Benito Skinner is moving from TikTok to your TV. The comedian, who rose to fame on social media thanks to his flawless impressions of the Kardashians, created and stars in the upcoming Prime Video series Overcompensating. After teasing the series a month ago, the full trailer was just released.
Now, Skinner isn’t just impersonating celebrities online — he’s appearing alongside them in a college coming-of-age story loosely based on his own life. Charli XCX, Megan Fox and even Connie Britton all make cameos in the trailer.
Skinner took to Instagram on Tuesday to share his excitement. “This is a story about a girl named Lucky,” Skinner wrote in a post sharing the trailer. “OVERCOMPENSATING IS OUT MAY 15!!!! I LOVE YOU LFGGGGGGGGGG.”
He’s not the only social media star branching out into traditional media. Skinner, who has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 1.4 million on TikTok, follows in the footsteps of stars like Saturday Night Live’s Jane Wickline, who also got her start in internet sketch videos, and even Addison Rae, who appeared in movies like He’s All That and Thanksgiving while also branching out into pop music — including sharing the stage with Charli XCX at Coachella.
Here’s everything to know about Overcompensating.
What is ‘Overcompensating’ about?
The A24 and Jonah Hill-produced show stars Skinner as closeted gay man and former high school football player Benny, who is navigating his freshman year of college — making new friends, grappling with his sexuality and, occasionally, getting words of encouragement from Megan Fox, who appears to him on his dorm room poster.
“The tapestry of college made it so easy to be like, ‘We’re at a party, this is sick, I’m having the best time of my life, I’m in love,’” Skinner previously told Deadline. “Then you’re completely heartbroken in your dorm room, eating ramen and crying. That feels like college to me — the highs of the drug and the comedown.”
Is ‘Overcompensating’ based on a true story?
At the core of the series is Benny’s friendship with Carmen, played by writer and newcomer Wally Baram, who is described in the logline for the show as “a high school outsider on a mission to fit in at all costs.”
That relationship, Skinner shared with Deadline, was inspired by his real-life friendship with a woman who helped him come out as gay.
“I think it is that core relationship between gay men and women that really inspired me,” he said. “It can be funny, but I feel like it really saved my life and changed my life.”
Who stars in ‘Overcompensating’?
In addition to Skinner and Baram, the main cast is rounded out by comedian Mary Beth Barone and The White Lotus Season 2 star Adam DiMarco. Filling out the cast is a slew of familiar faces like fellow White Lotus alums Connie Britton and Lukas Gage, ’90s icon James Van Der Beek, Bottoms’ Kaia Gerber and Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan.
There’s a slew of ultra-famous guest stars: Fox appears in the trailer, as does Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang and his Las Culturistas podcast partner, actor Matt Rogers.
Plus, there’s Charli XCX, who appears in the trailer and is also producing original music for the series.
Skinner told Deadline he approached the “360” singer at a party and asked her to collaborate on the project, which has been in the works since 2020.
“She was like, ‘Send me the script, babe,’” Skinner explained. “I sent her the script, and she signed on to do the music on a Monday.”
Where can we watch ‘Overcompensating’?
Overcompensating hits Prime Video on May 15.
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