WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Kevin Can F**K Himself Season 1, Episode 7, "Broken," now available on AMC+.
Kevin Can F**K Himself is filled with unhappy characters keeping dangerous secrets, so the clarity of Officer Tammy Ridgeway is a welcomed relief. As Tammy has grown in importance from the cop investigating Worcester's drug scene to a more central love interest, she's not only claimed more screentime but also found her way into the multi-cam sitcom format. The last few episodes of the season put Tammy in a strange position of an unwitting antagonist to Patty and Allison, increasing the stakes and making her character even more interesting.
In an interview with CBR, Candice Coke discussed how she brought Officer Tammy Ridgeway to life on-screen. She also shared how similar she is to her character, what it was like to film the sitcom parody series during the pandemic, and how the show revealed her talent at darts.
CBR: Can you give us a quick introduction to Officer Tammy Ridgeway?
She loves her job. She takes her job very seriously and she takes having fun very seriously. Well, it's funny because when I got this role, I was like, "I didn't really need to do anything in the audition." And then I was kind of breaking down information to my friend of who I thought she was. And they're like, "Oh, she's bossy -- of course you don't have to do anything, that's you." And I'm like, "Okay, I get it now." But I think her bossiness comes out of love also. She just says what she feels in the moment and doesn't hold back.
What's it like to play someone so honest in a world where so many other characters have these deep secrets?
It's fun, because there's also another side to her, so that will eventually -- hopefully -- seep out in certain moments of watching Tammy's journey. But Officer Ridgeway is one of the people on the show so far with the most clarity. Does that make sense? And I think that it's a nice juxtaposition, with the characters that we see that kind of are still unraveled. She's tightly wound but there's room for some unraveling for her as well.
Is it easy for you to play a character that's so close to who you are, or does that make things more difficult?
No, I think it's easy. It's also explorative for myself, because when certain things resonate and land, you're like, "Oh, that is who I am and why." So you do a little soul searching on that journey as well. We obviously had a lot of time alone while we were shooting this because we were in COVID. When we would get the scripts, I would go home and I would read what was coming up the next day, you're just like, "Oh, yeah, I can feel that. I can see what she wants and what she needs." I think a lot of Tammy's private life comes out of loneliness as well.
I feel like that resonates with a lot of the other characters on the show, too.
Exactly. Yeah, everyone is kind of looking for someone to -- what's the word I'm looking for, not validate but like, share some knowledge with, share that familiar feeling.
You spoke a little bit about what the environment was like filming, can you tell us what the behind-the-scenes were like on set?
They did a really great job at keeping everybody safe and protected. We were masked and tested -- twice a day sometimes. Cast and crew, we all kept our distance, everybody followed protocol, everybody was so professional. I think everybody was so excited to be working and respectful of each other that we just did what we needed to do to make the show work. And we spent a lot of time alone when we weren't on set
Was it a fun environment, a good group to be stuck in quarantine with?
Honestly, some of the best people I've ever worked with so far --the kindest, everyone was smiling all the time. Obviously, we had our moments of laughter and break down moments, because sometimes things were so funny, but everybody was in great spirits. And it couldn't have been a better environment to relaunch the era that we're coming out of because now I've got high expectations for everything else I do. I want it to feel like that or better. It was definitely a gift being on that set.
What is the multi-cam sitcom setting like compared to the more traditional drama format?
It was so fun. When we're shooting the single-cam stuff we have to be mic'ed and you have you know exactly this camera -- there's only one setup usually happening sometimes, too. But in multi-cam, I was like, "Oh, wait, I'm not being mic'ed." It allows you a whole world of freedom to play in. And it's a lot quicker because, obviously, there's a bunch of cameras rolling at the same time. Just a lot more fun, a lot more colorful, playful. It was a great learning experience for me because it was the first time I've actually shot a multi-cam sitcom like that.
Were sitcoms a big part of your childhood?
Absolutely. I was watching tons of sitcoms growing up -- that was comedy. That's what we knew as comedy back then. Now we're having more dramedy and with Netflix and AMC and all the platforms that have recently come up, we've seen a whole different genre of "comedy" in the last couple of years. So the only comedy that we had growing up was your straightforward sitcom. Three's Company was huge, I loved Three's Company. I looked forward to that kind of mindless freeing comedy. It felt safe.
