Bas Rutten has a good working relationship with Kevin James. The MMA star has been featured in several of Kevin James’ projects over the years, including The King of Queens, Kevin Can Wait on TV, and the 2012 film Here Comes The Boom.
Rutten spoke with WrestleZone to promote his role in The Smashing Machine and said that James was a big fan of his fights and had his team reach out. He went on to have cameos in The King of Queens and several of James’ films, as well as a recurring role as Rutger/Rootger Van De Kamp on Kevin Can Wait, his most recent sitcom. Rutten says they’ve been friends for nearly 30 years and remain close to this day.
“Kevin was always watching my fights from Japan together with Joe Rogan at the time. They would always get the pay-per-view. Then in ’97, I came to America. That was the first season of The King of Queens. Within months, I got contacted by his management if I want to come and help him work out. I went to the set and we just clicked right away,” Rutten said.
“I also did Kevin Can Wait on CBS, I think I did like 21 episodes on that show. That was a fun one. I wish that would have gone to another season because that was going to be [a larger role]. So yeah, I really enjoyed that. Hanging out with Kevin, it’s comedy central. He sees everything as a joke and then you see how his mind works. It’s really interesting to see and very funny.”
Rutten also did a guest spot on Liv & Maddie on Disney Channel, which he said came up because he’d worked with the director on Here Comes The Boom. He also said his eldest daughter was dating one of the cast members, and the crew made the connection.
“My oldest daughter here in America, she’s married to Shak Ghacha, he was Dump Truck on that show Liv and Maddie. So once they found out there was a connection that he was dating, and now he’s married to my daughter, Andy says, ‘Hey, do you want to do an episode on Liv & Maddie? I go, ‘Yeah, sure, I would love it.’ Uncle Martucci [was the character’s name]. That’s how that came together.”
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