INTERVIEW: Eric Petersen on his reexamination of sitcoms on ‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’
Photo: From left, Eric Petersen, Annie Murphy and Raymond Lee star in Kevin Can F**k Himself. Photo courtesy of Jojo Whilden / AMC / Provided by press site with permission.
The new hit show Kevin Can F**k Himself had a successful first season on AMC, and a second set of episodes is expected to come in 2022. The show, starring Annie Murphy and Eric Petersen and created by Valerie Armstrong, follows a family through multiple lenses — literally. First, there’s a sitcom angle, with the multi-camera comedy playing for big laughs in the same style as Everybody Loves Raymond or The Honeymooners. Then, there’s the single-camera storytelling, allowing viewers to go deeper with the characters and see how they are faring with a more intimate focus. To catch up on the series, audiences can now purchase season one on DVD and Blu-ray.
Petersen, known for his extensive TV and stage work, plays the title character. Yep, the Kevin who can f**k himself. He is excited that audiences are finding and appreciating the show, and he cannot wait for a second season. “We’re very proud of it,” Petersen said in a recent phone interview. “We’re excited that people are responding to it and enjoying it.”
The actor became attached to the series through the traditional route. He received a call from his managers and agent, who sent him the script and an invitation to meet the creative team. The title right off the bat grabbed him, and he was intrigued that he could play the man at the center of that powerful phrase.
“Let’s see what this is about,” he remembers thinking. “I consider myself a big multi-cam [sitcom] guy. I love doing multi-cam. I love talking about it. I love the history of it. I taught multi-cam before, so as I was reading the script, I just wanted to make sure the show was not necessarily saying that multi-cams were bad. But I liked that once I spoke with Valerie and asked that question in my first audition meeting … she was like, ‘No, no, I love mulit-cams as well. We’re just trying to point out some of the structural flaws that are inherently within them.’ I was like, ‘Well, that sounds awesome.'”
The series presents this broad multi-cam comedy, but within the same episode there’s also this single-cam point of view that has something more profound to say about the marriage that’s under the microscope. “Once we had that first meeting, I was like, this is going to be great,” Petersen said. “Eventually got the call that I got it and was just so excited, and Amy was aboard. It was a very exciting time, and then once we got to make the show it was even better.”
When Petersen started to read the scripts, he responded to how familiar everything felt. The show has the aura of a classic sitcom, with his character of Kevin being an amalgamation of Archie Bunker, Ralph Cramdon, Tim Taylor and Ray Romano — what he called the dumber, buffoonish husband who is always getting into different hijinks.
“They have these put upon wives that are just dealing with their buffoonery, and so my approach to it was always try to make him feel familiar in that way, lovable because I think that those characters are [lovable], at least the way that we remember them,” he said. “We don’t remember them necessarily with a critical eye, and then my job is to let the other half of the show, the single camera part of the show, be the critical eye. I wasn’t doing a parody performance or a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware performance. I was really trying to do a pretty honest-to-goodness multi-cam family sitcom kind of performance and honor that art form, and then let the other half of the show kind of point out the flaws and the problems with that, and then let the audience come to their own conclusions.”
Ultimately, Petersen has changed as a person after joining this project, and he hopes the audience members walk away changed as well. The TV sitcom is a cultural phenomenon that so many people know and are comfortable with, and Kevin Can F**k Himself offers an alternate take on this structural form and its often unfair mode of storytelling and characterization.
“It’s definitely changed me,” the actor said. “I’ve definitely thought about not only watching sitcoms and what am I laughing at and what have we been conditioned to accept, but also in my regular life. Sometimes I think men can enjoy or relish the idea of being the dumb husband. ‘Oh, I just don’t know what I’m doing, and that’s me.’ The way that a true, honest-to-goodness working relationship should be is that there is a give and take, and everybody has responsibilities and understanding and communication and all these basic ideas of a modern, loving, committed relationship that I think sometimes get thrown away in this older archetype of sitcom marriages.”
He added: “I think a lot of couples are watching the show, and it’s definitely starting a lot of conversations. I’ve had conversations with friends who have said, ‘My husband loves the show, but he only likes the multi-cam part. I don’t think he’s getting the point of it.’ Well, just give him time. The more that you continue with it, it’ll become pretty clear what the point of view is on that type of stuff. I think anytime you can make a piece of art or a television show that actually spurs conversations and makes people think and talk and have strong feelings, then you’re doing a good thing.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Kevin Can F**k Himself, starring Annie Murphy and Eric Petersen, is available to stream on AMC+. Season one is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. Click here for more information.
