Kevin James first met Billy Joel around 2009, while attending one of his concerts in Florida. The King of Queens star got to talk to Joel backstage that night, and the two immediately clicked over the fact that they were both from Long Island. James and Joel have been friends ever since, and Joel’s asked James to make a number of appearances at his live shows over the years. These comedic guest spots usually take place at major venues such as New York’s Madison Square Garden and Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum.
When James was originally brought out, the segments revolved around him praising Joel and asking if he could play his piano. After some joking around, James would point out that Joel hadn’t yet played his favorite song and proceed to launch into his own rendition of Joel’s hit 1976 record “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway).” Joel would then tell James that he didn’t recognize the song before playing it himself properly.
You can check out a clip of them doing this bit at Nassau Coliseum below.
Kevin James Has a Weirdly Great Billy Joel Story, and It Involves Getting Roasted at the Piano
According to James, he practiced the intro to “Miami 2017” for a long time in preparation for the gigs. James even got to rehearse with Joel at his house and play it for him ahead of time. Because James thought that he’d gotten so good at performing the piece, he suggested to Joel that maybe he should play it worse for comedic effect.
Without missing a beat, Joel told him, “I don’t think you can.” “Wow,” James remembered thinking, “he hears so many things that I’m not hearing.”
The shows went over well, and a couple of years later, James’s TV wife, Leah Remini, joined him onstage at another one of Joel’s concerts, where the two performed a comical interpretive dance. Remini pretends to get fed up with James’s poor attempts and brings out her former Dancing With the Stars partner, Tony Dovolani.
James continues his goofy dancing with a giant hero sandwich instead. Take a look at the sequence, which was also recorded at Nassau Coliseum, right here:
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