Kevin Can F**k Himself star Eric Petersen breaks down the series finale
Kevin himself, or rather the guy who plays him, walks us through the fiery end of AMC's subversive dramedy Kevin Can F**k Himself

As the credits roll on Kevin Can F**k Himself for the last time, it looks like Kevin McRoberts (Eric Petersen) has well and truly taken the series title’s advice. He learns that his wife, Allison (Annie Murphy), faked her own death to escape him, and now she’s returned to demand a divorce. Enraged, heartbroken, and isolated, Kevin vengefully burns her passport while drinking. It leads to an accidental fire that consumes the McRoberts house, most likely with him in it.
AMC’s genre-bending dramedy has centered Kevin’s scenes in multi-cam, full of fake laughter and harsh lights. However, his final confrontation with Allison, at last, takes place in a grim single-cam setting. It provides a full picture of Kevin’s controlling behavior. Audiences have long awaited a glimpse of Kevin in the “real world,” so to speak. KCFH delivers it in a compact but poignant way.
The A.V. Club spoke to Petersen about bringing Kevin to life outside the sitcom, why he preferred seeing this dark side of him a small amount, and the experience of working with Erinn Hayes, whose sudden dismissal from CBS’ Kevin Can Wait loosely inspired Valerie Armstrong to create KCFH.
The A.V. Club: Everyone has been waiting to see Kevin out of the sitcom and in the real world. What conversations did you have with [series creator and episode director] Valerie Armstrong about how you wanted to portray Kevin in real life?
Eric Petersen: It was so exciting to finally get to do that in the last 15 minutes of the finale. There was talk during season one where Valerie thought we might not need to see Kevin in single-cam. She did say that she heard fans were like, “We need to see the truth of what he is.” There were some people watching sitcom bits going, “Oh, he’s not that bad. He’s dumb and a jerk to her, but he doesn’t deserve to be murdered.”
AVC: There were several similar comments under The A.V. Club’s recaps too.
EP: Exactly. Personally, I thought it was wise to get a quick glimpse at the end of the monster he was. It was made more powerful by not seeing it until the end. Once we got to the day of filming, I was amped to show that other side of Kevin. As an actor, it’s nice to show people that the broad choices I was making in the sitcom world were stylistic choices. There’s a purpose to that, so we see he’s controlling and emotionally abusive. In that scene, he doesn’t hit her, but he’s cornering and physically trapping her. He’s showing his true colors.
It was an intense day of shooting. People have seen Kevin in one way in the first 15 episodes, and then the truth of who he is couldn’t be such a huge flip where he’s gnashing his teeth or something. It had to be the same guy but without the laugh track. You see the physical space between Kevin and Allison because it’s not filmed from a wide angle. All those things contribute to showing who he was. Annie Murphy also knew I was excited to show another side of my acting and the character, so we shot it a bunch of times to keep the intensity and make it be scary without being too over-the-top.
AVC: Kevin is isolated when Allison returns to ask him for a divorce. It’s when she brings it up that Kevin moves into single-cam. What did you guys want to evoke with how lonely he’d gotten by the end?