Wally Baram is having a very novel experience.
The prolific TV writer and stand-up comic has her star turn on Amazon and A24’s new comedy Overcompensating. She started out in the writer’s room before creator Skinner and executives asked her to send in a tape. Having previously written on What We Do In the Shadows and Shrinking, she jokes: “You take it for granted, as a writer, what happens after you toss a script out. It does feel like you are playing God a little bit, and then just, oh, it happens!
Being a first-time actor, she laughs, explaining that “for the first three weeks, I would come in and say to my makeup artist, ‘You got in at what? You did what? Do you need snacks? This is crazy. How’s your heart doing?’”
For Baram, press week has been a blur, catching up with PAPER just before the show’s premiere. She says her “favorite part is making it. So this bit is just, very, very interesting and novel and cool. I love talking about it, because you love to talk about something that you love, and you love doing, which is, of course, second best to doing the thing.” And doing it she has, having written for the show and then acted opposite series creator and star Benito Skinner as the love interest-turned-best friend Carmen. She says going from the writer’s room to the screen was . “I think serendipity is the right word for it, because everything has fallen into place in a very harmonious way. Harmony might also be a good word for it, in that it, yeah, the simplest way is often the way, you know? It just feels very harmonious.”
It didn’t surprise her when executives asked her to send in a tape. “I think that’s actually not as uncommon in this day and age, where you have a lot of comedians and writers,” she explains. What did ultimately surprise her, however, was “that they wanted to move forward with me every step of the way, that they wanted to move forward with me, in large part because it just felt so unfeasible that you would cast someone that hadn’t acted as a lead in a show.”
Baram does relate to her character, though perhaps not in the most obvious ways. “I don’t know that I was socially outcast,” Baram says, “but I was definitely weird my whole life, and I definitely didn’t fit in with friend groups my whole life, and I’ve always had very odd interests… Science, reptiles, and fishing. Those are my favorite passions, and I’m a big nerd. But not typical nerdy things, so I just felt on an island, and I think comedy was my way to connect with everyone.”
It’s a story that mirrors, in part, the Carmen we meet in Overcompensating, herself an insecure and outcast girl who finds herself wrapped up in Benny’s high-stakes hijinks to cover up his sexuality. “I was cast as Carmen in part because I really understood her, and so I knew what to play,” Baram says. “And she is very similar to me. Over the course of my life, I’ve dealt with some very similar themes to her, overcompensating with romance.” But Baram’s no shrinking violet, not at this stage in her career. “Observing the careers of multi-hyphenate funny women before me definitely made me more bold in asking more from my career, from my mediums, and it allowed me to expect more from myself.”
For more on Wally Baram, read our full interview below.
Also be sure to check out PAPER’s cover story on Overcompensating with Benito Skinner and interviews with Mary Beth Barone and Rish Shah.
How are you feeling about the release of Overcompensating?
My favorite part is making it. So this bit is just, very, very interesting and novel and cool. I love talking about it, because you love to talk about something that you love, and you love doing, which is, of course, second best to doing the thing. It’s like, deeply, deeply novel.
You’ve been in writer’s rooms. Usually, you lock in, hunker down for a period of weeks, pump out a show, and don’t think about it until it comes out. Now you’re on the other side of the process as well. Has it been interesting?
Tremendously. I mean it deeply. You take it for granted, as a writer, what happens after you toss a script out. It does feel like you are playing God a little bit, and then just, oh, it happens! You don’t realize how painstaking it is, the lengths production will go to make sure that they match your script exactly how they read it, or exactly to the creative direction of it. It’s really remarkable. I had no idea the hours that production puts in, it’s so valiant. For the first three weeks, I would come in and say to my makeup artist, “You got in when? You did what? Do you need snacks? This is crazy. How’s your heart doing?”
You deeply take for granted what happens after the script phase. I don’t think it will change what I write, or how I write it exactly, but it’s definitely something I’ll consider and sympathize with. It’ll be a while before I write pink eye into a script, because the pink eye prosthetic gave me pink eye.
Wait, did it actually give you pink eye, like with antibiotics and everything?
We shut down production for the entire day because they didn’t want it to spread to other actors. I was in the meat of the scenes for the day, so they just shut everybody down. It was crazy. The amount of money that pink eye costs is bananas! On top of that, it was: put it on, and then I’d have a scene without it, and then another scene, so you put it back on. It started to take my eye skin off!
That’s a legendary comedy anecdote you hear about down the road, where the pink eye prosthetic gave everyone pink eye. It almost reads like you made it up!
At first we were like, oh this will be a fun story to tell the press. Then Benny got pink eye when we were shooting the photos for the show, so it was obviously very stressful for the marketing. And then our director got pink eye, and not back to back, just all at different times. It was very uncanny. Pink eye feels sort of like a boogeyman, where you say its name, and suddenly it’s everywhere.
I got it last summer too, coincidentally. I was in New York and headed to a press event and my eyes started to swell and I remember being like, wait, why can’t I open my eye? The doctor at urgent care told me I had pink eye and I was like, wait, pink eye? That’s a thing for children! This is a kindergarten disease! I hadn’t heard this since Brian Chow in the second grade. I couldn’t get over it. It was crazy.
I both understood it and I understood how I could make it my own, and where I could heighten and explore the character from there.
You’ve written for different TV shows, What We Do In the Shadows, Shrinking, and now this one. Was it difficult writing a character and working on scenes around a character, and then performing them? Did you ever feel too inside it, or was it helpful to the performance to have played with the material beforehand?
