Valerie Armstrong has spent the last several years in Hollywood paying her dues. From a writer’s assistant on Showtime’s Masters of Sex to her position as a staff writer on SEAL Team to working as the story editor on Lodge 49, and now, creator of the AMC series, Kevin Can F**k Himself.
In the series, Allison McRoberts (Annie Murphy) is the prototypical Sitcom Wife married to Kevin (Eric Peterson), her self-centered husband. When she learns that the perfect future she envisioned is impossible, she teams up with her neighbor Patty (Mary Hollis Inbodin) as she attempts to escape her confines and take control of her life.
Valerie was generous enough to take some time to discuss the genesis of the series, why it’s set in Massachusetts, and what series she watches weekly while lying in the fetal position.
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FOG!: What was the genesis of Kevin Can F**k Himself?
VALERIE ARMSTRONG: I was listening to a podcast where a couple of women comedians were talking about pilot season and that they still go out for the role of the sitcom wife every year. That they’re always told, “we need a really funny woman,” then they get the script and all the lines they have are, “What do you mean?” They’re setup machines in sitcoms, there to service the hilarity of whatever man leads the show. I heard that and couldn’t believe it, and I thought where’s her show? God, wouldn’t it be great if you could follow her out of the living room, into the kitchen and go close on her face as she says straight into the camera, “I fucking hate my husband.”
It’s not a show within a show, it’s not in her head. We’re just looking at her up close for once. That night I started to work on it and it’s been about four and a half years to get to this point.
I live in Providence, RI and the series is set in Worcester, Massachusetts. What made you decide to set and shoot the series in New England, and specifically, Worcester?
I grew up in Connecticut and wanted to set the show in a place and with people I understood. It seemed right that this world be blue collar, repressed, with that sort of puritanical belief that everything has to always be “fine.” But the minute you set something in Connecticut, people assume that it’s fancy, and this is definitely not a fancy show.
So Worcester felt right—it’s specific when Boston almost seems generic at this point. And it felt like I could try to stay somewhat true to the place while also telling a story about my hometown. Also, fantastic accents come out of that city.
One of the interesting aspects of the series, is it is set in a three-camera sitcom world until Alison McRoberts steps away from her husband, Kevin, into her own reality, in an often dreary, single camera environment. And that world, often seems to be much more feminine focused. Were you trying to say something about a woman’s reality vs. a man’s?
I wanted to speak to my experience, and hoped that it might resonate with other people. And my experience is that the dissatisfaction, rage, and mental anguish I experience all feel like flaws in my personhood. I see curated versions of other women and believe them to be as happy as they seem, and assume that I’m defective for not being that way.
The format switch of the show represents a multitude of things, but visually, I felt like it communicated how much of myself I felt I had to hide—how much of myself I felt didn’t belong in the public-facing, brightly lit, “happy” environment of the sitcom.
Ultimately, though, those perceived flaws are just things that make us human, and they’re things to be embraced. I love Allison not because of who she presents herself as in the sitcom, but who she reveals herself to be in the single-camera part of our show.
Part of the actual growth on the series is for two characters, Alison and her neighbor and former antagonist, Patty O’Connor. Was Patty’s journey conceived when writing the pilot and what do you think makes the chemistry between Annie Murphy and Mary Hollis Inboden work so well?
Realizing that this show was not about a toxic marriage, but a show about two women and their relationship is what made this story worth telling to me. So Patty’s journey and her character were figured out in the very early stages of breaking the original pilot. I wanted to explore the dissatisfaction of a woman who seemingly fit into the sitcom, who could be considered “one of the boys.” Because ultimately, that environment isn’t serving her, either, she’s just surviving it.
And I cannot tell you how lucky we are to have Annie and Mary Hollis. If I knew what made their chemistry so palpable, I’d bring that to every show I work on after this. But to a certain extent, it’s the luck of having found two fantastic people. We cast the show knowing that those were our two central characters, and the first time we saw them read a scene from the pilot together, we knew we had exactly what we needed. They’re both so talented, and excellent at swinging from one format to the other.
Were there any sitcoms that you were inspired by or referenced during the writing of the series?
I make sure that whenever I’m writing this show, I’m also watching a fantastic sitcom. It’s a format that’s so easy to scoff at, but they’re so hard to get right. And when they are done well, it’s unlike anything else. We want to write the best sitcom that we can, we never want to look down on it. So watching shows like Frasier, Cheers, Friends, and Living Single always reminds me that it’s possible.
Patty’s brother, Neal, who might be even dumber than Kevin simply because he worships him, changes quite dramatically in the season finale, ultimately ending up in the one-camera reality. What does life look like for Neal as we head into season 2?
I don’t think of Neil as changing in that moment or even being that dumb. I think he’s showing what he’s been capable of the entire time we’ve known him. I heard this phrase recently, “weaponized incompetence,” and that’s how I think he’s operated since he was really young. He accentuates or even fakes his idiocy and ineptitude, and it’s meant that people take care of him and he doesn’t have to do anything for himself. I want to explore that side of him, expose his form of manipulation, and also watch him reckon with what he did at the end of season one.
Although you created the series, Craig DiGregorio serves as the Showrunner. Had you already plotted the first season before Craig came onboard and what sensibilities does he bring to the series?
I had a (very) rough break of our first season before the show was picked up, but after bringing on Craig, we took a real look at it and changed a lot. Plot points that work for a broad series bible don’t always turn out so well in reality, and having him and the rest of our writers here was invaluable in figuring out what the series would be. It would be a very different and worse show without them. Craig is always so generous in guiding me through this process. In our first meeting, he told me he wanted to help me make the show that I want to make, and he’s done that every step of the way.
With Season 2 forthcoming, have you and Craig developed an end for the series or are you just taking it season by season?
We do have an end for the series that we’re working towards. I’m also pretty sure I know the song I want to play over the last shot, but we’ll see.
What are you currently geeking over?
We go into production at the beginning of 2022 which is coming up very quickly, so all of my obsessions right now are things that are easy, that calm me down and make me happy. I got very into Dickinson like a week ago, I’ve been listening to the new Snail Mail album on repeat. And I watch The Great British Baking Show in fetal position every Friday.
SEASON 1 of the dark comedy series KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF
is now available on DVD & Blu-ray!
