As the wait for Season 4 of Reacher continues, Alan Ritchson is keeping us entertained with a new action comedy called Playdate. This project on the 2025 movie schedule sees him pair up with Kevin James for a chaotic and hilarious journey, and it turns out, the King of Queens actor wanted to be his co-star’s Mr. Miyagi when it came to nailing the funny beats of this movie.
However, he should have known (much like many of us already do) just how funny Alan Ritchson is.
Kevin James Wanted To Be Alan Ritchson’s Mr. Miyagi For Comedy
In Playdate, a new streaming release that’s available with an Amazon Prime subscription, Alan Ritchson and Kevin James play two dads who are trying to have a nice day with their kids when everything goes wild. As the director, Luke Greenfield, said in the featurette below, these two characters make for an “odd pairing,” and the actors playing them seem to juxtapose each other in a funny way.
Now, I think it’s natural to assume that of this duo, Kevin James would bring the comedy and Alan Ritchson would bring the action to this action comedy, Playdate. And to that point, the Paul Blart: Mall Cop actor noted that he thought it would have been fun to help his co-star out, Karate Kid style. He explained:
Alan comes from the world of action, and I wanted to be like Mr. Miyagi for him in comedy, but he didn't need me.
As you can see in the featurette, he really didn’t need it. It’s pretty clear that Alan Ritchson had the comedy part down, too.
However, the gesture was nice.
Although I have to say, if you follow Alan Ritchson on Instagram, you should know all this already.
However, He Should Have Known How Funny The Reacher Star Is In Real Life
While Reacher isn’t known for its humor, Alan Ritchson certainly has a good sense of it when it comes to both the show and his own life.
During an interview with CinemaBlend about Season 3, in fact, I joked with Ritchson about Reacher’s sleep schedule, and the season before that, he even started his own Reacher meme.
Also, if you simply follow the actor on Instagram, it becomes clear, quickly, just how silly he can be. For example, on Halloween, he posted this funny video where he gave his followers a tour of his trailer. However, the twist was, he had been pranked by the crew, and his RV was full of decapitated heads and limbs. His reaction was priceless, and when you mix his screaming about what’s in his trailer with his calm “Oh, my food’s here" at the end, you get comedy gold.
To further prove my point, Ritchson has joked about being too tall for the gym on social media before, and one time, he had all the jokes about his abs as he posted a shirtless selfie. Honestly, if you follow this guy on Instagram, it’s easy to see that while he takes his work seriously, he does not seem to take himself too seriously.
So, no, he didn’t need a Mr. Miyagi for comedy on his latest movie. However, I’m also sure Alan Ritchson still learned a thing or two from Kevin James about how to bring the funny for their new movie that’s available to stream on Prime Video now.
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