Kevin James’ Crowning Comedic Moments

Kevin James has recently become one of film’s family-friendly comedy moneymakers. In honor of Zookeeper, we’ll show you seven of James’s funniest moments. Zookeeper is in theaters this Friday.

The Daily Show – Kevin James The Pitching Coach

This clip comes from Kevin James’s first visit to The Daily Show, back when it was hosted by a tiny baby version of Jon Stewart. Kevin James rubs his visit with the Mets in Jon’s face, marking the strange period in time during which Jon Stewart wasn’t famous enough in NYC to have Mets season tickets simply delivered to his house on the back of a gilded virgin. Little known piece of movie trivia- I Made Love To John Franco was actually the working title to I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

Hitch – The Dancing Scene

In this scene from Hitch, Will Smith offers Kevin James some dancing lessons to impress the ladies. As a professionally-certified terrible dancer, I have tried a good number of these dance moves myself. Nothing gets the guys over like pretending to spin a pizza. Besides, Will Smith certainly isn’t qualified to give dancing advice. That guy is so charismatic, he’d be attractive doing the macarena.

Stand Up With Ray Romano – A Tale Of Two Rays

I apologize for the quality of this clip, but I had to include it, because Kevin James does the most spectacular Ray Romano impression. I always figured that in order to do a voice like that, you would need to fill your tonsils with helium and be beaten down by years of banality and hardship. And I can’t speak for the second part, but I don’t see any helium on stage.

Sweat The Small Stuff – Stand Up

This clip comes from Kevin James’s stand-up special, and details man’s eternal struggle against the greeting card. The silent card-shopping ballet is a real high point of the routine. Gender-war jokes have been done before, but rarely through such a gleefully melodramatic pantomime.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop – Rockin’ Out

You could yell at the titular Mall Cop for playing Guitar Hero instead of doing his job, but honestly, if I had access to Guitar Hero at work, I’d be doing the same thing. And not to be “that person”, but there’s clearly no buttons on the low neck of the guitar. Though I image the film would’ve gone somewhat differently if he had failed 45 seconds into the first song and had to go back to actually doing job.

Star Search – Starting With Standup

It’s always strange to see people before they get famous. This stand-up clip is from an episode of Star Search in 1995, three years before King Of Queens would come out. Who would have guessed that one day, James would get famous enough that he would be able to carry an entire film about a fat guy falling off a scooter by himself. Truly, it is like watching the birth of a new star in the heavens.

Jerry Stiller’s Roast – A Very Brady Makeout

Kevin James had an affectionate go at venerated comedian Jerry Stiller during his Friar’s Club Roast in 1999. While James’s potshots at King Of Queens and Patton Oswalt are good-, his affectionate reunion with Florence Henderson is even better. The fantasies of thousands of 70’s kids are finally fufilled.