Benito Skinner’s ‘Overcompensating’ tackles closeted identity

Benito Skinner and Wally Baram in Overcompensating Photo by Sabrina Lantos Prime While Benito Skinner was touring a live show coincidentally called Overcompensating he got a fateful call from his agent The agent mentioned that Skinner s comedy work was feeling more and more episodic these days What did he think about writing for television Skinner was competition and decided to use personal material for his new gay-themed series on Prime Video Overcompensating Skinner who is known on the internet for his comedic sketches is the writer executive producer and star of the series He headlines as Benny a closeted former football sportsman trying to find himself on a new college campus Skinner disclosed he struggled with his identity before he came out He felt inspired to put his story out into the world I think a lot of my heroes in the space were Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Issa Rae he explained And I mentioned Yeah I think I do want to write my story I think I had already started doing that with the stand-up show But when I put pen to paper it kind of came out of me straightaway He worked on the pilot in A and the production company Strong Baby came aboard and a year later Amazon scooped the series up The show has been in maturation ever since In the series Benny meets Carmen Wally Baram a fellow novice who he befriends after an awkward attempt at sex Carmen sees Benny for who he is and wants him to abandon his attempts at performative masculinity In a great number of avenues Benny is based on Skinner s own personality but the character also feels very different at times I think Benny is so in his head and is so tight so stressed and I think that s how I approach playing him Skinner declared I think there is a level of perfectionism that he has in his head because he feels like he has to make up for this thing inside him I think he thinks it s so wrong and that he should have shame around that he s gay Benny is trying to overcompensate through perfectionism trying to be valedictorian and get perfect grades He s doing what he s seen around him for so long which is trying to be as masculine and I think bro-y as manageable Skinner mentioned How deep can he make his voice How broad can he make his shoulders How thick can he make his neck Skinner disclosed he thinks a lot of people can relate to feeling trapped by masculinity I think we ve all been indoctrinated with this idea of masculinity as the greatest thing in the world he declared It s the most of seductive thing and I think that that is a part of all of these characters in the back of their minds Masculinity is safety It s applause It s everything to these people in college Despite the comedic and often raunchy hijinks that surround Benny and an impressive array of costars including Connie Britton Kyle MacLachan and Bowen Yang the relationship he develops with Carmen proves to be the soul of the show It s everything Skinner mentioned I think it s the first time both of them are really seen and seen for who they are even though they don t see it themselves I think that the way Benny looks at Carmen in scenes I perpetually desired to play it like he is in awe of her She s so funny and so brilliant and so special and she feels so special Yet she s received no applause and she s so looked over While his sketches can go up promptly advancing a TV show takes a much longer time That time has allowed Skinner to really take a beat at each step along the way and think about what he wants to say and who these characters are Fortunately I wore a lot of hats in my career at the beginning of it and I was thinking about these things in totality he commented It s not just like writing a sketch and thinking of the joke It s what does it look like What s the background How am I editing it Skinner s hope for the series is that people feel human empathy and see themselves on screen and maybe not in the character they thought they would His favorite response has been when a viewer communicated him they were not gay but saw themselves in the experience of trying to perform and be loved It s unifying in a way he noted I think that the show hopefully offers people even just a little bit of a safe space for a moment to be on a bed with a best friend and laugh and cry and have specific catharsis over that time in your life or the time you re in right now The post Benito Skinner s Overcompensating tackles closeted identity appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta