Kevin James to Give Royal Touch to ‘People’s Choice’

Kevin James is moonlighting from his starring role in the CBS comedy series “The King of Queens” to host “The 27th Annual People’s Choice Awards” Sunday on CBS. Telecast tape-delayed from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the “People’s Choice” honors favorite performers in television, motion pictures and music. Winners are chosen by the fans.

Among the big nominees this year: “Boston Public,” “Dark Angel” and “Gideon’s Crossing” for favorite new drama; Drew Carey, Kelsey Grammer and Ray Romano as favorite male TV performer; Garth Brooks, Ricky Martin and George Strait as favorite music performer; and Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan as favorite movie actress.

James, who plays deliveryman Doug Heffernan on “The King of Queens,” began as a stand-up comedian and got his big break in 1996 at the Montreal Comedy festival. Before landing his own sitcom in 1998, he played a recurring role on “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

During a break from filming “King of Queens,” James talked about his hosting duties on “The People’s Choice Awards.”

Question: So you’ve never hosted an awards show until now?

Answer: I did the Jaspers; it’s a local sports awards show in Florida, but this is really the first big awards show I have done. I am not really a host type, so it’s weird for me.

Q: Did CBS approach you ?

A: They asked me, and I was like, “OK. Who canceled?”

Q: Didn’t your buddy Ray Romano host “The People’s Choice Awards”?

A: Yes, Ray is good at it. He should do it again. Ray did it two years ago. They wanted me to do it last year, but I was so busy at the time, so they gave it to Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. That’s what I have to follow!

Q: Are there any hosts you admire?

A: I love Billy Crystal and Garry Shandling. They do a great job. So I look at them and go, “Why am I here?”

Q: Do you own your own tux or are you renting one for the occasion?

A: I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I have no idea.

Q: But you’re writing your own jokes.?

A: We’re working on it now to do a little stuff up front. Then basically you are just like a traffic cop, just moving the stuff along and basically guiding it.

Q: You can always ad-lib during the ceremony, can’t you?

A: I hope not. I am going to be honest with you, I hope not. I don’t like the pressure of that.

Q: Have you ever been nominated for or won a People’s Choice Award?

A: No. I’ll bring that up. I think I’ll mention that. You know it doesn’t make me feel bad [we haven’t been nominated] because “Jesse” [the defunct NBC comedy series that premiered in 1998] was the best new comedy series and we’re still around. So we’re doing pretty good. I guess the people don’t hate us.

Q: Do you like the fact that fans get to not only vote for the awards but also are given the opportunity to attend the ceremony?

A: That is what the whole upper deck is contained of--everyday people--and that’s wonderful. Those are the people who aren’t jaded or judging me.

Q: It sounds like you are nervous about doing the awards show. Do you get nervous when you do your stand-up or film “The King of Queens”?

A: Not so much with the show and not so much with stand-up. Whereas with the “People’s Choice Awards,” I’m nervous . . . [but] I am going to have fun with it and try to do the best I can and do it differently.

Q: “King of Queens” doesn’t get a lot of media attention, but is now in its third season and going strong.

A: Exactly. A lot of shows come out of the gate hot and they get a lot of the media attention. We got some media attention but we have been this slow builder. What happens [with some shows] is you come out so hot a lot of the times they burn out very quickly. So I honestly would have rather come out as a nice, mellow good show, a down-the-middle show, and slowly build. We know our place. Are we a No. 1 show? I don’t see that happening. It’s tough at 8 p.m. But we know what we are and we’re very happy. We are a very simple sitcom and I like that. We are not adding crazy characters--like a talking dog--to drum up viewers.

* “The People’s Choice Awards” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS. “The King of Queens” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS.