Series creator, star, and EP Benito Skinner teased that his father will be making an appearance in the upcoming installment of his Prime Video comedy, which is inspired by his own life, during The New Yorker Festival on Saturday night (Oct. 24), attended by DECIDER.
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which → tease → DECIDER
After explaining to The New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman onstage at the Joyce Theater that his father had been involved in community theatre in Boise, Idaho—and hence, joking that he is a “nepo” baby— he revealed that his father actually “does have a cameo in Season 2.”
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father → explain → Season
Blink and you’ll miss it,” he quipped.
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he → blink → it
In the series, which debuted in May 2025, Skinner plays Benny, who, after arriving at the fictional Yates College from Idaho, grapples with the reality that he is gay.
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he → debut → reality
Skinner’s onscreen family is rounded out by Mary Beth Barone as his older sister Grace, and Kyle MacLachlan and Connie Britton as his parents, John and Kathryn.
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family → round → parents
As for how MacLachlan and Britton were settled upon to land their roles, Skinner shared that their past credits were a big help.
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credits → settle → roles
“I was really interested with history in coming into the show, because I like that people would have something in their head about the people that we cast before, as far as anyone that was outside of the main cast,” he elaborated, citing Britton’s work on Friday Night Lights and MacLachlan’s credits on Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, and Blue Velvet.
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he → come → Housewives
He added, “It just felt like there’s so much history already to these people that having them show how funny they are feels also surprising and interesting.”
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they → add → people
However, Skinner noted that he “wouldn’t say they feel like exactly [his] parents.”
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they → note → parents
“I think they look like my parents,” he continued.
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he → think → parents
“But I think the joy of the show is like, I’ll take ideas about my life, but then once you have an actor like that come in, and we’re writing it, it becomes something so different that when people are like, ‘Yeah, they play your parents,’ my brain doesn’t necessarily go there.”
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brain → think → parents
Skinner highlighted how this is “helpful” for him as an actor, as this reminds him that he is “not” himself in the series, but rather playing a “version” of himself.
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he → highlight → himself
“There’s something about me in this, but this does feel like a different person that I’m playing, which is helpful I think, too, because then it’s like you’re not getting existential on set every day,” he added with a laugh.”
As for other cameos in Overcompensating Season 2
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he → ’ → 2
, Skinner gushed about Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant.
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Skinner → gush → Bryant
He also previously announced at Prime Video’s Obsessed Fest that the DJ Zedd would be a special guest star this season in a spring break episode.
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Zedd → announce → episode
During Saturday night’s talk, Skinner cited the words of Overcompensating showrunner Scott King, who told him that “sometimes shows want to do something completely different” in a second season, “and you kind of sometimes can lose the essence of the show, of why people loved it.”
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people → cite → it
“And think we did the exact opposite,” Skinner said.
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Skinner → think → opposite
“I think it feels different.
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it → think → ?
Like, you know, the stories are different.
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stories → know → ?
But it is still so the world of the show, and it feels like growth and progression.
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it → feel → growth
But as I’m watching these edits, I’m like, ‘This really feels like exactly what I think we wanted to make,’ and we went even deeper.”
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we → watch → what
Skinner also addressed those who felt Season 1 would be “gayer,” and teased that Season 2 certainly is.
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Season → address → those
“I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not out yet,'” Skinner teased of his character in Season 1.
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Skinner → ’m → Season
“‘You’re rushing him.
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You → rush → him
Let him cook.’
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him → let → ?
So now it’s so much gayer, which is heaven.”
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which → ’ → ?
Overcompensating Season 1 is streaming on Prime Video.
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Overcompensating → overcompensate → Video
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