Watch The King of Queens reunion honoring Jerry Stiller

By
Maureen Lee Lenker
Author Maureen Lee Lenker
Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Published on March 12, 2021 04:53PM EST

Arthur might have been a thorn in Doug's side, but The King of Queens cast is still going to celebrate him. Or at least the man who brought him to life.

Watch the video below featuring a special cast reunion of the beloved sitcom, all in tribute to the late Jerry Stiller, who had a lasting impact on the show as ornery Arthur. In the special, the cast gathers to read a classic episode of The King of Queens and celebrate the life of Stiller, who died in 2020.

"Those of us who made The King of Queens are incredibly excited to reunite in honor of our recently departed friend — the uniquely funny, sweet, incomparable Jerry Stiller," said series creator Michael J. Weithorn in a statement. "We have no doubt Jerry will be watching and screaming down at us from heaven."

The event features much of the original cast, including Kevin James (Doug Heffernan), Leah Remini (Carrie Heffernan), Victor Williams (Deacon Palmer), Gary Valentine (Danny Heffernan), Patton Oswalt (Spence Olchin), Nicole Sullivan (Holly Shumpert), and guest star Rachel Dratch (Denise Battaglia). Series creator and executive producer Michael J. Weithorn is directing the event.

As part of their tribute to Stiller, the reunion is also raising money and awareness for a cause near and dear to Stiller's heart, Henry Street Settlement, a social services, health care, and arts organization that serves the Lower East Side and all of New York City. Stiller got his start in theater there.

Stiller died in May of last year, and this marks the cast's first official tribute to him. But they're no strangers to informal reunions. Remini famously reunited with James on canceled CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait after the show killed off James' character's wife (played by Erinn Hayes) to make room for Remini to take over as the female lead.

The casting shuffle and the show's name inspired the title of upcoming AMC dramedy, Kevin Can F**k Himself.

Watch the special above for more.

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