Latest news with #WallyBaram
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst': ‘Overcompensating' breakout Wally Baram on making her acting debut, defiling prop toilet
When writer and stand-up comic Wally Baram joined the writers' room for the debut season of Prime Video's breakout coming-of-age college dramedy Overcompensating, she had no idea she would become one of the TV season's most celebrated new actresses. In a story she charmed Kelly Clarkson with on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Baram's years in the writers' rooms of Shrinking and What We Do in the Shadows hadn't included much time spent on sets. Which is how she ended up unknowingly using a prop toilet on the Overcompensating set, and having to quickly remove it and hide the evidence in her purse. The good news: the poop oops didn't get her fired (as she feared it might), and the series creator, showrunner, and star, comedian Benito Skinner, became convinced the writer, but inexperienced actor, was the perfect person to play Carmen, the new classmate and BFF of his college freshman Benny. Of hundreds of other contenders, Baram auditioned, convinced Prime execs that Skinner had made a good casting call, and she was all of a sudden joining him as one of the series leads. She had also helped shaped the episodes unfolding during the funny, sweet, raunchy, guest star-studded (Charlie XCX, Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan, Megan Fox, Bowen Yang, and James Van Der Beek) story about secretly gay Benny and his brief love interest-turned-best friend Carmen, who bond in their awkwardness and turn it into a sweet, dramatic, complicated relationship. More from GoldDerby The case of Leslie Abramson vs. Marcia Clark: Ari Graynor and Sarah Paulson on 'defending' their characters In Pixar's 'Elio,' Easter eggs are literally written in the stars - will you be able to spot them all? 'The messier, the better': How 'Andor' created the epic, heart-shattering Ghorman Massacre Baram, whose character experienced some on-screen bathroom-related drama in the sometimes bawdy dramedy, is planning a new stand-up tour in August, as she awaits, with her fellow writers and castmates, what should be a no-brainer Season 2 renewal for Overcompensating at Prime Video. In the meantime, she talked to Gold Derby about what it's been like to become a star if not overnight, within the last month; how she totally understands why people think she's exactly like her character (she isn't, though); what she can't wait to explore about Carmen next; why she agrees with lots of TV fans about what TV mom and dad she'd choose as her 'rents; and what she expected to be greeted with when she joined the writing staffs of the Emmy-nominated comedies she wrote for. Prime Video Gold Derby: The show has been the highlight of spring TV. It has been so well received by viewers and critics, and yours is definitely one of the breakout performances of the TV season. And it only premiered a month ago. How have you wrapped your mind around all that happening so quickly? Wally Baram: It's, I mean, it's crazy. It's been. in so many ways, such a novel experience. I've been a part of, you know, a couple of Season 1s in the writers room of TV shows and seeing them come out, and you really just never know. So I knew to have absolutely zero expectations; hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It's just been a thrill, of course. When was the first time that you realized, "Hey, people are watching this and they're really connecting to it?" Hmm… you know, when we had some interviews, and there were some press people that were being very extra nice about [the show]. I asked someone afterwards, 'Are they doing that to try to, you know, butter you up?' I think some of them had seen the series before it actually came out, and they were like, 'That spoke to my queer experience.' I was like, "Whoa, I thought they would be a little bit more close to the vest about that." And then when the show actually came out, the day it came out, people were stopping me to talk about it. It was bananas. What's the most surreal thing that's happened to you so far since it premiered? That's a good question. I think the most surreal thing has perhaps been people who have the experience of grief that my character does on the show coming up to me in the street and telling me that they felt what my character was feeling and they really identified with the experience of my character. I'm sure that feels like a very universal actor experience, but you know, people … to have it be a story that is tragic, that was really meaningful to me, especially because I came into this as a comedian and thinking and knowing that comedy was my wheelhouse and my character is actually not that hard-funny in the show. She definitely, absolutely has moments, but she also has some more heartful moments she has to play. I wasn't sure that I could tackle those moments, … it's still a relief when people tell me that they connect with the performance. People really do connect with Carmen, which is probably part of the reason they seem obsessed with knowing how much you are like the character, or not. Are you sick of answering those questions yet? That's funny. You know, I think it's difficult. It was even difficult for me, because at first glance, we're very similar, but at second glance, we're really so different. So it very quickly became, you're so similar to Carmen and you wrote in the room. I didn't know I was going to play this character when I wrote in the room. It was just contributing kind of my experiences. And then, when I was playing her, … I think if you saw me in between