Kevin Can F**K Himself: Raymond Lee on the spark between Sam and Allison

Kevin Can F**K Himself is the subversive new dark comedy drama airing on AMC that takes aim at many of the sitcom tropes we’ve seen used over the years. This time the story focuses on the sitcom wife, played here by Annie Murphy, and what her life is really like when she’s not playing the butt of every joke between her moronic husband Kevin and his friends.

We talked to star Raymond Lee, who plays Allison’s first love, Sam. Throughout Kevin Can F**K Himself Season 1, we’ve seen Sam and Allison reconnect as Allison tries to find a way to get Kevin out of her life for good.

Raymond revealed what it was like working with Annie Murphy, his fond memories of sitcoms growing up, the genuine bond between the cast, and much more.

Chatting with Kevin Can F**K Himself star Raymond Lee

Show Snob: Kevin Can F**K Himself is so subversive as it deconstructs the sitcom tropes we’ve seen for decades. Do you have fond memories of growing up with sitcoms?

Raymond Lee: Pretty much everything I watched was a sitcom, going back to the TGIF shows like Fresh Prince, Family Matters, Step by Step, there was Small Wonder, Home Improvement—so many shows. I can’t even remember watching an actual drama. I just wasn’t drawn to it. I thought the entire world should function as a sitcom would.

Show Snob: It would be a lot easier.

Raymond Lee: It would be a lot cleaner! It’s crazy the kind of stuff we grew up with without even knowing what the context of that was or how it was training us to behave.

Show Snob: As of Episode 7, we haven’t really seen Sam playing much in Kevin’s sitcom world. Is that something you would like to do in the future?

Raymond Lee: Yeah, of course, I get really jealous watching them have fun, and I think it will only add dimensions to the show, the character, and the story. I look forward—if I get more opportunities—to do multicam.

Show Snob: If the show is renewed, do you have ideas of where you’d like Sam’s storyline go?

Raymond Lee: No idea, no clue, truthfully, and that’s very exciting.

Show Snob: That’s the thing about this show. It’s very unpredictable. I really don’t know what will happen from episode to episode because the concept is so unique.

Raymond Lee: That’s one of the beautiful things about this show, even as someone who’s on it. As I was getting the new episodes and reading them, it’s mind-blowing. Every time, like you said, you’re watching it experiencing it, that’s the same feeling I got as I was reading it like, no, what!? Who dies? Or who doesn’t die?

Show Snob: Shifting gears to Sam and Allison’s relationship, what makes Sam gravitate toward Allison?

Raymond Lee: I think they have a past, and for Sam, Allison is his first true love. If we all remember our first crushes, our first anything, there is something that is more almost spiritually tied to that. Almost everything is water under the bridge at a certain point because those initial feelings are so strong that you remember the person for who they were.

As many fond friendships go, I feel like we remember the most precious parts of each other. I think anytime Sam sees Allison, he’s just reminded of that really simple, pure passionate love he had for her, and he can only hope it was reciprocated by Allison.

Show Snob: He’s in love with this idea of who she used to be and coming to terms with who she is now.

Raymond Lee: Yeah, and the same goes for how Allison views Sam. Some of the earlier episodes, when she mentioned that I hadn’t changed, and so much has happened. Sam has grappled with drinking addiction, and fits of uncertainty, some rage issues, insecurities, and Allison doesn’t remember any of that. She sees the Sam that Sam wants to be. They want to bring the best out of each other.

Show Snob: One thing I thought was interesting is that we know why Allison is okay having this affair, but it was a little less clear on Sam’s side until Episode 6, when we get that great scene between Sam, Jenn and her parents. 

Raymond Lee: Sam and Jenn have been together a long time. Jenn has seen Sam at some of his most down moments in life, and Sam owes a lot of the diner and who he is now to Jenn’s parents and her financial stability. I don’t know that Sam could have opened up this diner on his own.

She says that line, “well, you’re a hell of a project,” and that’s like the biggest trigger you could ever say to Sam because he wants to feel like he dug himself out of this on his own. But anytime they get into this, Jenn knows the nerve to touch.

He doesn’t ever want to feel like a project, and it’s strange because he also views his relationship with Allison in a similar way, where he maybe views Allison as a project. So, there is some projection going on there.

Show Snob: Based on the interviews and photos I’ve seen, it seemed like everyone was having a great time on set. What was your experience like working with Annie Murphy?

Raymond Lee: Awesome. She is an absolute sweetheart, a consummate professional, and it was very nice too; we worked in a vacuum. I didn’t get to see other people’s work really unless I went on set to do it.

We were also counting our blessings every day that we got to work through the pandemic, and we had something to look forward to every day. It was a real blast because everyone is just really f**king cool, and you just can’t ask for much more other than for people to be cool and good at what they do and respect one another and bring a good vibe to work and Annie Murphy does all of that.

Show Snob: I actually spoke with Brian Howe previously, and he said that everyone really got the chance to bond on zoom over the pandemic. Do you think that helped you guys build your bonds and chemistry when it came time to film

Raymond Lee: Absolutely. Had we not, we would have just had eight months of radio silence and then would have shown up on set, and most of us would have been masked, especially me because I’m not working with many of them. It just took the pressure off of everything to spend time with one another.

We would kind of get lost in one another and be revealing a lot of revealing things to one another. It served as a group therapy session almost. Brian would always sing this song, [Singing] “Getting to know you,” whenever someone would reveal a “whoa moment.” It just made the whole experience much more comfortable

New episodes of Kevin Can F**K Himself air Sunday nights on AMC, and the season is also available to stream on AMC+.