Kevin James Reacts to Viral King Of Queens Meme

Kevin James reacts to viral meme using old photo from 'The King Of Queens' in an appearance on The Tonight Show.

Kevin James recently addressed a viral meme that used an old photo of him from his time on The King Of Queens. The photo in question is a promotional shot from the '90s sitcom, in which James played deliveryman Doug Heffernan. The image, taken by Tony Esparza for CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images, shows James with a sheepish smirk and shrugging his shoulders.

The show ran for 207 episodes across nine seasons and aired on CBS from 1998 to 2007. According to Know Your Meme, the first known use of the image in meme format was posted by Twitter user @ChampagneAnyone on September 21, 2023, with the caption "me after 1 double rum and diet". The photo of James has been used with various captions about being shamelessly guilty, cheeky, bashful, and confident.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to promote his new comedy special Irregardless, James reacted to the meme when Fallon produced the photo. James shook his head and said, "Oh God." He then recalled the photoshoot, explaining, "When you first get a sitcom, you're just so happy to be there, and the photographer was telling me to do goofy things. He was like, 'Smile, now like you're sexy, now like you're shy.' I got into this position where I'm like 'What the hell am I doing?' and then I said, 'Please bury that one'. [He goes] 'Yeah, no worries, it won't come back'. Twenty-five years later, that thing pops up."

Share With Others