takes, you'd be like, wow, these are very different people, the character and me. You've written for and , some of the best TV series, the best comedies certainly of recent TV years. How did acting as one of the characters you were writing change the writing experience for you? My gosh, it definitely did. Now I notice when I'm writing, I'm imagining myself kind of, not that I expect to play any of the characters, but in a way I try to put myself in the place of the actor in sort of a new, three-dimensional way, and I think it's made my writing more active, where now I'm like, so this is kind of how I can build out more for that actor to play in a moment, based off of now what I know of the acting experience. I definitely in my own writing want to give more opportunities for the actors to bring more. More tools for the writer's toolbox… Yeah, absolutely. Coming back to new scripts or revisiting old scripts, it's made me do significant rewrites on things. So it's been really worthwhile. Prime Video What were your experiences like working in the and , writers' rooms? Again, those are fantastic comedies, obviously very different from each other, to have so early on your résumé. Yeah, I feel very fortunate in that I've worked with some season one rooms, and some first-time showrunners, as was this experience with Benito, who hadn't run a room before and yet he led the show with such grace. It was kind of unbelievable. I felt very privileged coming into this experience, because I've worked with a lot of showrunners too who have done this job at great lengths. Paul Simms, who does What We Do in the Shadows, Bill Lawrence on Shrinking. And even before that, I worked with Greg Garcia [who created My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope]. Just people that have TV down to a well-oiled machine in terms of how they run the room, make the show, and get the most creativity out of the people that they're working with. So if i got anything out of those experiences, in addition to just meeting great people, I feel like I definitely observed a lot of ways in which I would want to run a room if I ever run a room, and also just how to professionally interact with people in productive and kind ways. Because all those guys are, I would say, remarkably kind as bosses in the industry. You hear so many crazy stories … every time I would land somewhere and someone would open with like, 'It's hard to get fired.' I'd be like, 'How is that possible?' I think that was told to me at like all of those places. I don't know if I can imagine. I don't know if I'm not supposed to say that, but everyone was like, 'Yeah, don't worry.' But I thought like, I'm supposed to be here and someone's supposed to be hitting me with a stick as I pump out jokes at 2 a.m., and I'm not sleeping, and I'm getting like racist and sexist threats yelled at me. That's what I thought Hollywood was kind of going to be like. And I've been very fortunate to work with who I've worked with. You've talked about being a fan of and finding inspiration in memoirs written by uber-talented writer-actors like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling. Is that something that you hope to do or would want to do? Well, I love the practice of writing, and I read a lot of fiction. I don't actually know if I could ever write fiction, but I would love to write something that stays on the page. I think it's the way I feel about what exactly I'm doing, whether it's acting, stand up, or writing scripts, it all has to do sort of with what I'm trying to express and explore. Like recently I wrote an essay about my mom, and I think I could have only articulated exactly what I was trying to articulate in an essay form. I think I use writing in a way that's sort of cathartic, that's cathartic and artistic. So I don't know that I'd get to it. Definitely right now I don't feel like, 'Ooh, I need to look back and tell my story' yet. I don't know, but I definitely would want to write something that would exist in book form. saved one of its best episodes for the penultimate spot in the season, with 'Welcome to the Black Parade,' where Carmen goes home to Idaho with Benny and Grace for the holidays. It was funny and sweet and redemptive, hilariously horrifying from Benny and Grace's point of view. But for Carmen, there was a real affection for the Scanlon parents and an appreciation for how much they just wanted to be a part of their kids' lives. As the portrayer of Carmen and a series writer, do you want to know more specifics about her family's backstory? Yeah, I definitely am interested. It's funny, when we shot the first scene of the show, we casted my parents. We had two people be my parents in the car that I'm getting out of, and they, I don't know if this was intentional for Benny or not, but they looked exactly like my real parents. But I think I'm excited for us to explore that, because that's where Carmen and I are actually really different. I think there were a lot of emotions from my childhood that I could pull from that kind of add up to this experience that she could have had, but I think her childhood was ultimately very different than mine. And I'm excited to explore that on a writing level and on an acting level, because I think that'll be where I get to do a lot more invention of the character. So yeah, we have chatted about what that could look like, and I'm excited to see more of what ideas [Benito] brings in. And I will say in that episode, Kyle MacLachlan and Connie Britton are, you're around them, and you're like, 'My gosh, I want you to be my parents.' Like you feel that from them. One more question before you have to go: when, not if is renewed for Season 2, what might Benny and Carmen (and Grace and Hailee and Miles and Peter and George and Mr. and Mrs. and Scanlan) be up to? I just knocked on wood. I think non-spoiler, something that I've definitely heard Benito talk about is a spring break episode, which sounds like it would be an absolute blast. Imagine Hailee, Carmen, and Benny on a beach, or on a cruise. Best of GoldDerby Adam Brody, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and the best of our Emmy Comedy Actor interviews Kristen Bell, Tina Fey, Bridget Everett, and the best of our Emmy Comedy Actress interviews 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Overcompensating' hair department head talks Kaia Gerber's nod to mom Cindy Crawford and inspirations for each style
