Known for his hilarious comedy skits and impersonations on Instagram, Benito Skinner (aka Benny Drama) shares his anecdotes on the medicine of laughter during a global crisis

&quot;It&#39;s crazy. I was screaming,&quot;&nbsp;an excited <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/the-creatives-you-need-to-follow-on-instagram-for-positive-vibes-and-much-needed-laughs">Benito Skinner</a> shares, reflecting on Kim Kardashian recently reposting an impersonation sketch he published on his Instagram of her and her sisters. The comedian and internet genius, known to his&nbsp;audience as Benny Drama, has seen such viral success from his original skits on social media that it&#39;s&nbsp;almost surreal to watch his growth in real time.

The creative produces all his videos by himself&nbsp;using&nbsp;a green screen,&nbsp;wigs&nbsp;and costumes, and his&nbsp;hilarious three-minute videos have reached seemingly every corner of&nbsp;the world. Celebrities have also taken notice: his comment section is frequented by <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/zoe-kravitz-portrait-of-a-lady-interview-2019">Zo&euml;&nbsp;Kravitz</a>, <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/living/chateau-de-tourreau-where-joe-jonas-sophie-turner-exchanged-their-vows">Sophie Turner</a>,&nbsp;January Jones, and more.&nbsp;

&quot;The interns are crying&quot; was the first thing I heard&nbsp;the morning I met Benny as he entered the venue of&nbsp;a fashion week show we were both cast&nbsp;in. One by one, I watched those around him timidly&nbsp;request&nbsp;pictures and confess&nbsp;how much they loved&nbsp;him, while others, like myself (also a huge fan), nervously looked on, too scared to approach him. As we sat side by side&nbsp;in hair and makeup, both getting our wigs perfected for the show, Benny turned&nbsp;to me and said, &quot;You are so beautiful&quot;. Immediately&nbsp;my heart and anxiety melted away, and my curiosity about his comedic work&nbsp;and his evident midas-touch for content grew.&nbsp;

Fast-forward less than a year, and Benny has amassed over&nbsp;1 million followers on Instagram&nbsp;alone, has toured the country with his comedy show Overcompensating,&nbsp;and has continued to consistently produce the most shared, reposted, and&nbsp;side-splitting content on the internet.

And although the pandemic has forced digital creatives to rework their&nbsp;approach to publishing content entirely,&nbsp;Benny Drama has managed to stay constant in his perfectly-timed, joy-inducing videos, which seem&nbsp;to be just what his audience and the world needs right now. We got the chance to talk to the internet mastermind on what a creator means to him right now, the projects he&#39;s most excited about for the future, and of course &mdash;&nbsp;his devotion to Hilary Duff.

Ryan Norville: Right now is such a crazy time to be a creator. How would you say creating content during a pandemic, where everyone is in such a different mental state, differs from creating at any other time of your life?

Benny Drama: I think it&#39;s just different knowing that everything I am producing has a bigger impact and maybe is even more important. It sounds strange, but I think a lot of creators have felt an increased&nbsp;amount of pressure during this time. Because you want to give people the escape they need, but at the same time, you&#39;re trying to figure out what&#39;s appropriate and you&#39;re trying to adapt to this very strange time we&#39;re living in. I obviously wanted to touch on the quarantine aspect&nbsp;because to not address it would be strange. If there&#39;s something funny about you or your name or what you&#39;re wearing, it&#39;s always important to start off your set by commenting on it. If not, people are going to fixate on why you haven&#39;t commented on that yet. So I thought, okay, I&#39;ll do a skit on the (astrological) signs in quarantine. I felt like that would be a nice escape for viewers, but still relative&nbsp;to current events.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

RN: To your point of creatives feeling more pressure to produce content during this time, do you ever feel that way? I remember reading one of your Instagram comments, almost demanding for more of your videos. How do you navigate that demand while also processing your own emotions?

