laugh… it's like a drug to me. I enjoy that immediate reaction, I enjoy being in control and creating and trying to do new stuff on stage.”

Many of Kevin James' King of Queens fans haven't had the chance to see just what got him where he is today… his standup act. So once again this summer James is taking to the road to bring his unique brand of standup to a town near you. But this summer he's going one step further, this summer James is bringing his standup act to your television sets as well. With the help of Comedy Central James' first hour-long standup special will be broadcast on July 23rd. The special, taped at the Hudson Theatre in New York City this past March, will give his fans the chance to watch James at his first love… standup comedy.

“I've always loved it. You know when I first started standup there were some older jaded comics out there who would tell me… ‘You're so happy now about doing it but believe me give it a few years and you'll hate it just like I do.’ At the time I thought, nuh, I don't think so. And you know I've been doing it 10 years now and I still enjoy it. Doing stand-up over the years, I remember, I would be on the road for three weeks at a time. I'd finally have a couple nights off to come back home. And those nights off I'd find myself at a comedy club hanging out with my friends, because that's were I wanted to be.”

That's not to say that Kevin doesn't love being an important part of CBS's successful Monday night comedy line up. “It's nice, it's nice to have that … it is,” says James of his hit TV sitcom the King of Queens. “It's a different type of thing but it's also got that same feeling. You know when a joke lands I mean there's no better feeling than that,” adds James referring to the fact that the show is taped in front of a live audience so he can still get a little of the feel of his comedy club days during tapings.

Kevin James admits he didn't really have dreams of having his own sitcom when he first started in standup, he just sort of fell into it. Actually that's pretty much how he ended up becoming a standup comic as well. “You know, unlike (Jerry) Seinfeld who wanted to be a comedian and knew it, since he was something like 8 years old, I honestly didn't have a clue.” So when it came to picking a career and going to college James chose sports management. “Which, I don't even know what it is today,” says James. “I mean, I still don't know what it is. It was kind of like a blend of sports and management. Self explanatory, I guess. I wanted to do something I enjoyed and I enjoyed sports, so… But that never really came through. I kind of lost interest in it, it just didn't matter.”

After 3 years of college James returned home one summer and tried out for a part in a small community theater production. It was his first taste of performing comedy in front of a live audience and after he got his first few laughs he was hooked. From there he joined an improv group at Long Island's East Side Comedy Club, with his brother and fellow comic, Gary Valentine, and eventually tried performing standup for the first time. He also gives credit to Robert Klein for awakening his first desires for pursuing standup. “I'd have to say watching some tapes of Robert Klein really influenced me and made me want to get involved with it. Seeing his HBO specials really pushed me … I just wanted to do it.” And once James gave it a shot he just loved it immediately.

“When you're doing standup you wear all the hats,” says James. “You're the writer, director, performer. And that's the tuff thing, when you do a sitcom… you have to give up some of those responsibilities.” But James is getting more and more comfortable with that and he credits his excellent staff for helping make the adjustment easier for him. “I honestly can say I have such a great staff and I have such great trust in them now. They know how I am and they know what I would do or wouldn't do. They're really a great bunch of people and a very talented crew.” Kevin James says he loves to get in there with the crew and even do some editing on his King of Queens show. One of the most fulfilling things about having his own sitcom, says James, is “being able to work in both ends of it. In the acting and performing, as well as, the creating and the writing. I mean, if it was up to me, I would wear all hats, if I could, be in all places. Because, I'm like a control freak with it.”

Kevin James says one of the things he loves about doing the King of Queens is the opportunity the show gives him to work with comedy legend Jerry Stiller. “He's just a great guy and the sweetest man probably I've ever met. He really is,” says James of his costar Stiller. “He's an incredible actor, and more so, an incredible man. He's just the most gracious fun loving guy you'd ever want to meet. And he doesn't have to be because he's a legend. He's hysterical. He'll do different takes and different moves that just floor me, they really do. It's so tuff getting through a take with him a lot of the time. That's the reason I hate having scenes with him, because I laugh too much, I really do.”

Does Kevin James have any plans for the future? Fellow CBS Monday Nighter Ray Romano and Kevin James are currently writing a film for Paramount in which they will both star… “We would like to bring our sensibility to the big screen… do something together in film,” says James. And after that? Well, James confides he also has an interest in trying his hand at drama someday… “I would love to try to stretch and do different parts. You know, I'm still learning. I haven't been acting (long)… I just want to take my time with it. But, eventually I'd love to stretch and do different types of roles and see what I can do.” And as for now?… this summer he'll be doing what he does best, he'll be making people laugh.

TalkingComedy.com features interviews with Comedians in Television, Movies and Standup.

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