Kevin Kane
It was a snowy winter day when we caught up with Law and Order: SVU star Kevin Kane for a photo shoot at our Bare studio (as well as a nearby deli) in Brooklyn. He was such a good sport, with a quiet kind of coolness about him—edgy humor, effortless masculine style and a super chill vibe (and not just because it was freezing). Kane plays fan favorite Detective Terry Bruno on NBC’s Law and Order: SVU and also collaborated with Amy Schumer on Hulu’s Life and Beth (as an actor, director and executive producer). He won an Emmy and a Peabody Award for his work on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer (as a producer and actor). Writer Gina Way asked Kevin about Detective Bruno’s badassery, his first celebrity crush, and will his pal Amy ever do a guest spot on SVU…?
Gina Way: Detective Bruno has both sensitivity and swagger. Is there an actor (living or dead) whose swagger you admire?
Kevin Kane: In this music class in grade school our teacher assigned us a biographical report on any artist in any discipline. The caveat (to prevent him receiving 30 reports on Michael Jackson or Madonna) was that "the artist had to be born before 1900." For some reason my mother knew that Jimmy Cagney was born in 1899. I watched his films. He was magic. He was familiar to me, like he could be related to my family. He was the toughest and the most sensitive. He could make a fist, and he could dance, and he could be hilarious. He was electric and he was a gateway. As a young kid you have an aversion to watching old things. He broke that for me. I read about him, and I watched his scenes, and I began to watch a man working. Instantly movies became more than just a story for me. Cagney led me on a path to Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and they led me to Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn and Daniel Day Lewis. It turned me into a kid that admired acting. So, there are a lot of actors I could answer for that question, but it all started with Cagney.
GW: The SVU cast seems really tight. Who’s the costar who can always make you laugh on set?
KK: That's a tough question. That is a very funny set. The subject matter of the show keeps it that way as a counterbalance. Peter Scanavino is a one-man comedy show every day. Mariska and I share a similar dark sense of humor, and she can break balls, as they say, with the best I've seen. So those two are tough to beat. But I had spent a lot of my first few seasons teamed up with Ice T. Being with him every day, I just put my feet up and watched the show. He is just a great time to be around, always at peace with the world and every story is gold. I really laughed and learned a lot from him.
GW: How would you describe your personal style? (You rocked your own wardrobe at the Bare Mag shoot – and a great pea coat!)
KK: Yeah, I'm definitely drawn to more rugged, classic, timeless clothes. I wouldn't say it's completely effortless. I actually have a personal stylist, her name is Francis Benhamou. Ok, that's my wife and she is an actress BUT she also is the world's worst poker player. I will not buy an article of clothing unless I can try it on and read her face when she sees it. I also will spend money on everyone except myself. I have some sort of aversion to it. She forces the issue.
GW: Will we ever see your pal, Life & Beth co-star Amy Schumer do a guest spot on SVU? (She’d kill it.) Do you two plan to collaborate again on a new project soon?
KK: I would love for her to do a guest spot. And I have said this many times—if it happens, Bruno has to be the one that slaps the cuffs on her. I think it would be great to interrogate her too. That might be her nightmare. Whenever we do scenes together it's a test of will for either of us not to break. I'm loving what I'm doing now and there are very few jobs left in our business that keep you working for 9 1/2 months straight, so I am counting my blessings. So as far as future collaborations go, I think it's inevitable as soon as the calendar clears. We talk all the time. We collaborate on the most menial things in our lives. My favorite calls with her always start with the same exact two-line script, and we switch roles every few calls. It's always, "Can I complain?", "Yes!!" and then one of us vents about something.
GW: What are your favorite Brooklyn neighborhood spots?
KK: I am pretty spoiled in my ‘hood. I'm in Williamsburg. If it's the whole family we are grabbing a meal at Mogador, Sweetwater or Five Leaves. If it's a night we have a babysitter it's Lilia, Le Crocodile, I Cavallini or Four Horseman. I mean SPOILED.
GW: Do you have a go-to grooming or skincare product?
KK: April Barton from Suite 303 always points me in the direction of hair products that can help tame the wild state my hair tends to veer towards. The latest one she has me using is Leonor Greyl Éclat Naturel. I never remember the names except that one because I only say it with a bad French accent.
GW: Who was your first celebrity crush?
KK: I can't remember who was first, it was either Alyssa Milano or Nicole Eggert. But...I was out in LA about 20 years ago and I was taking this acting class, and it just so happened that Nicole Eggert was taking the class too, I played as if I had no idea who she was. I think it was maybe one of the best performances of my career.
GW: What's the meaning behind your Instagram handle @mugsykane?
KK: When I was very little and up to no good, my mom would call me "Mugsy." Like an old gangster name for any criminal activity I was up to. She would hear me doing something I shouldn't-like sneaking in the kitchen and popping the lid off a cookie jar and she would sort of bellow in the lowest register she could, "Hey Mugsy....what are you up to?" So, the handle is my oldest alter ego.
What are your Bare Essentials? (5 things you can’t live without right now, or ever.)
Listening to my daughter play the piano
My wife's hands
Notre Dame football
Beer with a whiskey on the bar with old friends at Jimmy's Corner (and the eventual cigarette I smoke with them out front and regret tomorrow)
Rounding up a gang to create something
photos/grooming: tina turnbow
interview: gina way
kevin wears his own clothing
shot at: bonafide delicatessen & cafe
