Usher has crunking, Michael Jackson has the moonwalk and Kevin James has the Q-Tip.
James is in "Hitch," which is about a romance coach for the dateless played by Will Smith. But, for about five minutes, "Hitch" is hijacked by the James Klutzatronic Dance Machine. His character demonstrates his pathetic dance moves for Smith, including an ear-fingering gesture called the Q-Tip and a hand-rubbing motion called Starting the Fire. All are rejected.
"You just look at me, and you know I can throw it down, right? Me and getting the ladies — you can see how smooth I am," jokes James, star of TV's "The King of Queens," calling from a New York hotel. "Those are pretty much my own moves, which is pretty sad. That was my calling card with the ladies, back in the day. That was what I had to work with — that out-of-control thing, sort of like onions falling out of a bag."
Smith and James improvised the dance scene (they did lots of stuff that's not in the movie but could be on the DVD), something James says many stars wouldn't go for. "Some actors would see another supporting actor getting laughs and would shut it down immediately," says James, declining to name names. "But Will encouraged it."
The two were friends first, after a "Queens" writer introduced them and they played golf. Smith said they should work together; James figured it was one of those when-pigs-fly situations. But Smith called and James said yes to a tiny role that, over the course of a movie's worth of improvised scenes, ended up being not-so-tiny. James was thrilled because, despite six years on a hit sitcom, the movie offers were not exactly pouring in. They weren't exactly even trickling in.
"It's hard to knock down doors, even if you've been on a TV show for a while," says James. "It's such a difficult transition to make, as you can tell from all the TV actors who tried and didn't make it in movies."
When James heard from Smith, he had just lost the lead in the next film from Mike Judge, who wrote and directed "Office Space." At the time, he was bummed not to get the gig. Now, he's thrilled he wasn't chosen because it would have prevented him from doing "Hitch."
Speaking about his collaboration with Smith, James uses the playing-against-someone-who's-better-than-you-makes-you-better sports metaphor. The difference is, when he says working with Smith is the comedy equivalent of playing golf with Tiger Woods, James isn't speaking metaphorically. He actually has played golf with Tiger Woods, and tips from Woods actually did make him better. Same goes for Smith, who helped him figure out the whole movie thing.
With "Hitch" in theaters, "King of Queens" about to wrap shooting for the season and a couple of movies already completed (including a comedy that pairs him with mentor Ray Romano), James is looking at what's next. He's not sure what it'll be, but it's a good bet it will find him playing a character unlike the ones in "Queens" and "Hitch," both of whom are lovable, self-deprecating klutzes.
"Rob Burnett, the producer of 'Letterman,' told me you watch a movie for two reasons. Either it's like a James Bond movie, where you see him do things you'll never do, or it's a character who's a lot like you, so you relate to him," says James. "That's more what I've been doing, but, believe me, my agents and everybody are going, 'We need to go in a different direction. Let's do something where Kevin is not the fat guy, tripping over his suitcase.' "
Even if James stays vertical for the entire film, don't expect him to be too suave.
"The way I look at it is when you expose yourself to America and beyond, like I do on 'King of Queens,' where the humiliating stuff is often part of what's funny or endearing about the character, I have no problem with that," says James. "It's good to show you have faults and you look like an idiot some of the time, because we all do."