In KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF, Alex Bonifer plays Neil O'Connor, Kevin's doting bestie and neighbor. In this interview with amc.com, Bonifer discusses Neil's friendship with Kevin, the three-headed monster that is Kevin-Neil-Pete, and his hopes of going deeper into Neil's reality if the show gets picked up for a second season.

Q: The premise and execution of the show is definitely unique, but what was the “wow factor” that got you really excited to work on this project? 

A: For starters, it was something new and different. It's always exciting to be a part of a project like that—not just another family sitcom. This one has something really, really substantial and important to say about it. I also had so much fun reading the pilot. It was just so much fun to imagine the transitions flipping from multi-cam to single-cam. I just found myself so engaged in the script.

I also think Neil is definitely a character that's in my wheelhouse of characters. I'm a comedian at The Groundlings Theatre in Hollywood, and for those that know, it's sketch comedy-based, so that's where I cut my teeth. I've been at The Groundlings Theatre studying, going through the program for the better part of five years. It's pretty intense. We're in costume and in character—all behavior that drives the comedy. Neil was a character that I felt like I could do justice to.

Q: Fill in the blank: KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF is a show for people who ______________  

A: It's a show for people who are tired of everything else that's out there! Tired of what's been out there on television. It's so different. It's for people who love sitcoms and also hate them. I feel like I'm the perfect target market because I grew up on sitcoms and I grew up loving them. There's a part of me that gets such a kick out of sitcoms, but then this show makes you question what we've been laughing at for all of these years. It's a living room that we've been in for decades, and our show is the first one that points out some of the problematic aspects we've seen happening between those walls.

Q: Neil can’t live without _____________ 

A: Kevin. He can't live without Kevin. Neil's worldview is Kevin's. Everything that he sees, believes in, and knows is all funneled through Kevin's eyes. He's constantly checking in with Kevin. He's looking for Kevin's approval, so he doesn't really like anything that Kevin wouldn't like, and he doesn't do anything that Kevin wouldn't do or approve of.

Q: What’s something that gets Neil stoked about? What’s something that bums Neil out? 

A: Yeah, it's totally Kevin-adjacent. Like almost everyone else in New England, Neil's a huge New England sports fan, so he gets super-jazzed when the Pats, the Celtics, or the Bruins win. I think he gets bummed out when he's not included in Kevin's plans. He gets bummed out when Kevin goes to work. He gets bummed out basically whenever Kevin's not around.

Q: Did you get any backstory on Neil from the creators, or were you left to build and experiment with that backstory yourself? How did you prepare to play Neil? 

A: It was definitely a combination. I didn't have a formal sit-down with Val and Craig, our creator and our showrunner, to go through the underbelly of Neil. As the season has unfolds, you get little nuggets about Neil's past and about the real s--t that has gone on in his life, so I was learning that along with everybody else. The only formal piece of information that I was given from Val and Craig—and I think it was kind of in jest—was that Neil doesn't have a job because that would interfere with his time with Kevin. They decided that his job was selling candy out of the back of Patty's car to, like, middle school kids.

There are two things that I'm a huge believer in comedically, one is called false bravado. Will Ferrell's the king of that. It's when someone behaves like they're the s--t, when the world knows that they're not. Ron Burgundy's a perfect example of that. Clearly, dude, you're not the bee's knees, but he carries himself like he's God on earth. There's an element of that certainly with Kevin, but also with Neil a little bit.

The second thing that I'm a huge believer in comedically is really caring, being passionate about, and emotional about something that's very stupid and silly. When you juxtapose those two things, that usually lends itself to comedy. So I blended those two things for Neil. When you watch him, he really cares. He gets really emotional when he thinks that Kevin leaving. Even when we learn really serious stuff about Neil's story, we know that he's not changing. His emotional state is going to be the same. Whether he's playing paintball in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, or whether he's found his mom dead on the floor. It's the same emotion. One's funny and one's very tragic, but it's the same emotions. So I discovered the work that I was doing on Neil from a comedic standpoint, was actually beneficial when we get to see a darker side of him too.

Q: You, Brian Howe (who plays Kevin’s dad), and Eric Petersen, are a tight knit unit. How did the three of you work together to build that well-synced chemistry? 

A: I'm just trying to keep up with those guys, to be quite honest with you! Mary Hollis has said it, Annie has said it: Eric is a genius at multi-cam. He's so talented, so funny, and his timing is perfect. I've told Brian this, but he's intimidating to talk to because he's worked on seemingly every single project in Hollywood ever! He has a laundry list of awesome stories about projects that he's worked on, so I'm just really trying to keep up with those guys.

Eric and I had been offered our roles first and then we went in to do a chemistry read with Brian, and we knew from that moment. It was just a feeling. We did all get to connect virtually over the pandemic, and we read through the season just via Zoom. Obviously it's a three-headed monster, but Kevin and Neil are best buddies, so it was really important for Eric and I to develop a real friendship outside of the show so we did play golf quite a bit. I'm terrible at golf. I suck at golf. I'm the worst. But we cultivated a friendship, and then I think all three of us just brought our comedic sensibilities to the table and it really worked. We're all doing the tango together. We're all doing the same dance.

Q: Annie Murphy jumps between these two very different worlds—meanwhile you’re stuck in sitcom land. What were the challenges of being constrained to one world? How do you think Neil would fare in Allison’s real world? 

A: Honestly, the challenge in only living in the sitcom reality was just that I just missed everybody! I wanted to be on set more. I wanted to be on the road trip with Annie and Mary Hollis. We're obviously a very tight-knit cast, but I think the six series regulars were only all on set together maybe once! Kevin, Neil, and Pete are the villains of this story. It's weird because on the surface they're not villainous, but villains don't think they're villains. They don't think they're bad guys. They think they're the good guys, and so that's how they see it.

As an actor it was hard to maintain that spirit of "what we are doing in this scene is awesome," since we knew that it was extremely problematic and harmful to Allison and to probably anyone else that ends up in the path of their stupid tornado. But honestly it was fun to shoot. I think had we been focused on the cringe aspect of some of the jokes, we wouldn't have delivered with the authenticity that they needed to have. If Kevin and Neil knew that they were saying terrible, awful things, if they had that self-awareness, then why would they keep on doing it? They're not self-aware; they have no idea. So it was difficult at times. Eric, Brian, and I knew that the jokes were awful, and there were so many times when we were like, "Wow. God really?" Fortunately for me, Eric has to say most of the biting, misogynistic remarks, and Neil's just a doting sidekick.

When it comes to the second part of your question, well we've been given a lot of information about Neil... and I'm praying for a second season because I cannot wait to fully explore fully that side of him, his past, and his reality. I've done the work from an emotional standpoint, and now instead of seeing Kevin and Neil trying to have a feud with the neighbors over something silly, we're going to get to see what impact discovering his mother had on his life, and how he really feels about Patty. We saw a little bit of it in 107 when for the first time Patty and Neil's brother-sister dynamic is explored more. Seeing it through the sitcom lens is all very funny and silly, but I do think that Patty and Neil have a deep connection for sure and that there's a lot to unpack there. There's a lot to unpack, and I've got my suitcase. I'm ready!

 

Read our interviews with Annie Murphy (Allison), Eric Petersen (Kevin), and Mary Hollis Inboden (Patty), and make sure to catch the season finale of KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF this Sunday at 9/8c.

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