Latest news with #BenitoSkinner
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Meet Wally Baram, who plays Carmen Neil in Overcompensating: she was too short to be a cowgirl so tried stand-up and read books by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – now she's in the Charli XCX-produced show
Wally Baram never intended to become an actress. The comic and screenwriter – best known for her work on the TV shows Shrinking, What We Do in the Shadows and Betty – had her heart set on becoming a cowgirl as a child. She even took equestrian classes as a teenager, but as luck would have it, her 155cm (5ft 1in) stature prevented her from taking her dreams further. Wally Baram originally wanted to be a cowgirl but gave up on her childhood dream due to her short stature. Photo: @wallybaram/Instagram 'My feet don't even curve around a horse,' the 27-year-old said in an interview this month in Vanity Fair. 'The horse looks like it's wearing me as a hat.' Advertisement Baram turned to comedy in her gap year before university, before dropping out to pursue stand-up and writing full time. When she was hired as a screenwriter on Amazon Prime's new TV dramedy co-produced by Charli XCX , Overcompensating, she had no idea she would be making her acting debut on the show. The campus comedy revolves around the show's creator, Benito Skinner's character Benny, a closeted college freshman, who tries to date Carmen, played by Baram, to keep his sexuality hidden. 'I related to her so much that when I had my meeting with Benny over writing, he was like, 'You are kind of this girl,'' Baram said in an interview this month in Marie Claire. 'When Benny told me, 'I want it to be you,' my mind was tremendously blown. Even now, I'm still like, What the heck?' So what do we know about Wally Baram and her apparent overnight success as an actress? She's Mexican-Syrian Wally Baram is Mexican-Syrian and grew up in the US state of New Jersey. Photo: @wallybaram/Instagram
Vogue
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Owen Thiele Is Happy to Be at the Adults Table
Owen Thiele: It's insane. It's insane and scary and weird. I've popped into little things and had my friends very kindly put me in their projects, but other than that, I've never had something that's been on billboards, so it's just the craziest, scariest, and coolest feeling. How was it, going right from shooting Overcompensating to Adults? Overcompensating was first and then Adults, but it was within a week of each other that these shows were shooting. We were in Toronto a lot—that's my second home, shoutout Toronto, I love it there—and it was so fun. Benny [Benito Skinner] is a dear friend of mine and was before filming, and then the cast of Adults became my best friends during and after filming, so I feel like I've just been working with my friends. It's been amazing. How did you find time to balance shooting with your podcast? Emma, I don't sleep. I sleep two hours a night, famously. This isn't a bit at all; I wish I could sleep, but I'm so not well that I ultimately just can't fall asleep. I, like, fought through anesthesia when I was getting my wisdom teeth out. My body just does not want to sleep, so I have time for myself because we'll wrap filming and then I'll still have six hours. My body might be rotting from the inside out. No one knows. What stood out to you about Anton when you first read the Adults script? When I read the script, I thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever read. I literally laughed out loud, which I rarely do when I read something. I fought tooth and nail to get the role, because I do think that there was a period of time where the gay character was solely just the gay friend, or the bestie that would have a snarky line in a scene and then never show up again for episodes to come. I felt like Anton was actually a main character with main-character energy, you know? He takes up space in a really beautiful way that I feel like I haven't seen for a Black, gay character in that way. I was so attracted to the role because I felt like they were giving this diverse character a real platform.
CBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Benito Skinner's new show Overcompensating is like 'queer Never Have I Ever'
From Pitch Perfect to Community, so many movies and TV shows have mined the dramatic and hilarious potential of those first few days on campus where new students get to re-invent themselves. But despite everything that's come before it, Benito Skinner's new series Overcompensating manages to tread new ground. Today on Commotion, culture writers Chris Murphy and Jackson Weaver join guest host Rad Simonpillai to talk about why the Prime Video show is so refreshing. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Rad: Chris, I'd never heard of Benito Skinner before this show, but I understand millions of people follow him on social media. So for those of us who haven't heard of him, tell me more about what made him pop. What made him stand out from all the other people on TikTok that are doing these kinds of celebrity impersonations? Chris: Well, I was going to say, you obviously haven't been on TikTok if you haven't heard of bennydrama, Benito Skinner. But yeah, he's really a classic character comedian. He loves impersonating people in pop culture: Kourtney Kardashian, Lana Del Rey, Jennifer Coolidge, Shawn Mendes. And he also has original characters … and just a wealth of different personalities that he embodies. I think the thing that sets him apart is that they're all very funny, but it never feels like he's really making fun of them in a mean way. A lot of these people who he does impersonate on TikTok have embraced him and have taken him in as one of their own. So he films all these videos with the Kardashians, and Jennifer Coolidge and all these people. So I think he's coming at TV not from a standup perspective, but really from a character comedy background. Rad: Well Jackson, after impersonating all these other people, now Benito's creating this show that's about a character whose story is much like his own. So in a nutshell, what is Benny's story in this show? Jackson: I mean, "queer Never Have I Ever" is basically how I would describe it. It's the perennial story of somebody who grows up, [but] specifically for him in the '90s as someone who's in a somewhat more accepting society for queerness, for being gay — [it's] not necessarily literally illegal — but it's still not the best thing to find out you are, especially when you're a boy among friends you're not sure are going to accept you. And then you try and cover that by being as straight as possible. You make up a fake version of yourself. And then you get to university, you see gay-straight alliances, and you flail towards some sort of authenticity, some sort of self acceptance — the divide between either becoming your true self, or harkening to the thing that has gotten you all the accolades, all the acceptance, up to that point. I think it's a pretty universal story, a pretty well-learned and well-earned experience. There's a book called The Velvet Rage that is about how if you are a gay man and have grown up in a straight world, as all of us kind of have, you will have created this fake self, this way to hide from shame and covet validation. And when you finally get to the point where you are sort of making the baby steps towards giving up that fake version of yourself, you realize that your ability to support your own sense of self, to have your own sort of self-confidence is totally juvenile and not necessarily there. And all you need is external validation. And this show is kind of all about that, where he does not have any sort of self-confidence or ability to feel good about himself unless it's people telling him he's good at football, or he is great at hooking up with girls or he's really hot, and he needs that. But he also needs to be himself. It's a very recognizable stage of life for the young gay man, I would say.
