9 ‘King of Queens’ Secrets You Didn’t Know

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.'”