Warning: This interview contains light spoilers for season 1 ofKevin Can F**k Himself.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How was Patty described to you when you were first entering the role?
Because I think being unreadable is kind of her thing.
Mary Hollis Inboden as Patty on AMC’s ‘Kevin Can F** Himself.'.Jojo Whilden/AMC*
What didn’t feel natural were Patty’s hard edges.
We don’t have that in common.
I did go more extreme in the first few days where my boundary was to bully her hard.
Mary Hollis Inboden as Patty and Annie Murphy as Allison on AMC’s ‘Kevin Can F** Himself.'.Jojo Whilden/AMC*
I’m wearing that.
That is a rough environment that I really don’t want to go back to."
So it’s like, “Oh, Kevin,” and “Why would you do that?”
Mary Hollis Inboden as Patty and Candice Coke as Tammy on AMC’s ‘Kevin Can F** Himself.'.Zach Dilgard/AMC*
and “Can I get you anything else?”
Did the process of meeting and working with Annie feel any similar to the arc that your characters have?
[Laughs] And I was out to dinner celebrating my new job and I didn’t see it.
Alex Bonifer as Neil, Mary Hollis Inboden as Patty, Annie Murphy as Allison, and Eric Petersen as Kevin on AMC’s ‘Kevin Can F** Himself.'.Jojo Whilden/AMC*
And the next 10 messages were just her apologizing for having called me the B-word.
And I was like, “This woman is mine.
This is my friend.”
You could just see her anxiety for stepping out there a little too far.
Of course, I didn’t mind at all.
I thought it was completely endearing.
If any woman’s going to call you a bitch, you want it to be Annie Murphy.
But I’m telling you, the next 10 messages were like, “I’m so sorry.
I shouldn’t have done that.”
We became best friends very quickly over Zoom and over FaceTime.
And we talked a lot about the show, but also we just connected really quickly personally.
That’s not the story we’re telling.
Do you feel Patty gravitates toward anyone who shows interest in her?
And not everybody is.
Patty’s very much a follower from the start.
Patty lets people in who like her because Patty is so completely insecure at the beginning.
But there’s always more than meets the eye to Patty on that sofa in Kevin’s universe.
And that is not something she ever wants to really face.
By being with Det.
Ridgeway, is there a part of Patty that wants to tell on herself?
She wouldn’t betray Allison in that way.
She wouldn’t get Alison in trouble.
Is Neil to Patty what Kevin is to Allison?
We don’t know about a second season yet; we’re all hopeful.
I think that’s what we’re headed to see in a potential season 2.
But Patty’s job has been to keep Neil alive.
Has Neil burned it down?
Has he hurt himself today?"
And she’ll knock him down when he does.
There’s a lot of anger in Patty for having to put up with Neil for this long.
Finally, with this first season having aired in full, how was the experience?
I was scared every day for the first four episodes.
The experience was incredible because of Valerie Armstrong and Annie Murphy.
Just a view of glass half empty instead of glass half full.
And I realized that I was most Patty when she was Allison, and that’s a tremendous gift.
So she would put on Allison, and I would respond as Patty.
And it just started to stick.
That’s what makes Patty and Allison so compelling.
Don’t ask any questions; get in the car and go.
She did make fun of my driving, though.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