Benito Skinner's series Overcompensating on Prime Video has been easily one of the most exciting new shows of the year. It's brilliant comedy crafted with incredibly entertaining characters, but Skinner clearly went into this project with attention to detail, from the script all the way to the hair details. "The hair was infused in every aspect of the script from day one," Blake Arsenault, the Canadian to took on the role of the head of the hair department for the show, told Yahoo Canada. "You can read a thousand scripts and you never see the word hair mentioned once, but every page I turned there were hair notes." So to ... utilize that to tell the story, ... what a pleasure." Funny enough, the moment that Arsenault got really excited about being part of Overcompensating came from a scene that was cut from the show. "The opening scene was Wally Baram as Carmen in her bedroom following a hair and makeup tutorial, and she burns her hair off with her flat iron," Arsenault said. "Immediately I said, 'This is the show for me.'" "I knew that was setting the comedic tone and Benny, ... being such a brilliant writer and comedic genius that he is, infusing that hair gag right from the beginning, I was like, this is the kind of challenge I want to take on."While that scene didn't make the final edit, the character Carmen's journey is so closely linked to her appearance, her hair specifically, as she tries to fit in after showing up to college feeling like a fish out of water. "We sat down and we discussed it quite deeply, me and Benny and Wally and our amazing showrunner, Scott King, ... and where to bring those changes and how to show her evolution and her overcompensating to fit in with everybody around her," Arsenault explained. "So it was very important for her to be othered and to be separate. So when she walks onto campus, immediately everybody is polished, everybody has long, smooth, sleek, straight, blonde hair blowouts. They really put the effort in and she was completely opposite of that." "Knowing that she has to pretend that she is somebody she's not, ... straightening her hair was a big part of that. So we took the character through that journey throughout the entire show, and there were very pivotal moments where we wanted to showcase that, and moments where she was trying to fit in more. ... The more she tries to fit in, the further she becomes removed from herself and who she is." Another character highlight is Holmes as Hailee, one character who really expresses her true self. "Growing up queer in a small town in East Coast, New Brunswick, I found idols in people like Britney Spears and Christian Aguilera, Jennifer Coolidge in Legally Blonde and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless. So we infused bits of all of that into Hailee," Arsenault said. "Everybody is overcompensating, except for Hailee. This is who she is through and through. You get what you see with her. And when I looked back at these divas and these empowering female characters, ... they have a look. Their hair is the same. Dolly Parton has had the same hair for years and years, there's a diva look. Donna Summer, Diana Ross, they may change their looks, but their hair is the same, and it's a staple. And that was what I wanted to bring to Hailee's character as well. So we do a few small hair changes, but for the most part her hair is a signature, because it showcases very much that she owns who she is, and she knows exactly who she is, whether she realizes it or not." One element of Overcompensating is that while the story is inspired by Skinner's real college life, with the early 2010s being a clear influence, it also feel timeless. Arsenault was skillfully able to extended that timelessness to the hair looks we see as well. There are elements that feel like they're from the late 2000s, 2010s and even present day. A perfect example of that is styling Kaia Gerber's hair with a side part for the show, which also happens to be a nod to her mother, Cindy Crawford. "Kaia's side part was actually a big moment of discussion for me and Kaia, when she sat in my chair, because we wanted her ... to have this long, sleek hair that's a contrast to Wally. And I said, 'Kaia, how do you feel about doing a side part?' She's a model. She's been a model since she was a kid. She's game for anything," Arsenault shared. "And when we did it I said, 'Do you feel like your mother?' Because her mother practically invented the side part. And she says, 'Yes, very much.' And then she goes, 'I'm embracing it.'" While Overcompensating is certainly a meticulously crafted and fun show, it's incredibly impressive that Arsenault was so affectively able to really tell a story through his work on the series, amplifying all the core elements of the story with hair styles and hair transformations. But it's a reflection of Arsenault's commitment to hist craft.
