Mary Beth Barone

Mary Beth Barone
Born (1991-05-28) May 28, 1991
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationBoston College (dropped out)
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actress
Years active2015–present
Comedy career
Medium
  • Television
  • stand-up
Genres
Subjects

Mary Beth Barone (born May 28, 1991) is an American comedian and actress. As of 2025, she stars as Grace on Benito Skinner's Amazon Prime Video comedy series Overcompensating (2025–present), for which she also writes, and co-hosts the Dear Media podcast Ride (2023–present) with Skinner. The two also previously co-hosted the Spotify podcast Obsessed (2021–2023).

Barone began her comedy career in New York City in 2015 after working with the Upright Citizens Brigade. She became known for her live show Drag His Ass: A Fuckboy Treatment Program, which was created in 2019 and adapted into a Comedy Central web series in 2021.

Early life

Barone was born on May 28, 1991,[1][2] and raised in a Catholic family in Stamford, Connecticut and has five older siblings.[3][4] Her father worked as a surgeon and briefly performed as a stand-up comedian in New York City in the 1970s; he died in June 2025.[5] She attended Catholic school in Greenwich for 10 years and later graduated from Westhill High School in Stamford.[6][7] Prior to attending college, she identified as a Republican.[8] She began studying English at Boston College, but dropped out two years later and moved to Chinatown in Manhattan at age 20, where she lived for several years.[9][10]

Career

While working at a start-up, Barone took two months of improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade before doing stand-up during an all-women open mic for the group in 2015, after which she decided to pursue comedy full-time.[11][5] A humorous "frequently asked questions" pamphlet she created to answer her family's anticipated questions about a date she was going on while on vacation in Florida went viral on Twitter in May 2019.[3] She met fellow comedian Benito Skinner in 2019 at a comedy show in Bushwick and began hosting a monthly comedy show with him that year.[12][13] Also in 2019, she performed a stand-up set for Comedy Central and started the Instagram account and Brooklyn–based live comedy show Drag His Ass: A Fuckboy Treatment Program.[14][15] In May 2021, Drag His Ass had been adapted into a Comedy Central web series.[16] During the COVID-19 pandemic, she started Coming Clean, a livestreamed comedy show on Instagram filmed from her bathtub.[17]

Barone and Skinner co-hosted the weekly Spotify podcast Obsessed, in which they discussed their pop culture "obsessions", from March 2021 to March 2023.[18] Also in March 2021, Barone performed for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[15][9] She and Skinner began co-hosting the weekly Dear Media podcast Ride in March 2023.[19] The Atlantic included it on their list of the best podcasts of 2023.[20] In March 2024, she released her self-produced stand-up special, Thought Provoking, on YouTube, and performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote it.[9] Barone started the social media video series Politics for Hot People, which focused on progressive politics, in February 2025.[21]

In 2025, Barone began starring in Skinner's Amazon Prime Video series Overcompensating, adapted from his live show of the same name,[22] as Grace, an uptight and popular college student at the fictional Yates University and the older sister of Benny, a closeted freshman at Yates played by Skinner.[7][23] She is also a writer for the series.[24] Henry Chandonnet of The Daily Beast called her a "series standout" and one of several "genuine breakouts" on the show, while Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called her role "poignant" and "perhaps the show's most moving performance".[25][26] Barone co-starred on the music video for the song "Wild Guess" by Australian singer-songwriter Ruel, which premiered in October 2025.[27]

Personal life

Barone is bisexual.[6] By 2021, she was dating actor Edward Bluemel.[15]

Comedic style

In 2018, Time Out New York described Barone's comedic style as "dark post-modernism".[28] Her comedy has been described as deadpan, observational, feminist, sex-positive, and focused on topics such as sex, bisexuality, religion, white privilege, the patriarchy, and "fuckboys".[10][29][17] Vulture described her as "the undisputed queen of hot girl comedy" in 2020.[15] She has listed Victoria Beckham, Lucille Ball, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and her father as influences on her comedy.[4]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Mary Beth's Sex Tape Mary Beth Short film; also writer and co-producer
2022 Supernigga Jessica Short film
2023 The Anne Frank Gift Shop Madison Short film
2024 The Disruptors Mary Beth
Sugar Baby Marie Also executive producer

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2022 That Damn Michael Che Party Planner #1 Episode: "Black Mediocrity"
2023 Black Mirror Lucy Episode: "Joan Is Awful"
2025 Overcompensating Grace Main cast; also staff writer

