WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Kevin Can F**k Himself Season 1, Episode 7, "Broken," now available on AMC+.
Episode 7 of Kevin Can F**K Himself showed viewers a more complex picture of Sam. Initially presented as a strong character with his life together, Allison latched on to her old flame Sam -- seeing him as a spark of hope in her unfulfilling life. But it turns out that Sam's home life isn't perfect, romantically or financially, raising the stakes of an already messy situation.
Raymond Lee, who brings Sam to life in Kevin Can F**K Himself, talked with CBR about portraying this increasingly complex character, breaking down Sam's most relatable traits, the extra work he gave himself for Sam's "accent" and how he connected to Sam's grill skills.
CBR: Can you give us a brief introduction to Sam and how you view him?
Raymond Lee: Sure. I play Sam, the diner owner over at Bev's Diner. Sam and Allison have a relationship that started very long ago, back in high school — Sam might consider them high school sweethearts. Allison might consider them a hook-up. But we would hook up very regularly at this Mexican restaurant we used to work at together. We're old pals that have a history, and she is who Sam considers his first love. So sweet.
What is the part of Sam that is the most fun for you to portray or the easiest for you to relate to?
I think being in a long-term relationship with somebody, going through some of the feelings that one might go through, and knowing that there is somebody that might have had your heart first. We all remember our first crushes and our first loves. How to balance those things, how you project your initial feelings of the passion of the love that you first felt and how to maintain that throughout a very long relationship and how to navigate those things, and what happens when this former flame comes back into your life. These are all things that I think are universal. I think a lot of people who have felt first loves grapple with these things -- at least those who like to reflect on that kind of stuff. I thought that was really fun to explore and imagine and walk myself through those feelings. That's an aspect that I got to really enjoy diving into Sam, Jen, and Allison and that dynamic.
Some of these relationships aren't necessarily the most fun for Sam. Do we get to see him happy? Is there happiness in store for him?
I sure hope so. I think his relationship with Allison was supposed to prove to be that and then it just kind of became... Not that. That's a great question, and I really hope that there is some sort of positive, and we get to see Sam in a real positive, happy way.
Sam returns to Allison’s life right at a tipping point — how integral is Sam to her realizing she’s had enough and that she needs to change her situation?
In the pilot episode, she runs into that realtor who shows her the possibility of a dream life, and a dream home, and then surreptitiously, she runs into someone who seems to have his life together -- who owns a diner and who might be able to provide that sort of life for her. I can leap to some conclusions that she might see a way out with Sam, perhaps -- currently, at least, Sam projects this idea that he has his shit together. Whether it plays on Allison subconsciously or whether it's something she's really thought about, I think it definitely affects her decision-making to a certain degree.
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Because Sam isn't a part of Allison's life with Kevin, we don't get to him in the sitcom multi-cam setting much. Is more of this in store for him?
I sure hope so. Anytime that happens, as you've seen in [Episode] 7 with Officer Ridgeway, I think it adds more dimensions not only to the character but to the story and I think it raises a lot more questions. I really appreciate the moments where you see Mary Hollis' character go in and out, Annie's character go in and out -- I think it deepens the story, ultimately. I would like for more of that to happen and I just think it'd be really super-duper fun, also. I got to do a little bit of it in [Episode] 6 and it just kind of wet my appetite.
What was the behind-the-scenes culture like for Kevin Can F**K Himself?
It was unique because it was during a pandemic. I need to see people's faces when they speak, so I do appreciate you turning on your camera, and who knew that covering up this much of your face would just hide so much. It just kind of adds to the layer of feeling comfortable in your environment. So it was a new normal that I had to get used to of not being able to see people's faces and finding different ways to communicate, so that behind-the-scenes was a really interesting adjustment.