News18
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Ananya Panday Is ‘Obsessed' With Benito Skinner's Overcompensating
Last Updated: Benito Skinner wrote the series as well as served as executive producer. Benito Skinner's semi-autobiographical comedy series Overcompensating has created waves since its release on Prime Video. Benito Skinner wrote the series as well as served as executive producer. While the show has been receiving praise from the audience, Ananya Panday seems to be enthralled with the series. Ananya shared the poster of the show on her Instagram story and exclaimed that she is 'Obsessed" with it. Apart from Benito Skinner, the cast members of Overcompensating include Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco and Rish Shah. Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan, Kaia Gerber, Julia Shiplett, Tommy Do, Alexandra Beaton and others appear in key roles. Overcompensating is set in a college background and revolves around Benny, a former football player and homecoming king, who makes good friends with Carmen, a high school outsider on a mission to fit in at any cost. Benny and Carmen navigate bad hookups, fake IDs and other issues with the help of Benny's older sister and her boyfriend. The show delves into the extent to which people go in our quest to discover who they truly are. The show started streaming earlier this month. Ananya Panday was named in Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list for 2025. Forbes 30 Under 30 is an annual list produced by Forbes magazine since 2011, which recognises notable young achievers under the age of 30 from various fields. On the work front, she is receiving praise for her performance in the courtroom drama Kesari Chapter 2, starring Akshay Kumar and R. Madhavan. The poignant drama centered on the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, showcased a more serious and layered side to her acting. The film garnered excellent reviews and did well in the box office. Ananya will soon be featured in the love drama Chand Mera Dil, alongside Lakshya. She gained popularity last year with her back-to-back singles Call Me Bae and CTRL.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Benito Skinner teases 'Overcompensating' season 2 storylines
Benito Skinner has spilled some very interesting tea on how the Overcompensating season 1 finale cliffhangers connect to the storylines he wants to explore in season 2 — all while fans continue to wait for the hit LGBTQ+ series to get officially renewed by Prime Video. Sign up for the to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment — delivered three times a week straight (well…) to your inbox! As the series' creator and lead star, Skinner was recently asked what fans could expect from Overcompensating season 2 if the show gets its highly-anticipated renewal. "What's interesting to me about this idea of 'overcompensation' with these characters is that at no point do you stop doing that completely. I'm really inspired by the thought that if anyone has a comfort in it, or a comfort blanket, we take it away," Skinner told Deadline. "I want to see them start over in a lot of ways, and I think that's what that ending tells you might happen." He added, "Now some truths are out there, but I don't think you stop overcompensating even when the truth is [out] there, too." Skinner (Benny) shared this insight while attending the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience event alongside his Overcompensating costars Wally Baram (Carmen), Adam DiMarco (Peter), Owen Thiele (George), Mary Beth Barone (Grace), Connie Britton (Kathryn), and Kyle MacLachlan (John), as well as executive producer Scott King. When asked about his Overcompensating castmates, Skinner had nothing but praise for the actors who joined the project. "This is my dream cast. The show is exactly what it needs to be," he declared. "What a gift that all of these people, I'm like, 'I wanna see you do that, and I wanna see you do that.' And that, I think, is the mark of a cast that is just right." Season 1 of Overcompensating had a star-studded lineup of guest stars such as Charli XCX, Lukas Gage, Megan Fox, Bowen Yang, Matt Rogers, Boman Martinez-Reid, James Van Der Beek, and Didi Conn, to name a few. The series has quickly garnered a global audience that is passionate and vocal about the show getting a second season. Fingers crossed! is now streaming on . - YouTube
