‘Schitt’s Creek’ Star Annie Murphy Gets Sitcom Revenge in ‘Kevin Can F Himself’

The first trailer for Emmy winner Annie Murphy‘s new project, Kevin Can F— Himself, dropped on Thursday, and the dark comedy looks like it’s a far cry from the sweetness of Schitt’s Creek. In the trailer, Murphy plays Allison, a sitcom wife who is plotting revenge on her dopey and critical husband, Kevin (Eric Peterson). Switching between multi-cam and single-cam shooting styles, Kevin Can F— Himself feels like a direct response to the trope of the schlubby husband who “marries up” that has become so pervasive in sitcoms.

Murphy took part in the virtual Television Critics Association (TCA) panel on Thursday, explaining that she was excited to play a character that was so different from the spoiled and silly Alexis Rose. “A big thing for me after Schitt’s Creek was I was so worried that I was going to kind of get stuck in this like blonde loopy land, and so I really really wanted to do something significantly different,” Murphy said. “And so, Kevin Can F Himself comes in, like, an absolute 180, and I get to do things like kick over a garbage can angrily and fry an egg angrily and, you know, do cocaine in an alleyway.”

Murphy was eager to work with the Kevin Can F— Himself team, which has a largely female writing team and a female showrunner, Lodge 49‘s Valerie Armstrong. She explained that the appeal of the project was deconstructing the way that women have long been portrayed in media. “It was so important to me for my next project to be about something, and about something that’s important,” said Murphy.

“I have seen Allison in so many women in my life”, continued Murphy. “To varying degrees, obviously, but I think that Allison is a character that people are going to be able to really, really identify with, because she has just absorbed so much frustration and so much anger and pushed it down and pushed it down because that’s what you’re supposed to do as a woman.”

Kevin Can F— Himself draws its title from the Kevin James sitcom Kevin Can Wait, who killed off James’ characters’ wife, played by Erin Hayes, between seasons one and two in order to set him up for a refreshed new relationship with Leah Remini. The show ran for two seasons. However, this trope can be seen in shows like Married with Children, King of Queens, The Simpsons, Modern Family… you get the picture. Kevin Can F— Himself premieres on AMC sometime in summer 2021.