Otherwise, everyone was really, really awesome. Everyone did not take for granted the fact that we were lucky enough to work through a pandemic on something we love so much, feeling so safe. We tried to safely create as many moments of hanging out with each other as possible. It's just there are so many stringent rules when it comes to doing that -- like you can't be around somebody for more than however many minutes. At some point, we had like trackers on us and Colin Walsh, who was the head of our COVID safety team, was just really awesome about making sure everybody was safe. We physically couldn't be close to another person if we weren't working for a certain period of time. So it just made it a little bit more challenging, but I think it didn't really affect the work that much at all and we got through it.
Sam is one of the few characters who doesn't have that distinctive Worcester accent, but you got to work with a lot of cast and crew who did have one. So did you pick one up -- can you tear us off a bit of that Worcester accent?
...No. I was about to do it and then I just got so terrified. But the story of Sam I kind of took from our showrunner Craig DiGregorio's story where he was raised in parts of Massachusetts and he had a really hard Boston accent. While he was in college and he realized what he sounded like, he worked really hard to get rid of it. So the storyline that I drew with Sam was he was somebody who was there [Lee starts slipping into a Boston accent], he had that and he was part of it, and then he worked to get out of it. That was my attempt at kind of sliding in a little bit right there of that. I had done the work to get the accent and then I tried to create an accent that was purposefully trying to remove the accent. I might have made it harder on myself than I needed to, but that's the story that I came up with so I'm sticking with it.
Were you a fan of sitcoms growing up? Is this show a callback to a type of television that you were a fan of?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think it's the only thing I watched as a kid. I really can't remember any other shows that I was really into that wasn't a sitcom. It wasn't until this show where I had to really think about the fact that I grew up with like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Step by Step, Home Improvement, Family Matters, Small Wonder — just so many shows that I remember jumping up to the TV and TGIF would come on, watching every single show and they're all multi-cam.
Do you draw inspiration from any of those shows for Sam in particular? Or is this character just so out of left field for old-school sitcoms?
I just prepared for Sam as I would for any drama because Sam and Allison's relationship kind of exists in a vacuum. And I don't really know the kind of work Mary Hollis or anybody else is doing. So I just took what I had in front of me and I trusted the direction, I trusted the writing and I trusted myself to be able to just be in that scene without really knowing how everything's going to be pieced together, really. So as you're watching it, and as I'm watching it, I'm going, "Whoa, that's really cool!" Or, "That's not what I expected at all, but that works. That's really strange."
So we've been slowly getting more and more of Sam's backstory -- we met his in-laws and that was rough. Are we going to see any more of Sam's history, or specifically his history with Allison?
I sure hope so. Annie [Murphy] and I have built a pretty fleshed-out backstory with one another and I wonder if we'll ever get to really show Sam and Allison back then or some better times. The scene with the in-laws was rough. It's meant to be rough. We find out in that scene that Sam is propped up financially by his wife's family, and a lot of his insecurities or what he likes to feel in terms of how he overcame his obstacles, maybe, might be feeling like -- anytime she mentioned that he's a project, he might not feel like it was on his own. So he doesn't like to be reminded of that. I like that scene a lot, just to add dimensions to Sam.
Is there anything you're hoping that viewers will take away about Sam in particular or about his story?
No, I haven't thought that far to think how others would receive Sam. I just try to present Sam in the way that I see him. It's hard to control that really, right? I just kind of build the truth and the life that is Sam, without judgment, and hope that others can project and judge away.
Well, this is on the internet, so I'm sure they will.
Many opinions to come.
Sam is tied to Bev's Diner, we see him in this context most of the time, and cooking is integral to Sam's character -- so how are you at the grill? Is that a part of Sam that resonates with you?
...No. I can make pancakes, I've flipped a few burgers and steaks on the grill, but I'm nowhere near close enough to creating a menu. I did work as a barista at one point and I do have a little bit of bartending training, but no -- nowhere capable enough to own a diner.
Closer to Sam letting the burger burn?
Yes, that part I felt deeply.
Any final words about Sam or Kevin Can F**K Himself?
Just keep on watching and stay tuned. Hopefully, with everybody's help and with some people rallying around it, we can get a second season sooner than later.
New episodes of Kevin Can F**k Himself air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.
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