The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
NOT SO ‘HIGH MAINTENANCE’
Ben Sinclair, the star of the HBO anthology series linked by weed dealer, attended Oberlin and keeps things pretty chill
If you’re looking for something to binge, this may be the time to delve into the world of HBO’s “High Maintenance,” which was co-created by 2006 Oberlin College graduate Ben Sinclair, who, like his character, The Guy, is as chill as they come. ¶ In fact, pandemic aside, in this time of divisiveness and vitriol an episode of “High Maintenance,” which recently aired its fourth-season finale, often can leave viewers in a state of calm reflection and inner peace — no THC required. ¶ Apparently, such a relaxed feeling permeates all aspects of Sinclair, who recently called while literally paddleboarding in the Venice Beach, California, canal. The occasional lapping-water background noise helped facilitate a tranquil conversation.
Such inner peace and relaxing exercise takes Sinclair back to his college days spent in Lorain County.
“Of course, I remember Elyria — I used to run there on the bike path from
Oberlin because I was training for the Cleveland Marathon my senior year,” said Sinclair, who created “High Maintenance” with ex-wife Katja Blichfeld.
“The only time I really ever left Oberlin was on foot to run around or to go to the movie theater in Elyria — or, if we were really feeling adventurous, to the Bennigan’s.”
On the surface, the halfhour show — which often acts as a love letter to New York City — is about a dealer who delivers marijuana on his bicycle. However, the truth is Sinclair’s The Guy gets minimal screen time in the anthology series.
Instead, his interactions springboard the story forward by introducing audiences to a diverse slice of humanity.
Also, try not to get tripped by the weed.
“I’d say it’s a series of vignettes, a diverse range of people all connected together by their weed dealer,” Sinclair said. “The other thing I say is it’s not really about weed; it’s about weed as much as ‘Cheers’ was about booze.”
On top of that, “High Maintenance” finds new and surprising ways to show the complexities of humanity while celebrating diversity, romance, love and heartbreak. Sinclair, who graduated with a degree in theater and dance, said he still relies on such thoughts, ideas and experiences learned while attending Oberlin College.
“My freshman year I had gender-neutral bathrooms, an acknowledgment of the nonbinary possibilities of thinking about gender,” Sinclair said.
“That was around 2002. It was a pretty amorphous place to develop your mind. I didn’t get many answers at Oberlin, but I learned how to ask a lot better questions.
“Also, Oberlin is a place to challenge the status quo. ‘High Maintenance’ itself was definitely an effort to challenge the status quo of what was happening on TV already. We wanted to mirror what we see in New York City, which is to say a very diverse place with people who aren’t just easily categorized into good people and bad people. They’re messy.”
As far as the success of “High Maintenance,” which started off in the nascent days of streaming on Vimeo in 2012 before moving to HBO in 2016, Sinclair said the artisanal show had timing going for it. Here was a series showing casual drug use when states were legalizing marijuana.
“I pinch myself every day at the dumb luck that we were working so hard on making this show at a time when people were opening their minds to all of these progressive topics we’re talking about — from weed to representation,” Sinclair said. “I feel there’s been a lot of kismet for us in terms of what people were ready to listen to and what we were making.” When the notion of ever staging or filming future projects in Oberlin was brought up, Sinclair mentioned a different idea regarding a potential return to the Buckeye State.
“I had a dream not too long ago that I was purchasing a house, and the interior was covered in shag,” Sinclair said. “It was on Main Street (in Oberlin). I remember in the dream being like, ‘Oh yeah, I remember liking it here in the summers.’ Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad to spend some summers in Oberlin, Ohio. “Maybe one day when I’m all done with making television shows, I will go to a place like Oberlin or Oberlin itself — even though I do like those mountains. It’s hard to commit (to) a place without an ocean or mountains for me, but I do picture myself in a place like Oberlin.”