Benito Skinner, known online by his stage name "Benny Drama," came into my life when I needed him most. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, the world—and therefore, the cultural conversation—had never felt so fragmented. TikTok wasn't the global phenomenon it is now, dominated by 16-year-olds doing horrible, deceptively easy dance routines. As a proud member of Gen Z, I couldn't find anything to sate my pop culture appetite until I found Benny Drama's Instagram and YouTube.
The sketches ranged from the seventh and only gay member of Friends performing oral sex on Gunther to a useless Gen Z intern nonchalantly telling clients over the phone that "Ms. Boss" can't make the meeting because she's getting her "pussy cleaned." It was heaven for the chronically connected person. These sketches not only captured the attention of their target audience and their ever-changing humor, but also demonstrated genuine comedic talent, with Skinner performing hilarious and disconcertingly accurate impressions of celebrities ranging from James Charles to Kourtney Kardashian to Shawn Mendes.
Creator: Benito Skinner
Stars: Benito Skinner, Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone
Now, Skinner is moving beyond social media and witty videos to long-form narrative. His eight-episode comedy show, Overcompensating, a joint production between A24 and Amazon Studios, is an autobiographical project about his college experience. At 31, Skinner has always been open about the fact that he didn't come out until college and, until then, struggled to fit the archetype of the popular, perfect straight man. A straight-man, captain of the football team, and certainly no Nicki Minaj fan, Skinner has hinted at his time hiding his sexuality in his sketches, all for comedic effect. Here, he applies that same sharp humor to the existential crises all college students go through to create a hilarious, heartfelt, and heartwarming series that, at its core, is a celebration of friendship and those who make life more bearable.
Film and television now boast a wide portfolio of queer coming-of-age stories, and many of them are wrapped in the stereotype of unjust tragedy, as if being gay were always synonymous with eternal suffering. Skinner doesn't skimp on the difficulties of dealing with one's sexuality, but his clever script leaves much more room for all the wonderful and strange things about college, from early sexual experiences to being forced to show the world who you really are.
Benny Scanlen arrives at Yates College as a freshman. He's a handsome, affable young man who was captain of his high school's football team, a student with straight A's and the love of his parents. However, Benny also lies to everyone about who he really is, pretending to be a macho jock! He soon meets Carmen (Wally Baram), a more outspoken outcast struggling to make friends and find her place in the world after a family tragedy. Despite trying to make things sexual, they soon realize they're not right for each other (though Benny hides his sexuality from Carmen), and they set out to succeed at Yates, while developing a friendship neither of them knew they needed.
Also struggling with her identity at Yates is Benny's sharp-tongued, temperamental older sister, Grace (Mary Beth Barone), who left behind her best friend and her past as a Twilight fan and radio host to become the perfect girlfriend for Peter (Adam Dimarco), the star athlete, leader of the university's secret society, and the campus star. Also starring are Carmen's sex-obsessed, slightly dim-witted, but ultimately endearing roommate Kailee (Holmes), who trains her to be a college slut, and Miles (Rish Shah), Benny's new friend and crush. As Benny and Carmen try to figure out the person they want to be in college and become more true to themselves, Grace begins to reflect on the choices she made to become the girlfriend of the most popular guy on campus. Varying between a lost soul, an airheaded jerk, and a vengeful bully, Peter sees the end of college approaching and realizes his status won't translate to the real world. Oh, and there's also plenty of sex, drugs, lessons on being gay, and a Charli XCX concert that ends with vomiting and diarrhea.
Grace, played by Mary Beth Barone, earns one of the most complex story arcs in the series: the conflict between living for the male gaze and wanting to be the girl of the girls is most skillfully explored in Grace. Each episode subtly brings out a new side of her, and behind every biting insult and dirty look, Barone maintains a heartbreaking pathos, consistently presenting Grace as someone we should feel sorry for, despite her "mean girl" facade.
Meanwhile, if you thought it was an odd choice to cast the sweet and sensitive Albie from The White Lotus season 2 as a frat house king, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Adam DiMarco devours the scene as Peter, carefully moving between satire and character interpretation. Of all the characters, Peter could easily have been one-note, but his arc takes him into some very dark corners, underscoring the series' philosophy: everyone has something to hide and something to be ashamed of. Overcompensating is a hilarious, warm, and honest show from one of the most exciting voices in comedy. Its outrageous humor and satire never detract from its dramatic themes, and with a cast packed with talented comedic actors, Benito Skinner's feature-length debut is the must-see comedy of the summer.
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