BD: I think first and foremost the greatest pressure I get comes from myself. I really just love making things, writing things, acting, and producing. So I think any pressure that I feel is more tied to knowing how finishing any work will result in me feeling a lot better during this time. I feel like there was kind of a big push on the internet&nbsp;to maximise productivity; learn a new language or something, but honestly you can watch reruns of Sex in the City and eat frozen mangoes and be just as solid. I saw a video about how you can apparently work on your abs while watching TV. I&#39;m like, why would you&nbsp;ruin TV like that?

So I try to give myself that balance of sectioning out my week where maybe I&#39;m working on my writing one day and I&rsquo;ll dedicate the next day to a video. Then I can kind of take off those moments at night when I literally just want to watch a documentary and go to bed. I don&#39;t want to be filming all night. That&rsquo;s my balance.

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RN: You recently moved across the country after living&nbsp;in Brooklyn for so many years. How did you make the decision to do that and what was it like moving in the middle of a pandemic?

BD: The decision just went with my career at the time. There were a few more opportunities out here. My boyfriend and I had&nbsp;been in Williamsburg for about four years,&nbsp;I had been in Bushwick for two, and it felt like time. I love New York so much and I absolutely know that I&#39;ll go back all the time. But&nbsp;I&#39;ve always wanted to be in LA. I also just needed a bit more space for my wigs and costumes. I lived in a pretty populated neighbourhood in New York, crowds of people around all the time, and I grew up in Idaho &mdash; so I kinda wanted to transition to a neighbourhood where I could walk around a bit more freely, and also explore the LA comedy scene. I love both cities so much and I know that both of them will be a big part of my life in the future. So I really didn&#39;t treat it as like a huge thing knowing I will be back as much as possible.

&nbsp;

RN: And the moving process? 

BD: The move just happened super quick. We boxed up our stuff in like a pod and then literally two days later the quarantine began. So then I had to get on a plane immediately right before stricter lockdown guidelines were recommended. It was super scary, but I literally didn&#39;t have a bed at that point because all of our things were en route to LA. I feel super lucky about the actual moving&nbsp;process and finding an apartment which was actually pretty smooth.

&nbsp;

RN:&nbsp; Now that you&rsquo;re on the west coast, do you feel like there&#39;s like a different version of yourself in LA? I know when I&#39;m in LA, I&#39;m a different person. LA-me does different things; I go on hikes, I sunbathe, I&rsquo;m at the beach every day. Is there an LA Benny? Does he drink more smoothies or indulge in anything New York Benny wouldn&rsquo;t?

BD: No, no. I say as I drink my sparkling water [laughs]. I&rsquo;m definitely a little bit more outdoorsy. I definitely holed up in New York quite a bit. But I still keep the pace of New York; I still love churning&nbsp;out videos and writing all day. So I love that New York instilled&nbsp;that in me.&nbsp;I try to hike because my boyfriend likes to,&nbsp;but also the weather here is so nice that it&#39;s great to be outside and take breaks, especially when I&#39;ve been inside editing a video for eight hours. Also, I feel like here I can dress more like myself.

&nbsp;

RN: Really?!

BD: Yes I feel like I need to dress more minimal in New York. Just a regular t-shirt and some sneakers.&nbsp;In LA I feel more comfortable wearing like my full tie-dye, kicks, and everything.

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RN:&nbsp; Living in Los Angeles&nbsp;are you interested in pursuing any acting roles or anything outside your comedy work?

BD: Yes definitely. I&#39;ve been doing some auditioning. I&#39;m in something coming out soon, so I&#39;m excited to talk more about that. Can&rsquo;t give any details just yet! But auditioning has been really fun. I feel like that&#39;s always been part of my plan to expand my work, being able&nbsp;to move past the three minutes on YouTube. So that&#39;s definitely also a huge reason for the move as well. But I am still just as invested in my social media videos, so they&#39;re not going anywhere but will probably just continue to evolve and grow,&nbsp;which is my ultimate goal.