It was really helpful. I think I was cast as Carmen in part because I really understood her, and so I knew what to play. And she is very similar to me. Over the course of my life, I’ve dealt with some very similar themes to her, overcompensating with romance. Not that I was a huge harlot. That’s not what I mean by that, but not understanding my platonic value in society, or amongst my peers. She’s awkward and different in a way that I could really relate to but also portray as my own on screen. So there was a lot to work with, and then a lot to grow from in terms of the source material that we wrote. I both understood it and I understood how I could make it my own, and where I could heighten and explore the character from there.
Your getting cast does really feel serendipitous. Was there an inciting incident that kind of prompted producers to have you send in that tape?
I had been on shows before where they had asked me to send in a tape. That’s actually not as uncommon in this day and age, where you have a lot of comedians as writers. So when that happened, it didn’t surprise me, also, because I knew a lot of other people going out for her as well. In some ways, it didn’t surprise me. It ultimately surprised me that they wanted to move forward with me every step of the way, that they wanted to move forward with me, in large part because it just felt so unfeasible that you would cast someone that hadn’t acted as a lead in a show.
Serendipity is the right word for it, because everything has fallen into place in a very harmonious way. Harmony might also be a good word for it, in that it, yeah, the simplest way is often the way, you know? It just feels very harmonious. There’s been an ease to the creative process with this one. And I think that’s also because so much of the creative process here is dealing with things that are true. Things that are true can be obvious. That’s ultimately how we were able to pitch me.
I was reading about how there was an eight episode table read that you guys had to do for different studio executives. So you get cast on this show as a lead, a first-time actor in a lead part, going through this process, and then you do an eight episode read for the bigwigs. What was that experience like for you?
What’s uncommon is that you would do all eight at once. I’ve attended table reads in portions of two. It felt like the ultimate trial. Also, having been a writer now for seven years, and observed casting both on shows that I’ve been on and other shows… there is a feeling that everyone’s on the chopping block. Everyone tried really hard to be like, don’t worry, this is just a performance, no one’s auditioning, but you are always auditioning in this industry. So absolutely, it was very scary, but the actual experience of it was a blast. It was the closest thing I’ve ever done to stand-up, where you got to tell the joke on the page, and then had the experience of executives hopefully laughing at you.
Observing the careers of multi-hyphenate funny women before me definitely made me more bold in asking more from my career.
I was reading about how you studied the careers of people like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. How did that translate and have you applied it to your own career?
I’m sure you could say this across industries, but observing the careers of multi-hyphenate funny women before me definitely made me more bold in asking more from my career, from my mediums, and it allowed me to expect more from myself. I always thought that I could do both writing and acting.. I knew that I wanted to and I would have fun, but I didn’t have the confidence to think that it was something the industry would quite allow me to pursue. And so that’s what’s been really affirming about this process. Ultimately it’s made me more bold. Benny’s the perfect example that in the digital age, you can do it all.
In a recent interview, you called Benny “fearless,” after watching him on set. That he really goes for it. What were you observing on set that calls that word to mind? And how was it working with someone who translated so much of their digital career into something like Overcompensating?
I use the word fearless in a way that you probably wouldn’t expect. I don’t mean that he’s biting. To be fearless creatively can often mean to trust others. It’s one of the scariest things you can do with something that is your baby, and he really trusted the people around him and brought in their visions to his vision. You could come to him with an idea, and he’d be like, “Try that!” You could fail in front of him and he would not lose hope in you. He was always really encouraging to me. That’s what it means to be fearless on set and in the writers room. Working with him has been inspiring, in a way that is scary, because you realize the ceiling on all of the things you can be. He brings so much energy and so much creativity and a lot of integrity to and kindness to all of his interactions. It makes you want to ask more of yourself.
You talk about finding yourself in comedy. How did you find yourself in comedy in the beginning, and what was it about comedy that really resonated with you?
I found comedy from one of my favorite aunts. “One of” is critical, if that’s ever quoted. She showed me Brian Regan’s comedy album, which is a clean comedy album that kids can listen to. He was on Last Comic Standing, and I just wailed, and did the thing that a lot of young kids do, where they repeat the jokes that they hear other stand-up comedians do. I found it in a really classic way, and it resonated with me. I don’t know that I was socially outcast, but I was definitely weird my whole life, and I definitely didn’t fit in with friend groups my whole life, and I’ve always had very odd interests. I love science, reptiles, and fishing. I’m a big nerd. But not typical nerdy things, so I just felt on an island, and comedy was my way to connect with everyone. To this day, that’s still what it means to me. It’s comforting to speak a truth or a shame or something and have other people validate or connect with that truth. It feels like a valuable experience for everyone involved.
Photography: Kenyon Anderson
Styling: Marissa Pelly
Makeup (Benito): Rommy Najor
Makeup (Mary Beth and Wally): Mollie Gloss
Hair (Benito): Akihisa Yamaguchi
Hair (Mary Beth and Wally): Sergio Estrada
Grooming (Rish): Kennedy Trisler
Set design: Liz Mydlowski
Photo assistant: Sahara Bibi Ndiaye
Digitech: Bob Wagoner
Styling assistant: Jordan Kennedy
Production assistant: Kaiya Lang
Editor-in-chief: Justin Moran
Managing editor: Matthew Wille
Executive creative producer: Angelina Cantú
Story: Joan Summers
Cover design: Jewel Baek
Publisher: Brian Calle