So was that an inspiration for you?
Well, no. I would love to say that, but fortunately, all the other players just helped bring that out. They're so talented and so funny that you either have to rise to the occasion or fall flat on your face and even if you fell flat on your face they'd be there for you, while you pick yourself up and try it again. So I think it's also just being comfortable with taking risks and trying new things. That's kind of what I discovered in that sitcom world for myself.
You mentioned that it's a little freeing to not be mic'ed. Does that give you a chance to have a little more physicality in your action, to bring a little more of your dance training into movements?
Absolutely. I would love to do scenes where you're falling down and being crazy but we're not there yet. Yeah, you have more freedom to move around and just be in your body. Even when you have a mic on, you can't really touch your chest or talk too loud because it's going to pick everything up. So there's definitely more ways to express yourself when you're not kind of constricted to technology.
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Can you talk about which of Tammy's relationships you find most interesting, or ones you think that we'll see more developed in the later episodes?
I think that you're just gonna have to watch and see where things go. Because eventually all the lives, the paths, cross -- they're going to. I would love to see more of Tammy in that sitcom world for Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. But I think the female relationships are worth exploring and watching their journeys and seeing how they will intertwine.
I think that's where the show really shines.
Yeah, I think it's really about sisterhood and having each other's backs, emotionally, without even knowing it sometimes.
Is that one of the takeaways you hope viewers will have from watching Tammy and from watching Kevin Can F**K Himself?
Yeah, I do. I do hope they find that. It's not just surface, you know -- there's a lot going on if you look just a little deeper.
Are there other takeaways, things you want people to be on the lookout for, or emotions you want them to leave your scenes feeling?
I would love for people to take away the fact that as human beings, we're all flawed. We all make mistakes and we're still learning as we go. So just give yourself a little space and a little room to forgive yourself and not be too hard on yourself, not to expect so much of yourself all the time. You know, we want to be our best versions, but sometimes we still got to get there.
One place we see the real Tammy is on her first date with Patty. How much of that was you -- are you in to vodka sodas, are you as good a dart player as Patty was?
Well, I had to be! I definitely like a vodka soda, that is my drink of choice, but that just kind of happened. It was funny because I'm actually playing darts in that scene. Patty is on the phone while that's happening. So while we were shooting --I literally don't know how it happened, but I got three darts on the board every time in between her lines because I didn't want to hit the board while she was talking. So, for some reason, every time I had five darts in my hand, three would hit every time. It was more a luck of a draw. I do enjoy bar games but darts seem dangerous with alcohol, I'm just saying.
I don't disagree, it's a very sharp thing for alcohol.
It can bounce off the wall and ricochet and hit somebody in the eye, so dangerous. Fortunately, that that didn't happen, so we were good to go.
It sounds like you've developed a whole new skill from this as well.
I'll put that on my resume next.
What will we see from Tammy in the upcoming episodes?
You have to tune in to watch. I think if you're caught up on Episode 7, which I think you are, we've got one episode left. So yeah, you have to watch it. It's interesting. There's so many things happening at the same time, so one thing leads to another. You can't say one thing and not give away the other thing. You have to be really careful about how this is gonna play out.
Is there anything else you wish people would know about Tammy? Or about you? Or about the show?
Hm, anything I want them to know about Tammy... She's rough around the edges but she's got a soft underbelly. So just give her some space. Give Tammy some love. And about me? No. I'm a creative person. I love what I do. This has been a gift and a blessing to be working on a show like this with these types of people. I just want to keep doing exciting things that mean something. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful journey for this whole cast and crew, so I'm excited to see where it goes.
Can you tease any of Tammy's backstory?
I definitely have her secrets. I know who she is. I would love for us to explore the days that Tammy is alone -- what makes her tick, who she is before she goes to work and who she is when she comes home from work and why are they different? But I have my own secrets about her and I'll keep them to myself for now. I think, overall, she wants to fit in. She wants to feel like she belongs somewhere as well. So even when you have someone that looks like they have it all together, they usually don't.
New episodes of Kevin Can F**K Himself air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.