&nbsp;

RN:&nbsp; We spoke before about the emotional attachment some of your audience has to you, or rather the characters you play. Are there any differences between you and the characters you create&nbsp;that you wish your audience knew?

BD: Totally. I feel like there are some characters I feel so distant from. But then there are some, like Benita, that feel very similar to me and&nbsp;my views on life. A lot of my characters go pretty hard and I used to be like that, but now&nbsp;I&rsquo;m more relaxed, and my interests are pretty relaxed. I love going to the movies&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;I&#39;ll definitely maybe have a few tequila sunrises, but I wouldn&#39;t call myself someone who goes clubbing a lot. Whereas most of my characters are pretty intense and are party animals.

&nbsp;

RN: Oh, tell me more. 

BD: It&#39;s always funny to me when I&rsquo;m at meet and greets &mdash; which is hilarious to me in general, because&nbsp;the event is happening from me posting on the internet, and I&#39;ll never get over that. That is crazy. But people always want to go out for drinks after a show. And I&#39;m literally so tired. I can&rsquo;t do it, people see me and probably think I&rsquo;m just so quiet. I&#39;m not saying I&#39;m introverted, but definitely, before shooting a&nbsp;video or doing a show, my energy is obviously elevated to such a degree. I&#39;m in front of the green screen, I probably drank several coffees and I&rsquo;m ready to go and then, you know, it&#39;s towards the end of the day when I&#39;m chillin&#39; out&nbsp;on my couch,&nbsp;giggling at memes. I&#39;m super chill, more so than people think.

&nbsp;

RN: &nbsp;New York being&nbsp;so small, I&rsquo;m sure your followers always notice you on the street. What are those interactions like?

BD: Oh my god. They&#39;re always kind of shocking to me. Like at first if someone does say something, I&rsquo;m always listening to music, and&nbsp;I&#39;m not really somebody who goes on a chill, light walk. Which I think is probably something that New York instilled in me. But when I leave, I&#39;m laser-focused, not seeing anything on my right or left, I am blasting<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/lady-gaga-stupidlove-mv"> Lady Gaga</a> and I am on a three-count stomping. So at first I&rsquo;m startled, but everyone is always super sweet, and they always tell me about their favourite video or they&rsquo;ll have a future video request sometimes, which is fun to hear. I&#39;ve been lucky in that the people who have come to my page&nbsp;are a very accepting, eccentric, fun group of people. And every time I meet somebody who follows me, they&nbsp;either have really wild makeup on or they&rsquo;re in like a full &#39;fit. And I&#39;m like, YES! Those are my kids! Then sometimes it&#39;s some girl&#39;s boyfriend who is like &ldquo;Dude, my girlfriend loves you!&rdquo; And I&#39;m like, &quot;Love that for you&quot;.

&nbsp;

RN: One thing people really know you for is your pop culture references. They just always feel extremely&nbsp;on time, and on point. What informs what you&#39;re creating and how do you select what cultral topics you want to address?

BD: Ooh. I usually gauge how excited I am, or maybe my boyfriend or my friends. When I read that Lizzie McGuire was moving off Disney+, for me, that felt like such a pop culture moment, especially within the groups that I follow and the people that I follow. It felt like a conversation everyone wanted to be a part of. So that was an obvious sign to me.

&nbsp;

RN: Well you&rsquo;re also a huge Hilary Duff fan.&nbsp;

BD: Oh I&#39;m a stan for life. I can never meet her. There&rsquo;s just some people I can&rsquo;t meet. I&#39;ve been in the same room with <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/rihanna-and-partynextdoor-release-new-song">Rihanna</a> and we have locked eyes, but I couldn&rsquo;t actually try to speak to her. At that moment I knew I was about to start crying in front of her. And also <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/beauty/gucci-guilty-fragrance-campaign-starring-lana-del-rey-jared-leto">Lana</a> (Del Rey).

