Wally Baram Isn’t Her Overcompensating Character

Wally Baram may share some traits with her Overcompensating character, but she isn’t Carmen Neil. That’s why it’s been strange for the 28-year-old from New Jersey to see people conflating her with her first-ever acting role. Since Overcompensating premiered, her DMs have been flooded — including plenty of criticism aimed at Carmen’s behavior in Season 1’s final moments, when she kissed Benny’s crush and then outed him to his sister.

“I don’t linger in the DMs or comments. I mostly think they’re silly,” Baram says. “I want to respond like, ‘Yeah, I did that, and I’d do it again. And worse, and harder, and I’d do tons of other bad stuff, too!’ But I don’t; I’ll just send it to the group chat and giggle.”

Baram’s breakthrough role as the lovable BFF to Benito Skinner’s character has catapulted her to a new level of recognition, with a sold-out comedy tour (“such a dream”) and awards buzz as a “woman to watch” in comedy. She may be new to the screen, but she’s been working for years, with writing credits on titles like Shrinking and What We Do in the Shadows, as well as production experience under her belt. But her first love was stand-up.

“I was usually the shy person, then I got a job making the announcements in high school, and I’d be goofy and do impressions,” Baram says. “That was really my first foray into stand-up.”

She began performing at open mic nights while still in high school. “I was incredibly nervous the first time,” she says. “I was scribbling my name on the list. Then I’d immediately erase it, and then put it back on. I had to force myself to not erase it again.”

At age 18, she felt she had gotten her act together after getting recognition from fellow comics during a workshop. “The guy that ran it told me, ‘Wow, that's real stand-up,’ and I started to cry,” Baram says. “My anxiety at the time was unbelievable — just this stutter-y, shaking-in-your-boots level. So that affirmation meant so much.”

While her Overcompensating character may have found her place on campus, Baram left Barnard College halfway through freshman year and never looked back. “It was not a difficult choice at all,” Baram says. “I'd taken a gap year where I found so much comedy community. Then I went to college, and I realized I’m never going to use any of this. It was like a time-machine experience — I had already gone forward and saw the skills I really needed.”

Production was so intense, so our relationship got much more intimate right off the bat.

After that, she was off. Baram began doing international stand-up tours at 19, opening for one of her biggest inspirations, Brian Regan. “I remember watching Brian Regan's stand-up in sixth grade and then reciting his jokes to my friends on the bus,” Baram says. In 2021, she made her television debut performing a set on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at age 23. She still tours today, though now she has to balance it with her TV jobs.

Although college was firmly in her past, Baram’s first on-screen acting role brought her back to the (fictional) academic world nearly a decade later. After getting hired as a writer on Overcompensating when Prime Video greenlit the series in late 2022, Baram tried out for Carmen at the encouragement of series creator and star Skinner, who had become a new friend. “I felt pretty confident in my writing and stand-up ability, but acting gave me anxiety,” Baram says. “But it was something I’d definitely been trying to pursue, so when it finally came together, I was delightfully surprised.”

Playing Carmen was a whole new world for Baram, and required a skill set that didn’t overlap much with her live comedy career. “Acting and stand-up feel like such different crafts to me,” she says. On stage, Baram can indulge in her comical musings on antidepressants or tell awkward personal stories about burping on a work Zoom. While she admits “Carmen is very similar to me” in that they share a dry wit, Baram can get frustrated with her character’s motivations: “It'd be great to see her figure out where she could derive her self-esteem from other than just romantic escapades.”

Carmen’s messy love life meant Baram had to contend with the oh-so-intimidating TV staple of the sex scene. In the first season of Overcompensating, Baram got into compromising positions with Adam DiMarco as their characters hook up in a secret affair. “Those scenes were easier than I expected,” Baram says. “Everyone is taking so many precautions with an intimacy coordinator, not wanting to make anyone uncomfortable. There was so much rehearsal. And Adam is such a rock star. He was a nice shepherd in those moments where everything was very new to me.”

He texted me, and I was over the moon. Later that day, we found a rare Silas Rattlesnake after hours of searching.

What struck Baram most was how unrealistic the steamy moments actually were. One scene had Carmen hook up with DiMarco’s Peter against a bathroom stall during a party. “We would be like, ‘Oh, this is a ridiculous position,’” Baram says. “They do not mirror real life. You're like, ‘Oh yeah, we see these on TV,’ and then you get there and it’s like, ‘What's going on here? How does anyone even do this?’”

She formed an “instant connection” with Skinner, who had acted before, but was also new to helming his own project. “Production was so intense, so our relationship got much more intimate right off the bat,” Baram says. “We were being put through the wringer, which was somewhat familiar for Benny, but also in many ways not familiar for Benny. So there was a lot of bonding as we did this together.”

Recently, her texts with Skinner have all been about Overcompensating Season 2. After a tense few months of silence, Prime Video finally confirmed the series will come back for another season on Sept. 10. Baram learned this news while in a pretty unexpected place.

“I was hiking in Mexico searching for various snake species. Like bird watching, but for reptiles. I got a call from Benny, but the service was bad,” Baram says. “So he texted me, and I was over the moon. Later that day, we found a rare Silas Rattlesnake after hours of searching. It was such a specific, absurd, and utterly incredible day.”

Baram is already brainstorming what she wants Carmen’s story to be. She’s really intent on more “self-exploration” for her character, and is keen on bringing Carmen’s family into the mix. “It would be really fun to take Benny and Hailee into her home situation,” Baram says. “That could be an interesting juxtaposition.”

While she’s excited to play Carmen again, she’s also looking forward to flexing her newfound acting chops in different projects. “I would love to be in something goofier,” Baram says. “Not to poo-poo Carmen, but I would love to play something deeply different and see what that experience is like.”

Until then, she’s in the middle of a six-city stand-up tour and coming face-to-face with those Carmen comparisons. “A lot of those audience members haven’t seen a stand-up show before; they’re there to see the girl from Overcompensating. There's usually this interesting moment where they start to realize I'm not the character. I’ll notice the bits that do really well, I feel like it’s because they're comparing me with the character,” Baram says. “It’s been kind of a surreal experience.”