ENTERTAINMENT

'Bill Belichick Hoodie Day': AMC series 'Kevin' pokes fun at Massachusetts

Dana Barbuto
The Patriot Ledger

With its Worcester setting and exaggerated Boston accents, the locally filmed series “Kevin Can F*** Himself” – about a fed-up sitcom wife – is a feast (some might say folly) of regional humor.

The hero worship of Tom Brady and Boston sports in general provide the lion’s (GOAT's?) share of the fodder. One episode kicks off on Bill Belichick Hoodie Day.  Brady lookalikes are sought for an anniversary party — an 'anniversa-rager' — and a deflated football with a protruding knife is spotted. Wade Boggs' rookie card hangs in the living room of the house Allison and Kevin Roberts share on Shelton Street (really Brockton's Nason Street), where the first rule is “Yankees suck.”

Annie Murphy and Mary Hollis Inboden in "Kevin Can F*** Himself."

And it doesn’t end there.  The Dropkick Murphys anthem “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” is a ringtone; and the “it’s not your fault” therapy session between Matt Damon and Robin Williams from the Southie-set “Good Will Hunting” is referenced.

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And it doesn’t end there. Sarcastic jabs at Worcester — shown to be all graffiti and triple-deckers — as an “up and coming city” abound, including digs at traffic plans for decongesting Kelley Square. What’s more, the Kevin in the title refers to a “biggest cockroach contest” at the Worcester Harvest Fair … and this is all in just the first four episodes made available for preview ahead of a June 20 premiere on AMC.

For a series that skewers (and sometimes cleverly so) the perception of the generic sitcom wife, “Kevin Can F*** Himself '' has no problem exploiting every Boston stereotype this side of the Mass. Pike.  If you can get past the heightened accents – they’re so grating — with the over-broadened vowels and the use of “irregardless,” then the show has something to offer beyond just local scenery.

Annie Murphy and Eric Petersen in "Kevin Can F*** Himself."

Besides Worcester, scenes were shot in downtown Hingham, at Quincy’s Common Market Restaurants, and in Brockton outside the Campello post office and the First Evangelical Lutheran Church on Main Street. The show also shot in Milton, Canton and Randolph.

Written and created by Valerie Armstrong (“Lodge 49”), “Kevin Can F*** Himself” follows the story of Allison Roberts (“Schitt’s Creek” star Annie Murphy), the prototypical put-upon “sitcom wife.” At wit’s end, she revolts against her life and her lovable chubby man-child husband (“Kirsty’s” Eric Petersen, channeling Jackie Gleason) who mostly plays video games and drinks brews with his bros. Kevin “lives each day like it’s NE 3, Atlanta 28,” a reference to the Falcons’ epic collapse in Super Bowl LI.

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When Allison learns Kevin lost their savings, derailing their move to Amherst and a bigger house with a mudroom, she’s at her breaking point and decides to kill him. This is a dark comedy, and the blacker it gets, the better it becomes. The sitcom trappings are her albatross. For example, when Allison cuts her hand, Kevin chimes in: “It doesn’t mean you get to be moody. You already used that excuse once this month.”

Mary Hollis Inboden in "Kevin Can F*** Himself."

Episodes open in classic sitcom style, always with the same music and exterior establishing shot – the blue house on Nason Street in Brockton – and rote setups, brightly lit with an annoying laugh track. But when Allison steps out of those frames, the tone shifts to a single camera and becomes something (to use our vernacular) wicked and more dramatic. It’s like watching “King of Queens” turn into “Breaking Bad.”  Stylistically, there are comparisons to be made to “WandaVision.”  Like that great Marvel show, "Kevin" uses traditional sitcom stylings to explore the tumult in a woman's soul.

The show’s irreverent title is a comedic jab at popular sitcom actor Kevin James and his short-lived "Kevin Can Wait" series, which highlighted how disposable women of the genre are when producers offed the wife played by Erinn Hayes to make room for Leah Remini to reunite with her “King of Queens” costar.

From left, Brian Howe, Annie Murphy, Alex Bonifer, Eric Petersen, and Mary Hollis Inboden in "Kevin Can F*** Himself."

Ah, but it appears Allison gets the last laugh on her Kevin, as she plots the perfect murder while bonding with her neighbor, Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden), a sardonic Oxycontin-dealing hairdresser. Their evolving, dynamic friendship supplies the series its power and it's a reason not to cut bait. There are only eight hourlong episodes, so hang in there.

The remaining supporting cast is an ensemble of one-note characters: Alex Bonifer (“Superstore”) as Kevin’s doltish BFF; Brian Howe (“Chicago Fire”) as Kevin’s father; and Raymond Lee (“Here and Now”) as Allison’s ex-boyfriend, now clean and sober eight years on.

Kudos to Armstrong, the series creator, for experimenting with storytelling devices in relaying her tale of female rage and to Murphy for giving us a flawed woman to cheer. Just, please, no more Deflategate jabs. 

How to watch 'Kevin Can F*** Himself'

“Kevin Can F*** Himself” premiered June 13 on AMC+ and will start to air at 9 p.m. June 20 on AMC.

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Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com.