Summary
Kevin James’ return to the stage was an unfunny waste of time. Kevin James: Irregardless is easily one of the worst stand-up specials in recent memory.
For the first time in over five years, Kevin James is returning to the stage to make us laugh in the Prime Video comedy special Kevin James: Irregardless. Most know James as an actor, but he broke into the comedy scene and was discovered at the Montreal Comedy Festival in 1996. Of course, this catapulted his career to his hit show King of Queens and movies like Here Comes the Boom, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and Grown Ups. James is heading out on his “Owls Don’t Walk” comedy tour supporting the new special.
Irregardless sees James telling jokes about parenting, kids playing video games, and how he doesn’t trust technology.
James hits the stage to the Highly Suspect’s song, “Natural Born Killer,” and delivers some hilarious dad-like dance moves to ramp the audience up. James’s opening bit is about fear and how everything in society is built to make everyone live in fear, whether it’s telling you that you have “pre-diabetes” or how food companies package things.
James tries to compare the modern-day fear to the real fear of people who were flag holders in the wars back in the day, and this was met with not a single laugh. He kept going, which finally got a few chuckles, but my goodness, was this a terrible bit. It was so unfunny, and his delivery here was so weird, and it didn’t land with the audience or me.
James’ entire special is what I would imagine an old-school dad complains to his family about over Thanksgiving every year. The famous hits are about not trusting technology, kids not being disciplined, and how the world is scared of dumb things. It was a grumpy old man yelling about how much he hates the world now. His final joke about not listening to his wife’s stories was the icing on the cake.
A few laughs are sprinkled into the special, but the true highlight is James’s body language and stage presence. You can tell he is an actor because he moves around on the stage a lot to deliver his jokes, which I enjoy. His facial expressions are priceless. It’s too bad the jokes failed to deliver because it would’ve made for the perfect combination.
Do you want to hear an old man mad about how kids these days have it easy? Then Kevin James: Irregardless is the perfect stand-up special for you. Otherwise, this is an easy skip for me because many of his jokes don’t land, and they come off as more annoying than funny. This is easily one of the worst stand-up comedy specials I’ve seen in recent times.
What did you think of Kevin James: Irregardless? Comment below.
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