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Notes Ref.
2025 "Wild Guess" Ruel Female lead; directed by Jackie! Zhou [27]

References

  1. ^ "Mary Beth Barone, Comedian + Actor". Into the Gloss. April 25, 2025. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  2. ^ Chen, Tanya (May 1, 2019). "A Woman Handed Out Pamphlets To Her Family To Answer All Their Pestering Questions Ahead Of A Date". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  3. ^ a b McLaughlin, Kelly (May 2, 2019). "A woman gave her family a hilarious brochure about going on a date while they were on vacation, and recommends the tactic for anyone dealing with prying personal questions". Business Insider. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Derschowitz, Jessica; Howard, Courtney; Malkin, Marc; Miller, Stuart; Plunkett, Paul; Riley, Jenelle (July 17, 2025). "Variety's 10 Comics to Watch for 2025 Includes Emmy Nominee Robby Hoffman, 'Overcompensating' Star Mary Beth Barone". Variety. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Nordstrom, Leigh (May 6, 2021). "Why You Should Pay Attention to Mary Beth Barone". WWD. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Garcia, Gretty (June 30, 2020). "Mary Beth Barone Is a Sucker for Stories of Forbidden Love". The Cut. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Nguyen, Jayden (May 29, 2025). "'Overcompensating' actor Mary Beth Barone talks about CT hometown on 'Therapuss' podcast". Shelton Herald. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  8. ^ Summers, Joan (June 5, 2025). "'Overcompensating' Hits Where It Heals". Paper. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Martino, Will (July 11, 2025). "Mary Beth Barone Is Boston College's Funniest Dropout". The Heights. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Goldberg, David (April 1, 2019). "Mary Beth Barone talks stand-up, shopping and partying in NYC". Time Out New York. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  11. ^ Baker, Jessica (May 14, 2021). "Mary Beth Barone Is Here to Save Your Dating Life". Who What Wear. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  12. ^ Gilcrease, Grayson (August 26, 2021). "Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone's Obsessed Podcast Was Born From Toxic Stan Culture". Popsugar. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  13. ^ Macias, Ernesto (October 9, 2019). "Benny Drama on 'Terrifying' Libras, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Catholicism". Interview. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  14. ^ Wetmore, Brendan (February 26, 2020). "Meet the Comedian Curing Fuckboys: Mary Beth Barone". Paper. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  15. ^ a b c d Nugent, Annabel (November 19, 2021). "Mary Beth Barone interview: 'I was always suspicious of funny women'". The Independent. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  16. ^ Halabian, Layla (May 11, 2021). "Comedian Mary Beth Barone Will Drag F*ckboys Toward Redemption". Nylon. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  17. ^ a b "The Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2020". Vulture. October 19, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  18. ^ Valentine McCartney, Claire (February 20, 2024). "Benito Skinner & Mary Beth Barone Launch New Podcast, 'Obsessed'". Nylon. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  19. ^ Reynozo, Shirley (March 29, 2023). "Ride - a new podcast by Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone". Galore. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  20. ^ Standley, Laura Jane (December 26, 2023). "The 25 Best Podcasts of 2023". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  21. ^ Holtermann, Callie (July 5, 2025). "How 'Hot' Became a Bipartisan Political Buzzword". The New York Times. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  22. ^ Summers, Joan (June 5, 2025). "Mary Beth Barone Talks 'Overcompensating'". Paper. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  23. ^ Ang, Raymond (May 22, 2025). "How Benito Skinner made Overcompensating". British GQ. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  24. ^ Hereford, André (May 17, 2025). "'Overcompensating' Is Funny, Flirty, and Fearlessly Honest". Metro Weekly. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  25. ^ Chandonnet, Henry (May 16, 2025). "Not Another 31-Year-Old Playing a Teenager on TV". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  26. ^ Lloyd, Robert (May 14, 2025). "Review: 'Overcompensating' navigates the confusion of college life and self-discovery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  27. ^ a b Newton, Felicity (2025-10-17). "Ruel is celebrating the release of his album 'Kicking My Feet' with a new video for 'Wild Guess'". Dork. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  28. ^ "Different Energies". Time Out New York. September 7, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  29. ^ Garcia, Gretty (June 30, 2020). "Mary Beth Barone Is a Sucker for Stories of Forbidden Love". The Cut. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
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