Benito Skinner talks new series ‘Overcompensating,’ first days at college

Benny (Benito Skinner), Carmen (Wally Baram), Holmes in OVERCOMPENSATING; Photo Courtesy of Jackie Brown/Prime; Copyright: Amazon MGM Studios

The first few days of college feel like a roller coaster ride. 

In the eyes of actor and comedian Benito Skinner, this period of life may feel like everyone is in their own world; at a party, for example, some may be having fun, some may be broken-hearted and some may be sick and spreading that sickness — all at once. 

To that end, in Skinner’s new comedy-drama series “Overcompensating,” the creator tried to orchestrate a blend of comedy and drama where multiple moments — specifically, moments that feel like they come from different genres — could take place simultaneously. The series follows Benny (Skinner), a closeted college freshman who has just taken his first steps onto his new college campus. The show is both absurdly hilarious but also cute and tender; according to Skinner, he wanted to showcase the ups and downs of life. 

“The whole show, I think, can feel both sad and funny at the same time. Me practicing straight lines in the mirror I think can feel really funny and absurd, but also I did that, and it’s really sad, you know? Like, I can’t believe I did that,” he said. “I think that we never wanted to shy away from that in the show, because I think that trying to find yourself is both really funny in retrospect and really sad.”

On Tuesday, May 5, The Panther participated in a virtual college roundtable with the creative to discuss all things “Overcompensating” and the hilarity of that rollercoaster ride that is the first days of college. 

It’s a specific kind of ride, though: one filled with extremely high rises and incredibly low dips. The passengers you’re riding the ride with may become your best friends, and you’ll explore the theme park that is college together, side-by-side. Other riders, though, will get off the ride and disappear into the theme park crowd. You’ll never see them again.

“The thing that I found the funniest (about the first few days of college) was everyone was sharing numbers, and I remember so many people being like, ‘Give me your phone,’ and then I would never hear or see that person again. I would never hear from them,” Skinner told The Panther. “I’m like, ‘Did you go here? Where’d you go?’ So that had to be in (the series).”

He continued: “Daniel Longino was the director of those first few episodes, and we talked a lot about (how) the show would feel more caricature-y at the top, at times, because it does feel like everyone is putting on. It just is like, you are coming out of the gate, this is who I am… everything feels performative in a way, because you’re trying to be like, ‘OK, I’m trying to be seen,’ but also at times not seen, and not seen like that and not in that way.” 

Some of the fun of the show isn’t in the explicit, in-your-face narrative; eagle-eyed fans will notice fun being had in small, extremely specific places — like with the headlines of articles and Reddit posts and background characters. Most of those jokes, according to Skinner, were planned. 

“It was always planned because I think when I used to write sketches I would write all those things out, like the little things, so I thought that those were all supposed to be in script, to almost my detriment,” Skinner said.

Sometimes, he’d write a random but specific joke into a script without giving much thought to it — like saying that a character brings a dog to class — only to show up on set and find a dog ready to be put on camera. 

“I feel so lucky because I felt really championed by A24 and Amazon and my showrunner Scott King with these jokes. We had so much fun in a background joke that can almost feel forward at a certain point… I love a little treat in the back for people on a rewatch. I think I would love the idea that people get to rewatch this and want to rewatch.” 

“Overcompensating” is a slightly different blend of comedy than Skinner is used to cooking up. Taking on a different kind of project, according to him, was initially frightening but also challenging.

“In thinking about what would be different, I think if I approached something like a sketch show or something that was, like, me playing every character or something, it just feels less creatively inspiring. This felt the scariest… I think that that was the way I approached it, of, ‘This feels so different for me, and I’m scared to write it, so that feels right, then.’ I felt scared to make my first videos, so then I’m like, ‘I think I’m doing the right thing.’” 

Skinner wanted to make the series specific to his experience, but also provide some feeling of resonance for viewers. 

“I think I wanted (‘Overcompensating’) to be definitely from my perspective and the things that I had seen, just to make it as true and feel honest to that time, in a way,” he said. “I think we wanted kind of a nostalgic feel to the whole show so that anyone could access it. You don’t have to be like, ‘I’m in college right now,’ but if you were 10, 20, 30 years ago, you could be like, ‘I  see these things.’ I do think in general there is a college bubble that does exist of style and what campuses feel like. These things feel forever in a way that some high school tropes do.”

He continued: “I think as far as my understanding of what it’s like now to be queer in those spaces, I knew that I could never really tell that because I’m not that, but I knew that I could tell my story and hopefully there would be some similarities, and you could see that reflected in some of the things and the beats that I’m doing. Even if the reference isn’t the same, you’ll still be like, ‘I remember what was on screen when I had that moment.’” 

Working with the aforementioned showrunner King, Skinner felt more at-ease creating a television series: in his words, an experience that’s very hard and daunting. He felt that King always had the show’s best interest at heart, and felt positively challenged by him and also “safe” when collaborating on pitching. 

“He never judged me for not having done this. Instead, he was like, ‘I love this script, let’s fucking go and let’s make this.’ That was what was so exciting,” Skinner said. “Always look for that. If they start to kind of be like, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing,’ run the other way. They don’t either, is my advice there.” 

“Overcompensating” is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.