Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Kevin James: Irregardless’ On Prime Video, Where The Comedian Wishes He Could Parent His Kids As His Parented Him

Kevin James is the latest dad jokester to make the leap from Netflix to Amazon Prime Video, following the examples of both Nate Bargatze and Jim Gaffigan last year. What happens when the King of Queens star finds out he’s not the ruler of his real-life household? Your enjoyment might depend upon your generational perspective.

KEVIN JAMES: IRREGARDLESS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In the six years since his previous special for Netflix, Kevin James: Never Don’t Give Up, James has not given up on the idea of also being a movie star. He tried playing a would-be killer novelist in Netflix’s True Memoirs of an International Assassin, a Neo-Nazi prison escapee in Becky, the real-life football coach Sean Payton in 2022’s Home Team, and he co-starred alongside Adam Sandler in both Sandy Wexler and Hubie Halloween.

But his comedy fans still see James as an amiably bumbling fool, whether it’s on the big screen in the Paul Blart films or on the stand-up stage, where he opens this hour by dancing to the sounds of the song, “Natural Born Killer.” His jokes here cover the familiar sitcom-worthy territory of marriage and fatherhood. Can James find a way to win? Or even just to catch a break?

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Although they’ve always had their own personal comedic styles and points of view, it’s still all too easy to watch James and compare his arc with that of his former running buddy in the CBS primetime lineup, Ray Romano.

Memorable Jokes: James bounds onstage with a flourish dancing to the sounds of Highly Suspect’s “Natural Born Killer.” But at 58, he quickly uses his opening dance number as fodder to explore his difficulty with aging. “That was my gift for you” immediately gives way to “I gave you a little too much,” he says, “because everything hurts.” Which leads to a chunk of jokes about going to the doctor’s office, only to leave with more questions than he had upon arrival.

But at least we’re not in an old-timey war, right? James still feels limber enough to act out how he would’ve reacted in the American Revolution or the Civil War had he been handed the flag or drums on the battlefield to cheerlead instead of a musket to survive.

The focus, though, is on his own family in the here and now. James compares his three kids to a “slug farm” and elaborates what happened when he tried to get his son to quit playing video games, only to buy him an Oculus VR headset as a compromise, and then only to discover and demonstrate how that plan backfired. Even in virtual reality, he cannot seem to get his kids to dream big enough.

Of course, James also reminds us that he’s never going to be the smartest guy in the room, unless he can somehow steer the conversation to former heavyweight boxer Buster Douglas. Any other topic? “Don’t be fooled: I am dead behind the eyes.” Which is perhaps an excuse he should be using to avoid small talk; instead, he winds up offering up words such as the titular: “Irregardless.”

Our Take: Irregardless of anything I write here, James retains a lot of goodwill from his TV and film career, and that goes a long way to enjoying his stand-up. In turn, much of his material feels built in a writers room to supply future sitcom episodes as we can imagine how it’d go when James (or his character) has to visit the doctor’s office, or deal with his kids, or continually lose arguments with his wife.

I’d honestly feel better recommending this hour if there weren’t multiple moments that felt outdated either by current events or by plenty of other aging comedians already beating the bit into the ground.

When James digs into the idea that we all could be diagnosed pre-diabetic, there’s something there to be mined. But when he leaps to the conclusion of everything being pre-fear, and in his own nod to FDR, claiming “We have nothing to be afraid of. We really don’t…We live in the safest times in all of human history,” I must respectfully disagree by pointing to very real situations both domestic and foreign that remind us every day right now just how dangerous things are, with even more ominous threats on the horizon.

And when he feels nostalgic for a time when parents could threaten their own kids with a belt (“the belt worked!” he says), it’s a moment where even I, only a handful of years younger than James, want to go “OK, Boomer” (for the generational record, James at 58 is just past the cusp of Boomers at the start of Gen X). James finds a nice nostalgic moment and life lesson in recalling a moment on the pitcher’s mound in Little League where his father’s advice “just throw” is perfect, even if it leads to unintended consequences. I just wish James hadn’t first felt obliged to give us the same tired premise of kids these days with their participation trophies.

Our Call: Like I noted earlier, James hasn’t used up all of his goodwill just yet. So if you’re already a fan of his, then you’ll love this and STREAM IT irregardless. And yet, this also isn’t an hour that’s designed to grow his audience and find new fans. Just the smaller circle of fans who’d be eager to jump onstage with him and take selfies, as we see at the end of this special.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.