Benito Skinner has pulled a fast one on us. The comedian and actor, known for his online persona Benny Drama who performs celebrity impersonations and original skits online, has released a new show, “Overcompensating,” on Prime Video.
On the surface, “Overcompensating,” which Skinner created, wrote, and stars in, is a run-of-the-mill adult comedy in the vein of “American Pie,” but with a gay twist. Think of it as a better-produced “Edge of Seventeen” or “Eating Out,” tailored for Millennial and Gen-Z audiences. And that is technically true — there is no shortage of gags and antics involving Viagra, used condoms, streaking on campus, unsuspecting beta fish, and countless phallic objects.
Those jokes pair well with a crash course in being gay montage, complete with RuPaul’s Drag Race bingeing, shirtless selfies, trying poppers for the first time, first Grindr meetup, and a screening of Brokeback Mountain. Skinner knows his audience is expecting laughs, and he is more than happy to deliver, but “Overcompensating” is equally endearing as it is humorous, making it all the more relatable.
Early on in the first episode, viewers meet Benny (Skinner, playing a charming fictionalized version of himself) as an incoming freshman at Yates College. An orientation assistant tells Benny and a group of freshmen that they can be “whoever they want to be,” a lofty comment to which another orientation assistant retorts suspiciously, “Can you?” It’s played for laughs, but the critique rings true.
Later on during that same episode, one character tells Benny that whether or not you have sex on the first night of college sets the tone for your entire collegiate experience. The choice — and the implication — are clear: You can have sex, and by extension go down the path of success; or you can stay a virgin and a loser. The tension between these two conflicting ideas — be who you want to be but also construct the perfect persona — are essentially the thesis of “Overcompensating.”
At a snapshot glance, the life constructed for Benny is pretty perfect: He was on the high school football team, was homecoming king, and graduated valedictorian. Now at Yates College, Benny is joined by his sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone) and her boyfriend Peter (Adam DiMarco). Peter takes Benny under his wing, where Benny is expected to continue his well-planned life, rising in collegiate circles and joining the “it” fraternity, all leading up to the inevitable job right out of college track. There’s just one little problem: it is clear pretty early on that the life laid before him isn’t the one Benny himself planned or necessarily wants.
Oh, one more thing, Benny is gay and still very deep in the closet.
It doesn’t take long for Benny’s life to start unravelling. Despite Peter’s best efforts, Benny befriends Carmen (Wally Baram), another misfit freshman who becomes the first person to really see him, and by association call him out on his bullshit. While their friendship may start off as a ‘girl crushing on a closeted guy’ cliche, it quickly becomes a tribute to the bond between women and gay men.
Over the course of the eight-episode season, Benny goes to great lengths to hide his gayness: He runs away (literally) from other gay students who clock him as queer, he rushes a fraternity, he drinks underage with upperclassmen, and he lies about his would-be straight sexual exploits. But it doesn’t take long for cracks in his straight-frat boy persona to show. For the first time, Benny starts making choices of his own: his secretly enrolling in an introduction to film class, his impossible-to-hide love of Nicki Minaj and Charlie XCX (the latter making a guest appearance on the show), and his budding friendship-turned-crush on fellow student Miles (Rish Shah). It doesn’t take long for the friction between the two versions of Benny to come to a head. That conflict doesn’t just hurt Benny, but everyone around him, the results of which are as often hilarious as they are heartbreaking.
It would be easy for this to be the moral of “Overcompensating”: If Benny could just come out and be himself, all his problems would be solved. Isn’t that how it goes? As if… But Benny isn’t the only one having an identity crisis. Whether it is the seemingly perfect it-couple Grace and Peter or fellow freshmen Carmen and Miles, every character — regardless of sexuality, gender, or race — is forced to face the disconnect with their constructed personas and true selves. “Overcompensating” works because it isn’t afraid to show the good, the bad, and the messy parts of college. As Benny and the rest of Yates’ students learn, coming out — much like all parts of life — can be f**ked up and beautiful at the same time.
Does Benny learn his lesson? Does coming out get him any closer to being who he wants to be? Does he get the boy(s)? You’ll have to watch to find out, but you won’t regret going on the journey.
“Overcompensating” | Available on Prime Video