And in terms of&nbsp;content, I also felt like with the Kardashians &mdash; the Kim and Kourtney fight that aired on the new season was just everywhere. I didn&rsquo;t film a sketch on it immediately&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;and then people were demanding a video of it. But I wanted to make sure that I had&nbsp;something more to add to the sketch than just a reenactment,&nbsp;to have my own personal take and comedic touches on the scene. That was when I was excited to film it, or what I thought people would be excited about.

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RN: Well, I mean you had Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe commenting on your last video of them and reposting it to their own stories.

BD: It&#39;s crazy. I was screaming, I was jumping up and down on the bed. That felt really good because I always want these to be videos that are really fun for people and never make anyone feel jabbed or hurt. I want it to feel like things a friend would say if they are making fun of you.&nbsp;But my focus is more to comment on my observations of social media, pop culture, the queer experience, and maybe some of our&nbsp;teen experiences.&nbsp;I&#39;m not trying to like ruin somebody&#39;s life.

&nbsp;

RN: You said before you&rsquo;re pretty much a one-person production team. How long does it take to complete a video you post on Instagram from say, conceptualisation to the moment it&rsquo;s posted?

BD: It definitely depends on the video. The Kardashians and any longer series take much more time. Like &ldquo;Signs in Quarantine&rdquo;&nbsp;probably took 13 hours to edit and probably two days to shoot with all the characters. And then my skin never forgave me for that, but I love doing the makeup, it&#39;s peaceful for me and it really helps me to get into character. I love a good transformation, I&#39;m doing a <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/007-theme-song-is-sung-by-billie-eilish">Billie Eilish</a> video tonight, and when I finally got the wig on I started to feel it. That&rsquo;s the moment for me where I&#39;m like, this is going to be good. Makeup is probably 30 minutes to an hour based on how extreme the look is, and&nbsp;I&#39;m definitely a perfectionist. Sometimes writing a script takes 15 minutes and sometimes they take days.

&nbsp;

RN: Trust me, we&rsquo;re grateful. You&#39;re doing important work.&nbsp;

BD: Thank you! Sometimes videos can take so long to record I don&rsquo;t even know if they&#39;re funny anymore. I just post it, and I&rsquo;m like, literally you guys could drag for this one at this point.

&nbsp;

RN: You mentioned you would love to expand and evolve your content. Do you have any dream collaborators you think about filming skits with?

BD: Oh my god. I feel like me and Dante Coley are currently overdue for a project. I love him so much and we&#39;ve gotten to spend some time together. I think he&#39;s so creative and just brings so much joy to me and so many people. I would love to team up with some of the people that I have done impressions of. So that&#39;s maybe&nbsp;already in the process of happening, which I can&#39;t reveal, but I think it would be really interesting and hopefully fun to watch. I miss Bojangles, our Harry Potter moments together.&nbsp;I would love to bring back Dumbledore and Dumblewhore. I really love the people&nbsp;I&#39;ve met via the internet, which is so weird and bizarre because&nbsp;the first time you meet them you&#39;re like, why do I feel like I know you so well?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

RN: Do you have any hot takes on some new pop culture icons that have come out during quarantine? 

BD:&nbsp; I mean I love Katie Couric. So much. I feel like I followed her for so long and she&#39;s such a legend, and she&#39;s been giving us&nbsp;a lot of comfort during this time. I&rsquo;ve actually loved watching some of the Instagram lives. Well, I mean, some of them.

&nbsp;

RN: They can definitely be overwhelming right now. 

BD: I love seeing what different comedians are doing during this time. Mary Beth Barone had a fun live show that I&#39;ve done a few times, and then Cat Cohen has Club Cumming, which is amazing. And Sydnee Washington has a &ldquo;Cook with Me&rdquo; show that&#39;s fun to watch. But honestly, I&#39;ll just watch Riverdale forever, I can&#39;t let it go. Forever and always it will take you on a journey.

Benny Drama Wants To Eat Frozen Mangoes And Watch Riverdale With You

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