Gary Joseph Knipfing (born November 22, 1961), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Gary Valentine, is an American actor and comedian. He is the older brother of actor

Kevin James Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), better known by his stage name Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. In television, James played Doug Heffernan on ''The King of Queens'' from 1998 to 2007, and receieved a Primetime Emmy ...

. He starred as Danny Heffernan in ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show ...

'' (1998–2007) as Kevin James' (

Doug Heffernan Douglas Steven "Doug" Heffernan is a fictional character and the protagonist in the American sitcom ''The King of Queens''. The character has also appeared in ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', '' Becker'', and '' Cosby''. The character is portrayed ...

's) cousin, as Kyle Gable in ''

Kevin Can Wait ''Kevin Can Wait'' is an American television sitcom starring Kevin James that aired on CBS from September 19, 2016, to May 7, 2018. The series was created by James, Rock Reuben, and Bruce Helford, and marked James' second starring role in a CBS ...

'' (2016-2018), and has appeared in numerous ''

Happy Madison Productions Happy Madison Productions is an American film and television production company founded in 1999 by Adam Sandler, which is best known for its comedy films. Happy Madison takes its name from the films ''Happy Gilmore'' and ''Billy Madison'', two b ...

''.

Early life

Valentine was born Gary Joseph Knipfing in

Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

, to Janet, who worked in a

chiropractor Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscie ...

's office, and Joseph Valentine Knipfing, Jr., who owned an insurance agency. His family is of German descent. Valentine has two siblings: Kevin George Knipfing, known as Kevin James, an actor and comedian, and Leslie Knipfing. Gary and his siblings were raised in the Catholic faith.

Career

Valentine got his start in show business on the standup comedy stage. After an appearance at the Montreal Comedy Festival, he left his native New York for Los Angeles. There he quickly landed spots on various talk shows, including ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ''The Late Late Show'' is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show ...

'', ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'', and ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

''. He has been headlining comedy clubs and theaters for the past fifteen years. He is best known for his role as ''Danny Heffernan'' on ''

'', playing the cousin of principal character Doug Heffernan (performed by his real-life brother

) for nine seasons. Valentine appeared on the television show ''

Men of a Certain Age ''Men of a Certain Age'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Ray Romano and Mike Royce, that ran on TNT from December 7, 2009, to July 6, 2011. The hour-long program stars Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as three b ...

'', which was written and directed by

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as t ...

and met with critical acclaim. Prior to his run on the series, he starred in his own half-hour special on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

and hosted ''

The X Show ''The X Show'' is a magazine, variety, and interview/talk program that aired on FX Network in the US from May 1999 to April 2001. Running time was originally one hour, but this was later reduced to a half-hour. The show was 'guy-themed' much lik ...

'' on FX. On the big screen, Valentine has appeared in '' Stuck on You'' and ''

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry'' (also simply known as ''Chuck & Larry'') is a 2007 American buddy comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. It stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James as the title characters Chuck and Larry, respectively, two New Y ...

''. He also had a cameo in

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...

's documentary ''Comedian''. More recently, he makes occasional appearances as a roundtable comedian on the E! Network late-night talk show ''

Chelsea Lately ''Chelsea Lately'' is an American Late night television, late night Television comedy, comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced ...

'' and also takes part in the ''Dusty Peacock'' web series on

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

. Valentine performs

comedy tours Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...

in clubs across the country. He's been a frequent guest comedian on shows such as ''

Comics Unleashed ''Comics Unleashed'' is a half-hour comedic talk show produced by the Entertainment Studios production company (formerly CF Entertainment) and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and DJ Cobra or sometimes DJ A1 providing music ...

'' and the E! show ''

''. He appeared in ''

Paul Blart Mall Cop ''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' is a 2009 American action comedy film directed by Steve Carr, written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay, and produced by James, Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Todd Garner, and Barry Bernardi. It stars James as the titular c ...

'', '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2'', and in the comedy

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

''Dusty Peacock'' on

. Valentine also appeared as George Bannister in the movies ''

The Dog Who Saved Christmas ''The Dog Who Saved Christmas'' is a 2009 American made-for-television Christmas comedy film starring Dean Cain, Gary Valentine and the voice of Mario Lopez. It was written by childhood friends Michael Ciminera and Richard Gnolfo. It premiered on ...

'' (2009), ''

The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation ''The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation'' is a 2010 American made-for-television Christmas comedy film and a sequel to the ABC Family 2009 movie '' The Dog Who Saved Christmas''. The movie stars Paris Hilton in her first voice role, as the poodle ...

'' (2010) and ''The Dog Who Saved Halloween'' (2011). He also played Maury in the 2009 comedy ''The Deported''. He co-hosted ''

''. Most recently, Valentine was

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of an upcoming new TV series, ''The Bachelor Chronicles''. From 2016-2018, Valentine co-starred in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

sitcom ''

''. List of Gary Valentine Movies

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Gary 1961 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from New York City People from Stony Brook, New York Ward Melville High School alumni People from Mineola, New York 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American male actors American people of German descent American male comedians Comedians from New York (state) 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians