Kevin James Reveals Story Behind Viral Meme Photo

Kevin James opened up about the old photo of him that turned into a viral meme while appearing on The Tonight Show.

Transcript

00:00 Kevin James is finally opening up about the story behind the photo of him that turned

00:04 into a viral meme.

00:06 Back in September of 2023, an old photo of American actor Kevin James was gracing everyone's

00:12 timelines.

00:13 The photo of James shrugging against a kitchen counter in a flannel was immediately meme-ified,

00:18 but it was originally taken to promote James' early 2000s sitcom Kings of Queens.

00:23 While appearing on The Tonight Show, James shared he was embarrassed by the photo.

00:27 "And you know what it's like when you first get a sitcom, you just listen to any, but

00:30 you're just so happy to be there.

00:32 And the photographer who had no, he was just telling me to do goofy things and he was like,

00:37 'Smile, now like you're sexy, now like you're shy, but now you're kind of cool.'

00:42 And I got into this position where I'm like, 'What the hell am I doing?'

00:46 And then I said, 'Well, please bury that one.'

00:48 And he goes, 'Yeah, no worries.

00:49 That won't come back.'"

00:50 However, the actor then leaned into the fun by recreating the iconic look with host Jimmy

00:57 Fallon.

00:58 "Hey Kevin, thanks for doing the show.

00:59 Oh my gosh, you're doing the meme!"

01:00 "Yeah, I can't stop doing it.

01:01 Jimmy, I'm stuck in the meme!"

01:02 "Well, snap out of it!"

01:03 "I tried!"

01:04 "Oh no, I'm stuck in the meme too!"