Hindustan Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Actor Wally Baram's 70-year-old mom gets hit by rubber bullet at LA protests, she shares graphic details
Actor Wally Baram, who is currently seen in Amazon Prime show Overcompensating, has shared that her 70-year-old mother was hit in the back of the head with a rubber bullet while attending a peaceful protest against US President Donald Trump's newly intensified immigration raids in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Wally took to her Instagram stories on Tuesday and gave an account of how her mother was hit by the rubber bullet in the back of her head, stating how the authorities are 'bringing violence to peaceful protest'. Wally wrote, "Warning, next story graphic. They hit my mom 70-year-old Mexican woman in the back of the head with a rubber bullet. If there's ever evidence they are bringing violence to peaceful protest". Wally then shared a picture of her mother's head with a bloody wound. Wally also shared an update that her mother's health was such that she was immediately taken to the hospital and is doing well. She also mentioned that her mother returned to the protests the next day. The 22-year-old actor was being asked what her old mother was doing at the protest; however, Wally dismissed the messages, stating a rather funny take on the situation. Wally wrote, 'A lot of people asking me, why is a 70 year old woman (my mother) at a protest? fwiw a lot of you are new here and don't know I have an aburdly hot mom, she has abs, does a ton of salsa, it's like a whole thing. I told her people thought she was too old to protest and she said, 'I boutta be out here getting sooo many more smooches than them even with a little chunk of head missing' (sic)." Wally Baram, 22, is a Mexican-Syrian comedian, writer, and actress based in Los Angeles. She gained prominence as a 2021 Just for Laughs New Face and made her late-night debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her writing credits include What We Do in the Shadows, Betty, Shrinking, and Sprung. In 2025, Wally made her acting debut in Overcompensating, a Prime Video series created by Benito Skinner. She portrays Carmen Neil, a college freshman navigating self-discovery and friendship. Overcompensating is a comedy-drama series on Amazon Prime Video that premiered on May 15, 2025. Created by and starring Benito Skinner, the show offers a semi-autobiographical look at the complexities of identity and self-discovery during college life. The series has received critical acclaim for its blend of humour and heartfelt storytelling. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 95% approval rating based on 42 critics' reviews.
South China Morning Post
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Meet Wally Baram, who plays Carmen Neil in Overcompensating: she was too short to be a cowgirl so tried stand-up and read books by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – now she's in the Charli XCX-produced show
Wally Baram never intended to become an actress. The comic and screenwriter – best known for her work on the TV shows Shrinking, What We Do in the Shadows and Betty – had her heart set on becoming a cowgirl as a child. She even took equestrian classes as a teenager, but as luck would have it, her 155cm (5ft 1in) stature prevented her from taking her dreams further. Wally Baram originally wanted to be a cowgirl but gave up on her childhood dream due to her short stature. Photo: @wallybaram/Instagram 'My feet don't even curve around a horse,' the 27-year-old said in an interview this month in Vanity Fair. 'The horse looks like it's wearing me as a hat.' Advertisement Baram turned to comedy in her gap year before university, before dropping out to pursue stand-up and writing full time. When she was hired as a screenwriter on Amazon Prime's new TV dramedy co-produced by Charli XCX , Overcompensating, she had no idea she would be making her acting debut on the show. The campus comedy revolves around the show's creator, Benito Skinner's character Benny, a closeted college freshman, who tries to date Carmen, played by Baram, to keep his sexuality hidden. 'I related to her so much that when I had my meeting with Benny over writing, he was like, 'You are kind of this girl,'' Baram said in an interview this month in Marie Claire. 'When Benny told me, 'I want it to be you,' my mind was tremendously blown. Even now, I'm still like, What the heck?' So what do we know about Wally Baram and her apparent overnight success as an actress? She's Mexican-Syrian Wally Baram is Mexican-Syrian and grew up in the US state of New Jersey. Photo: @wallybaram/Instagram
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hailee From ‘Overcompensating' Is the Funniest Person on TV Right Now
The funniest person on TV right now is Holmes—no, not Sherlock Holmes, but Holmes, the actress behind the icon that is Hailee from Amazon Prime's college comedy series Overcompensating. The show was created by social media star Benito Skinner, and it follows Benny (Skinner), a closeted former football player and homecoming king, who is struggling to accept his sexuality while navigating his first year at Yates College. In the series, Holmes plays Hailee, a bleach blonde, out-of-pocket freshman, whose entire college social life revolves around hooking up with hot men and going to parties with her blonde besties. 'Ew, my knees look f--king nasty,' Hailee whines to her similarly blonde friends in first episode, while wearing a hot pink tube top with the phrase, 'Cowboy Cushions,' printed across the chest. (Side note: It's a very Juicy Couture look, and I'm obsessed.) At first glance, Hailee seems vapid, a sort of Paris Hilton caricature ripped straight from her early 2000s reality show, A Simple Life. However, don't be fooled by her outward appearance, Hailee is much more than a simple stereotype. Throughout the season, her character proves to be an absolute unhinged weirdo (in the best way possible), but also a profoundly loyal friend to her roommate Carmen (Wally Baram). She's ride or die for her besties, and honestly, we love that for her. Not to mention, it's the small moments when Hailee demonstrates a profound emotional insight that truly takes her character from funny stereotype and places her squarely in the 'icon' category. And viewers can't get enough of her. 'I'm being so serious when I say she needs to be nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. One of the most hilarious performances of the year #overcompesating,' a fan wrote on X. Others couldn't agree more, with one viewer writing: 'Every award. Give them to her!' As of now, there is no word yet on whether Overcompensating will be renewed for a second season. But, if it does, there is likely one request that most fans will have for Skinner—more Hailee, please.
