“Overcompensating” creator and star Benito Skinner wants you to know that he’s read your criticisms that he’s too old to play a college student on his Prime Video comedy series — and he wants you to know that he doesn’t think “anything could matter less.”
In Wednesday’s episode of “Ride,” his podcast with co-star, writer and real-life bestie Mary Beth Barone, the two dove into how audiences have been responding to their LGBTQ coming-of-ager, both the good and the bad. Barone picked up the conversation by acknowledging that some viewers have taken issue with the series’ opaque time and place — do Ashlee Simpson jokes make sense alongside Alison Roman jokes? But she maintained that “it’s fun for us to be able to play in this sort of unknown time and space.” And ultimately, she added, “Has anything mattered less?”
“Could anything matter less than when the year is set? Is that really detracting form your enjoyment of the comedy?” Barone questioned.
Skinner had an answer at the ready: “Our ages. I don’t think anything could matter less.”
Both Skinner (31) and Barone (34) emphasized that they appreciated having a platform like “Ride” to talk through some of the real-time feedback the series has received, and to Barone’s point: “Why ignore the fact that these reviews are out there?”
Skinner added that these are all conversations that were had collaboratively throughout the production process.
“Of course, a lot of thought has been put into every single detail about the show,” Barone echoed.
“I think we join a long line of American classics where the actors are playing characters that are not their age,” Skinner continued, citing “Glee,” “The OC,” “American Pie,” “Gossip Girl,” “Grease,” “Euphoria,” and “Outer Banks” specifically.
“Like, I just, I get what you’re saying, but at the same time, I think I wanted it to live in this Y2K nostalgic, sweaty, nasty, American fantasy — but then we make it gay and actually, like, write women who have storylines and who have brains and who have sexual autonomy and have sexualized themselves. All the characters sexualize themselves, and I think all of us having space from that time in our life allows both audiences and us to be more comfortable seeing this onscreen.”
Barone said she had also seen some of that appraisal online in regards to their age, with some commentators saying they wouldn’t want younger actors to star on the series because “they wouldn’t be able to nail the millennial cringe of that time period.”
“I was not ready to make fun of myself in this way when I was even 25 when I wrote it, I think I still would’ve been like, ‘I didn’t really do that.’ And now I’m like, ‘No, I did. That’s how I spoke,’” Skinner said, adding: “I can’t stress enough, like, if you can’t suspend disbelief, go watch the Housewives or something. There’s so much on TV.”
Barone then looped back to her original point, humorously exasperated, adding that if viewers can watch and enjoy “The Last of Us,” then they can watch and enjoy “Overcompensating.”
“You can watch zombies but you can’t watch people in their 30s play college kids?” she bemoaned. “I don’t know, figure your s–t out. Don’t come to me with that bulls–t.”
“Overcompensating” is Skinner’s semi-autobiographical comedy series that follows a closeted jock as he comes to terms with being gay during his freshman year at college. Barone co-stars as his onscreen sister in the ensemble project. It premiered on Amazon’s Prime Video on May 15. All episodes are available to stream now.
Listen to the full episode of “Ride” here.
