Benito Skinner reveals how new comedy reflects his gay college life

Overcompensating star Benito Skinner has explained how the queer comedy series reflected his life as a young gay boy and college student.

Comedian Skinner stars in the new Prime Video comedy as Benny, a fictionalised version of himself. The show follows a closeted college student as he tries to navigate a new friendship with fellow student Carmen (Wally Baram) and a huge crush on Miles (Rish Shah), all while hoping to impress football frat boy, Peter (Adam DiMarco).

Cue plenty of raunchy sex scenes, gay debauchery and the occasional minor criminal escapade.

Skinner exclusively told PinkNews how the show was reflective of his experience as a closeted gay college student in the 2010s. “Everything feels really big in college and all-consuming. You’re in this bubble, so [it all feels] all like: ‘This is all life or death’. To me, it was at that time,” he said. 

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Benito Skinner, aka Benny Drama, aka the queer comedian behind new queer comedy series Overcompensating, has explained why he was initially hesitant about Charli XCX making a guest appearance in the show. In March, the first teaser trailer for Skinner’s new Prime Video show Overcompensating arrived, teasing a storyline about closeted college student Benny (Skinner) going to extreme lengths to fit in with the school’s super-masc jocks. In addition to teasing The White Lotus star Adam DiMarco as an unbearable stud, incredibly awkward sex scenes, and an identity journey that is as hilarious as it is moving, the new Overcompensating trailer showcasing “Apple” singer Charli XCX in the first of her many upcoming acting roles. Charli XCX plays herself in the scene, which sees her turning the diva dial up to ten thousand as she screams in the face of student Grace (Mary Beth Barone). “Do you think I wanna play f**king ‘Boom Clap’ in a fucking college?” she yells, referencing her most commercially successful but least favourite hit to date. The Grammy Award-winning pop superstar – and major LGBTQ+ ally – appears throughout the remainder of the episode, while bagging tickets to her college show becomes a major point of contention for the season’s characters, particularly Carmen (Wally Baram) and Hailee (Holmes). Shooting for Overcompensating took place during last autumn, in the months following Charli’s mammoth Brat release and the culture-shaking ramifications of Brat Summer. Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, Benito Skinner – who plays leading man and closeted queer college student Benny – explained why he was “worried” about whether Charli XCX would be able to be in the episode. “I think as a friend, I was both worried about her because I’m like, ‘How are you going to shoot?’ She was in scenes and she just kept being like, ‘Yes, I’m shooting it. I’ll see you there.’ She shot her scenes in Toronto in between Sweat Tour shows,” he explained. At the time, Charli’s join Sweat Tour with Troye Sivan was one of numerous obligations she was balancing, as she was also gearing up to release the remixed sister album to Brat, entitled Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat. Despite the “360” hitmaker experiencing the biggest year of her career, Skinner wasn’t “intimidated” about having her join the project, as they have been fans of each other’s work for several years. Overcompensating is released on 15 May on Prime Video. #CharliXCX #bennydrama #overcompensating #newtvshow

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The series traces “who [he] fell in love with” at college, telling that story through Benny and Miles. Now, though, the actor is happily loved up with creative director Terrence O’Connor, who has worked with the likes of Charli XCX.

Other less-gay, but still real-life, moments from Skinner’s college experience crop up in Overcompensating, including the time he stole a golf buggy with his pal, Nora.

“Honestly, the golf cart sequence in the pilot actually did happen with a friend of mine,” he admitted. “I feel we all have those moments in college, I think especially for gay men, where we’re like: ‘I’m in a music video. I’m living this dream life’. We did steal a golf cart. Well, she stole it, I was just riding shotgun.”

There are a few other “traumatic things” and moments of chaos that may be saved for a second season of the show, such as his experience with “a few gravity bongs, here and there”.

While season one of Overcompensating’s focuses on Benny’s experience in his first year at college, the pilot opens with a young Benny being fixated on Brendan Fraser’s polished torso in George of the Jungle.

The scene, which echoes many youngsters’ queer awakening, is accompanied by Britney Spears’ bop “Lucky”, a song which also helped to affirm the real-life Skinner’s queerness.

“I remember watching ‘Lucky’ and anytime the music video would come on for it, I was like: ‘That’s my icon, she is me, I am her. I love her so much’. The thing I was most proud of when I was in first grade was that me and Britney Spears had the same initials,” he said.

“That song had to start this show, and that is something that has never changed in the scripts. I have done so many rewrites of that pilot, making sure everything sings, the ensemble sings, we’re in it. But ‘Lucky’ has never gone anywhere.”

When Overcompensating was just a comedy stage show, Skinner would start by dressing up as Britney while photos of him playing football appeared behind him and “Lucky” sounded overhead. 

“I knew that if I did that, I wouldn’t be nervous for the rest of the show. ‘Lucky’ forever,” he added.

Overcompensating is streaming on Prime Video now.

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