Block Party 2012: An Interview with Desperate Housewives' Kevin Rahm

For over eight years now, we have followed the drama on a seemingly quiet street named Wisteria Lane. This year marks the final season of ABC's hit television series, Desperate Housewives. For many of us, saying goodbye to the ladies that we've grown to love over the years is somewhat bittersweet. What's next for the backlot where the award-winning show is filmed is anyone's guess. Before the lights shine for the last time on Wisteria Lane, you will have a rare opportunity to join the cast and many more celebrities for the star-studded event, the 2nd Annual Block Party on Wisteria Lane.

This event takes place on the famed Wisteria Lane on the Universal Studios backlot, home to ABC-TV's top-rated Desperate Housewives. On Saturday, April 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., this famous cul-de-sac will be open to the public, the site of an All-American block party and barbecue. With all of the proceeds to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

James Denton, who stars as the hunky Mike Delfino on he show, will headline the evening's entertainment, along with the Band From TV. Teri Hatcher, Denton's TV wife, Susan, is the band's special guest singer. Performing with the band will be Jesse Spencer, Scott Grimes, Bob Guiney and Adrian Pasdar.

Band From TV (BFTV) is the charity cover band created by Greg Grunberg (NBC's Heroes) and consists of some of TV's biggest names including James Denton (ABC's Desperate Housewives), Jesse Spencer (Fox's House), Adrian Pasdar (NBC's Heroes) and Bob Guiney (TLC's Date My House). Other celebrities who have joined Band From TV on stage include Hugh Laurie (Fox's House), Teri Hatcher (ABC's Desperate Housewives), Hayden Panettiere (NBC's Heroes), Jorge Garcia (ABC's Lost), Zach Levi (NBC's Chuck) and many more. Not just your average celebrity band, BFTV founded The Band From TV Global Charity Trust, which donates proceeds from their performances for several incredibly worthwhile charities including the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Pediatric Epilepsy Project, Save the Children and The Art of Elysium. Every penny that BFTV earns goes to charity!

Make sure to go online at ragemonthly.com to learn more about what the BFTV does in our interview with founding members Greg Grunberg and Bob Guiney! For all of you who have had a crush on hunky plumber, Mike Delfino, you're in luck. Mike, James Denton's character, will be going up for auction! The highest bidder will walk away with a special lunch date and her/his own
neighborhood secrets.

The event will feature live and silent auctions, delicious barbecue provided by Stonefire Grill, unlimited cocktails, "adult snow cones" by Hula Girls, body art by Special FX, access to some of the Desperate Housewives houses, a raffle, and the opportunity to hang out with your favorite stars from the show and other network shows.

Desperate Housewives is credited for portraying what life is really like for not only a young gay son coming out, but also one of the first gay couples on TV. I had the honor of chatting with Desperate Housewives' own Kevin Rahm about the show and event.

Kevin was born in Mineral Wells, Texas and raised in Bossier City, Louisiana; who doesn't love a cute Southern gentleman? Rahm, in addition to his role on Desperate Housewives, is known for appearances on Judging Amy, Alfie, Nurse Betty and most recently on the TV series I Hate My Teenage Daughter.

Kevin! Thanks so much for joining us and filling us in on all things Wisteria Lane! How did you get involved with Desperate Housewives?

I auditioned for the gay couple. I had actually auditioned for Tuc Watkins' role, who plays the other gay character. I read by myself and immediately Marc Cherry asked if I would read for the other part. I went outside and read through it briefly and I told him that I liked that character better, that character spoke to me quicker. It was one of those things where it was going to be three episodes, possibly more, but the deal was just three episodes and now cut to six years later (laughs). It's been the best part-time job I've ever had.

It sounds like a pretty amazing gig to me.

Yeah, it really is. It takes eight working days to shoot one episode and the cast is so big, that what they do is they separate the women. The women have one or two days filming together and then one or two days when it's just their days for shooting their own storyline. Usually I'm involved in one or two of the story lines, which equates to about three to four working days for me.

That's not a bad schedule, what do you do with the rest of your week?

I've done a pilot every year for the last five years. Last year one of them got picked up and I did 13 episodes of the show I Hate My Teenage Daughter for Fox. I did Mad Men two years ago. I've been lucky enough to have other work besides Housewives, but Housewives has been like the home to go back to, which is amazing. It's been great. It has been like my experience at Mad Men, it's been a great place to go to work.

Now playing one of the gay men in the same sex couple, what kind of feedback have you received from the LGBT community in regards to your role as a gay man living with his partner?

I've not gotten any negative feedback, it's only been positive; that's been directed to me-it's been nice.

Now I hear a few of your co-stars will be performing live at the upcoming block party, what kind of musical talents are you hiding from us?

I do sing, (laughs) but I do not consider myself a singer. I had to learn two songs on the guitar a couple years ago for a play at South Coast Repertory where I played a musician, but I couldn't possibly do them now. I did play the saxophone when I was in junior high school. I did buy a piano five years ago, but just sold it because I never used it once. I'd need a lot of rehearsal to pull anything like that off, now karaoke, I'm good to go!

I read that you initially were pre-law before switching over to acting, what triggered that
transition?

Yes, I did pre-law at Brigham Young University and my goal was to go to law school. Then what happened was, I did some theater in high school for fun, but I didn't take it very seriously. Actually, I got kicked out of a play for skipping the last dress rehearsal because I had gotten tickets to go to a Beach Boys concert and thought, "They don't need me for the dress rehearsal, I'll just show up for opening night and be good." Turns out that's not true and I thought the part was too big for them to get rid of me, turns out that's also not true. So I didn't take it very seriously until college, when I saw a play at B.Y.U. and was like, oh, so that's what I was supposed to be doing. Around the same time I had met a few people actually in law school and I saw what they had to do and I was like, "Oh, I don't want to be a lawyer, I want to play one on TV." Almost immediately from there I went into the acting track at B.Y.U. and never looked back.

When you seek out work and new roles, how do you decide what to do?

For me it's always about the script, especially coming from the theater, if the script isn't good, I don't care how good the character is, it's not going to be fun. If the script isn't good, nothing you do will make it better as an actor. I've been very fortunate to work with good storytellers and good writers first.

On a personal note, what are your hobbies and interests when you're not in front of the camera?

Well, I have a motorcycle that I love to ride. The other thing for me is golf-I really love golf. They are both, in very different ways, kind of Zen-like for me. I love to do the canyon rides up PCH along the coast. I'll tell you, there was a phase where I was riding everyday, even to work. Now, there are phases where I don't make it out for a few days and when I get back on, I tell myself, "Why don't I do this everyday?"

Here at The Rage Monthly we love our cocktails! I believe cocktails, like people have a lot of personality. What cocktail best describes your off-camera personality?

Well, hands down a Bloody Mary! There's a lot of stuff in a good Bloody Mary that you don't actually see. There's a lot more to me than what's on the surface. Like a New Orleans Bloody Mary, can't beat it! Especially those pickled green beans, yeah!

Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk down Wisteria Lane with the cast from the hit show! For tickets and sponsorship information, or call 323-939-0758 or go to wisterialaneblockparty.com