Benito Skinner's ‘Overcompensating' revives the college sex comedy for a new generation

Yahoo

16-05-2025

The American sex comedy is alive and well and enrolled at Yates College, safe in the hands of Overcompensating star and creator Benito Skinner and showrunner Scott King.
A throwback to classics like American Pie and Mean Girls and a trailblazer in the stories it tells, Overcompensating is a smart and funny look at the deeply closeted Benny (Skinner), whose first year in college brings with it a lot of other firsts — and a new best friend in Carmen (Wally Baram), who has her own collegiate ups and downs (and ins and outs). Somehow, the odd-couple pairing of internet darling Skinner and MadTV alum King ('I graduated before he was born,' King says with a laugh) is to the show's benefit.
More from GoldDerby
'Forever' creator Mara Brock Akil on updating Judy Blume - and finding 'real intimacy' - in the age of social media
'The Studio' leads 2025 Astra TV Awards nominations with 14, followed by 'Severance' and 'The Last of Us' with 13 each
'House of the Dragon' Emmy submissions for Season 2 revealed: Emma D'Arcy to campaign in lead, Matt Smith in supporting
'[Producers] A24 and Amazon were like, 'We want to set you up with a few showrunners,'' Skinner says. 'And I was so nervous. I will admit, in this moment, I was in Italy when I did the Zoom, and I was so embarrassed to have the person know I was there. But in the end, it was kind of a litmus test because I went, 'Um, I am in Milan. I have to be honest,' and he went, 'Milano! Fabulous.' And I was like, 'OK, well, I'm in love with him.''
Prime Video
'As soon as we started talking, it was just one of those weird, kindred spirit things,' King adds. 'We're in different generations, and yet there is such a universality to the emotions, to the feelings [of that time].'
'And we're both Scorpios,' Skinner adds, deadpan.
The entire eight-episode series is suffused with that same combination of earnestness and sly humor — both a sincere entry in the coming-of-age genre and a send-up of its conventions — all told from a singularly queer perspective. And that starts from the very first episode, which includes a hilariously detailed moment of gay panic at the prospect of shaking hands, and a blow-job scene between Benny and Carmen that ends in slapstick catastrophe.
'It was always, 'Does this feel honest to college, and would this be what happens?'' Skinner says of the sex scenes, most of them played for laughs. 'That was always our guiding light: In this moment, would this person be telling themself it's good sex? The way that Wally and I approached our intimacy in the pilot was that it almost feels like an arranged marriage. That's the honesty of this intimacy.'
That sense of brutally honest chemistry is of a piece with a show that brings a timelessness to its stories, despite its numerous pop-culture references. 'Initially, I wrote it from a more 2014-ish perspective,' Skinner says. 'I didn't want people to just be like, 'It's a college show? I can't watch. I'm not in college.' Instead, I think that they can see it and be like, 'Oh, this could be anyone's college experience.' I think college, whether you went or not, feels nostalgic. Trying to make this show feel that way — and feel like an American Pie or a Mean Girls or Election—was really important to us.'
The show is aided immensely in that goal by its cast, which includes Connie Britton and Kyle MacLachlan as Benny's parents, Andrea Martin as the dean, and a special cameo appearance by Las Culturistas hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. It also introduces a slew of fresh faces, including Baram.
'We had this wonderful thing of having to read all eight episodes in one sitting [for our first table read],' King says. 'And as soon as they sat down, before we started, you just knew. There were characters and actors that just really were so explosive and incredible, and so, let's put her in this scene also, and let's get those two guys together again.'
'It's hard to not be inspired by this cast,' Skinner says. 'And be like, 'Holy shit, we need 10 more scenes for every single person at this table read.''
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
That includes Megan Fox, who has a killer cameo as a talking pinup poster of herself adorning Benny's dorm room wall.
'We're shooting with her, and she comes down and she's in, I think, pajama pants and a sweater,' Skinner says. 'And I was telling her our inspiration for it. I was like, 'It's very like the GQ, Maxim posters.' And she goes, 'One sec, I'm gonna change.' And she comes back in a skirt, high knee socks, and a cross necklace. And I'm like, 'So that's why you're an icon.''
'There's no question gay men are behind this show,' King says. And thank god for that.
Best of GoldDerby
'I do think that I burned down the cabin': How 'Yellowjackets' star Steven Krueger pulled off Coach Ben's mental and physical decline
'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' star Charles Edwards on his tragic death scene: 'He did single-handedly withstand Sauron'
'It keeps me on my toes': 'St. Denis Medical' star Allison Tolman on walking a fine line between zany and 'incredibly heartfelt'
Click here to read the full article.