Wally Baram Wanted to Be a Cowboy—She Became a Rising Comedy Star Instead

Before Overcompensating star Wally Baram became the rising screenwriter, stand-up comedian, and actress she is today, she had an entirely different career path in mind: to be a cowboy. With no prior horseback-riding experience to speak of and just a love for the great outdoors and rural activities, she convinced her parents to let her attend a high school where you learn how to be a cowboy. But Baram's stint as a skilled ranch worker was short-lived. There was no quieting the voice in the back of her head touting her other pipe dream—comedy. In retrospect, comedy was always a deep-seated desire for the young creative, but as she tells me with a chuckle over Zoom, "a woman's whims cannot be explained!"

Following another short-lived stint studying economics and international affairs in New York (a backup plan in case the aforementioned comedy career didn't pan out), Baram moved to Los Angeles and attended film school for one semester, where she learned the basics of screenwriting. The rest, they say, is history. Baram went on to make a name for herself both in stand-up, debuting on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and in the writing rooms for notable comedies Shrinking, English Teacher, and What We Do in the Shadows.

All of this is to say Baram did not have a conventional high school or college experience—until Overcompensating came along.

Backed by A24 and the brainchild of Benito Skinner aka everyone's favorite sketch-comedy creator Benny Drama, Overcompensating is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age and coming-out comedy that follows closeted jock Benny during his freshman year at an East Coast college. Shortly after arriving on campus, Benny quickly befriends fellow outsider Carmen (Baram), and together, they navigate horrible hookups, cringeworthy interactions, and raucous frat parties in an attempt to fit in at all costs. With music by Charli XCX, the Amazon Prime Video sitcom is personal, heartfelt, and deeply relatable.

"I read the script and had a relationship with [Carmen] within the first three lines," Baram tells me. "It's this girl with frizzy, curly hair from New Jersey who is awkward and just ultimately trying to be loved—whether it be from friends, her family, anyone—and she's using love and romance to get it. I was like, 'Oh my God, that was my early 20s, my high school. As long as I could do that, I did that.'"

The project arrived in Baram's inbox following the 2023 writers' strike, and she immediately connected with its poignant themes. The 27-year-old was initially brought on as a writer, but after her first meeting with Skinner, things shifted. "I'm told by Benny and others that he hung up the call and called his producer and Mary Beth [Barone] and was like, 'I feel like I just met her. I feel like I met Carmen.' And of course, that's very exciting to hear now, after it's all done in a nice, nostalgic way," she says.

At the time, Baram was simply focused on trying to be a good writer for the show, so when she was asked to read for Carmen, she went through all the typical audition stages—self-tape, another self-tape, multiple chemistry reads. Still, it never occurred to her that she would actually be considered for the role. "Even when I got the call, I was like, 'Okay, it's not over until it's over,' and now, it's over, and I'm like, 'How did that happen?' Now, we are putting on the cone party hats and getting out a kazoo. Well, if people like it, then we'll do confetti, but right now, I'm just proud of the work that we've done," she says.

With Baram juggling both acting and writing responsibilities, Carmen became even more personal, and the question became, Where do you draw the line between actor and character? "It's obviously not autobiographical about me," Baram says. "I had to remind myself a lot that I am not Carmen. Having strong distinctions between Wally and Carmen was important and helpful for me because I could say, 'Okay, I know I want Carmen to have this of Wally, but I know that I don't want her to have this of Wally.'" It was a careful balance, and looking back, Baram says she is content with the pieces of herself she gave to Carmen.

The Overcompensating writer's room was unlike any other for Baram. "I mean, every writer's room is its own country with its own government and its own set of communities or culture and how it's run," she says, adding that this one was particularly special because it featured a great mix of people she looked up to, like Barone, and close friends, like Jordan Mendoza. "It was a nice comedic microcosm."

While cathartic in its writing process, Overcompensating would also be fulfilling for Baram in another way: She finally got a proper college experience—well, sort of. Between her cowboy, business finance, and screenwriting educational pursuits, she never got the storybook college experience that is often sensationalized in American media. "I graduated college through this project," she says.

Filming took place across four months in Toronto in what felt like a sleepaway camp with the most incredible group of actors. In addition to Baram and Skinner, the show stars Kyle MacLachlan, Connie Britton, Barone, and Adam DiMarco alongside exciting cameos from the likes of Kaia Gerber, James Van Der Beek, Bowen Yang, Charli XCX, and Megan Fox.

"Every day, I wake up and feel grateful that a different person was in it because I'm just so shocked that I am also in it," Baram laughs. When asked if there was one casting choice that stood out to her, she pauses to think and replies, "I mean Kyle MacLachlan—I was such a big Twin Peaks fan. I'm such a Connie Britton fan. But today, it's Megan Fox because I just think it's so cool, and she was in so many movies I watched growing up. I don't know what to say. Megan Fox is real, and she's so funny, and what the heck."

As far as acting debuts go, this one feels particularly exciting. It's like we're watching the next big comedy star emerge right before our eyes. It's yet another step in Baram's conception of becoming what she has always wanted to be, a multi-hyphenate. Growing up, Baram's role models were Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, women who proved you could be more than just one thing in this business, and she is proudly carrying that torch today.

As our conversation winds down, Baram leaves me with this: "I always thought I'd have this great artistic diet in terms of being able to eat different foods to keep me nourished as an artist. I definitely still want to be a writer and work in writer's rooms, and I still want to do stand-up. The goal is to eat a healthy meal."

Looks like we're all being fed.

Overcompensating premieres on May 15 on Prime Video.

Photographer: Kolby Knight

Stylist: Rebecca Grice

Hairstylist: Blake Erik

Makeup Artist: Rebecca Restrepo