Exclusive Interview with Kevin Can Wait’s Taylor Spreitler
Talk Nerdy With Us recently had the pleasure of chatting with actress Taylor Spreitler who is currently starring alongside Kevin James on the freshman CBS comedy Kevin Can Wait. Taylor plays Kendra, the daughter of Kevin and Donna who much to her parent’s surprise drops out of college to support her fiancé, Chale with his tech career. Previously Taylor starred as Lennox Scanlon on Freeform’s hit comedy series, Melissa and Joey. She also can be seen in Amityville: The Awakening, an upcoming horror movie which is set to be released in early 2017.
What’s your favorite thing about working on the Kevin Can Wait set?
I think it’s the cast and the crew. We really have a good time and get along super well, working with all those guys, Erinn (Hayes) and Ryan (Cartwright), everyone…it’s a lot of fun.
How does it feel working alongside Kevin James? Have you been a fan of his previous work?
Yeah! I was a fan of King of Queens for sure. I mean it’s great, I have the best job in the world. He’s super lovely, and super sweet and funny. He’s great!
Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re working?
Just Kevin Can Wait for right now. We shoot in New York, so I’m just there shooting.
Is there anything that you can tease for us about Kendra in the upcoming episodes?
She’s getting herself into some tricky situations trying to balance school and being a fiancé. It’s a lot of fun stuff.
Do you currently have a TV show that you’re binging or one that you want to binge?
I watch a lot of Golden Girls and a lot of HGTV. (laughs) I’m like 60 years old!
If you could work with any other actor/actress that you’ve admired, who would it be and why?
Oh man. Honestly, I work with such amazing people that I can’t even think beyond them… it’s just a shock who I work with now. (laughs) I don’t know; I just feel super lucky to work with everyone that I do now. We have Ray Romano coming onto our show and a lot of guest stars. It’s been pretty awesome.
You’ve worked on other comedies in the past, such as Melissa and Joey, what makes you want to keep taking on those roles?
You can’t really have a bad day at work when your job is to literally make other people laugh. (laughs) I love it. I love that as a job we put a smile on someone’s face. At the end of the day, if you’ve had a bad day you just turn on Melissa and Joey or Kevin Can Wait and just relax. So I love doing comedy, I love that aspect of making other people happy.
How do you prepare yourself for getting into the role of Kendra? Any pre-rituals you do to get into character?
Not really, but being a waitress in a loft is a little interesting. I have to carry a lot of pizzas which I’m always afraid of dropping. (laughs) Kevin is obviously on set with us all the time, and the writers so we’re all kind of able to explore our characters and build them in the moment with everyone. It’s made it pretty easy to step into their lives.
You’re also in the film, Amityville: The Awakening. It’ll be released in early 2017. What can you tell us about that?
It was a lot of fun. I’m excited for people to finally be able to see it. It’s been two or three years since we’ve shot it. But I’m excited. It was a lot of fun to do. I had black hair which was insane. I mean it has Bella Thorne, Cameron Monaghan, Thomas Mann, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jennifer Morrison…that’s a pretty solid cast! I’m excited to scare people. I usually make people laugh, and now I’m eager to scare them.
Since we are called Talk Nerdy With Us, I have to ask, what are you most nerdy about and why?
As I mentioned earlier, there is my weird obsession with The Golden Girls. People also always find it strange that I read comic books. Not like superhero comic books, it’s mostly like black magic and that stuff. I never really got into the superhero comic books.
Kevin Can Wait airs Mondays at 8/7c on CBS!