What To Know
- Here, we break down some little-known secrets about the hit ’90s sitcom The King of Queens.
- Among them: Leah Remini almost lost her role to Megan Mullally, and Jerry Stiller was not the original actor cast as Arthur Spooner.
- Read on for more behind-the-scenes details about the still-popular series.
More than a quarter-century after its debut, the CBS sitcom The King of Queens remains popular, and the cast remains close — especially Kevin James and Leah Remini, who led the cast as delivery man Doug Heffernan and his secretary wife, Carrie.
“In my mind, there’s some parts that are just meant for you,” Remini told TV Insider recently. “Kevin and I were meant to know each other, you know? Sometimes it’s your turn…this was just meant to be.”
But Remini could have lost the part to another sitcom star, and Jerry Stiller almost didn’t play her onscreen father, as you’ll discover in the trivia below. Read on for more little-known facts from this 2000s-era hit.
1. Megan Mullally wanted to star in The King of Queens, not Will & Grace, according to Leah Remini
Remini revealed to MediaVillage in 2016 that she and Megan Mullally had a bit of a role reversal. Remini declined the chance to audition for Karen Walker, the role Mullally ultimately played on Will & Grace, while Mullally tried out for and was sorry not to get the part of Carrie Heffernan, Remini’s part on King of Queens.
“Megan actually went to the King of Queens audition, didn’t get it, and was in her apartment devastated when the Will & Grace casting people said, ‘You need to come in for this, it’s a great part for you,’” Remini recounted. “She said, ‘No, I wanted King of Queens!”
2. Remini didn’t think the show would work
In an Instagram post two months ago, Remini confided she didn’t think The King of Queens would be a big hit, despite the talent of James and that of the show’s writers.
“But by the time I got cast in The King of Queens, I had filmed a ton of pilots and been cast in a bunch of TV shows that ultimately got canceled,” she explained. “So I had become cynical and just assumed it wouldn’t work out. It’s been 27 years since The King of Queens premiered, and it’s still one of the top-rated shows in syndication. We are so grateful for all of you.”
3. Jack Carter was initially cast as Arthur, not Jerry Stiller
When it seemed like The King of Queens’ creators couldn’t get Stiller to play Arthur Spooner, they went with comedian Jack Carter, who played the role in an unaired version of the pilot, as executive producer David Bickel told The Futon Critic.
“I think they wanted Jerry to begin with, but he wouldn’t do it, couldn’t do it, whatever it was,” Bickel explained. “So they went with Jack Carter. And then [later on] they realized they could get Jerry, so they made that hard phone call to Jack.”
4. Stiller’s entire nuclear family appeared on the show
Stiller, of course, ended up playing Arthur, and eventually, his wife, Anne Meara, and his two kids, Amy and Ben Stiller, joined him. Meara played Mary Finnegan in a Season 1 episode before recurring as Veronica Olchin in the latter half of the show. Amy played five characters over the show’s run. And Ben had an uncredited role as Jerry Spooner in a Season 4 episode.
5. Kevin James’ wife and Leah Remini’s ex-husband each played multiple characters
Speaking of family affairs, James and Remini each enlisted their respective spouses for multiple guest parts. Steffiana de la Cruz, James’ wife, played four characters across four different episodes. And Angelo Pagán, who was married to Remini at the time, played four characters across six episodes.
6. The Cactus Jack line is a nod to James’ old wrestling buddy
When Spence Olchin (Patton Oswalt) calls out Doug for promoting a pyramid scheme in the Season 2 episode “Soft Touch,” Doug replies, “Don’t make me Cactus Jack your ass.”
Cactus Jack is the wrestling moniker of WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, who was on the same high school wrestling team as James.
“I played football … and I never wrestled before, but they needed another heavyweight to go with Mick [on the team]. So they brought me over, and we used to have some battles,” James said on Hot Ones in 2021. “I would throw him around a little bit. I think I was in better shape than him back then.”
7. “Yuspa!” is a nod to a coexecutive producer on the show
Doug’s go-to expression of surprise on the show is “Yuspa!” Cathy Yuspa is a TV writer who served as co-producer, supervising producer, and finally executive producer between Season 2 and Season 9. (She also co-wrote the King of Queens theme song.) Yuspa’s other screenwriting credits include the rom-com films What Women Want and 13 Going on 30.
8. Emmy voters totally wrote off the show
Despite its popularity, The King of Queens got royally rejected at the Emmy Awards. The sitcom never won an Emmy and only ever got one nomination: a 2006 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series nod for Kevin James. It fared marginally better at the People’s Choice Awards, where it was nominated for Favorite TV Comedy two years in a row.
9. The Church of Scientology wanted Remini to recruit James
Remini, a former member and outspoken critic of the Church of Scientology, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that she felt pressure from Scientology higher-ups to bring her colleagues into the church. “It’s always, ‘Why are you not getting Kevin James in? You’re not setting a good example. You’re not getting the director in,’” she recalled.
She also said she never broached that topic with James. “Kevin was always very respectful of my beliefs,” she added. “People would ask him, ‘Oh my God, is she trying to get you into that crazy cult?’ And he’d say, ‘No. She’s not like the rest of them.’”
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
