Coming of Age, Puberty, Comedy and Wholesome Relatability
Big Mouth is an American coming-of-age adult animated sitcom created by Family Guy writer Andrew Goldberg and screenwriter-directors Nick Kroll, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett.
The series centers around teens based on Kroll and Goldberg’s upbringing in suburban New York, with Kroll voicing his fictional younger self. Big Mouth explores puberty while embracing a frankness about the human body and sex.
Coming of Age all over the place
The series follows a group of 7th graders, including best friends Nick Birch and Andrew Glouberman, as they navigate their way through puberty with struggles like masturbation and sexual arousal all in the suburbs of New York City. Acting as over-sexualized shoulder angels are the hormone monsters: Maurice (who pesters Andrew and Matthew and occasionally Nick), Connie—the hormone monstress (who pesters Jessi and Nick and occasionally Missy) and Mona (who mainly pesters Missy). Throughout the series, the kids interact with people and objects who are often personified and offer helpful, yet confusing, advice in their puberty-filled lives including the ghost of Duke Ellington, a French-accented Statue of Liberty, a pillow capable of getting pregnant, a bar of Adderall, and even Jessi’s own vulva. They seek out their destiny as puberty destroys them mentally and physically.
Big Mouth hits home on many fields, especially on relatability. While watching the show, one often finds himself relating to the scenes, events and the over the top ridiculousness of growing up. The characters are well thought out, funny and none of them feel one-dimensional. The Chibi-like art style adds an extra level of cuteness and notability to the show.
Puberty is a weird time and we’ve all gone through it, some more easily than others. Some of us found an extra layer of sexuality through puberty, others were humping pillows and household objects when masturbation under the bed sheets no longer cut it. We talked to our closest friends about our weird and exciting secret discoveries of our bodies and this show manages to capture that, while adding a tone of fantastic humour, musical numbers, ridiculous situations and overall a ton of fun.
While the show mostly focuses on comedy and the unbelievable situations of growing up into teenagehood and adulthood, it also doesn’t fail to touch on serious topics such as alcoholism, drugs, depression, mental health, divorce, coming out and coming to terms with oneself. A perfect balance of comedy and drama, this exaggerated dramedy is a must watch for all who want to reminisce on their own puberty odyssey with glee, laughter and a few tears.
Notable Characters
Nicholas “Nick” Arsenio Birch is the main character and central protagonist of the show. He is a prepubescent 12-year-old late bloomer, who lives in the suburbs of New York City and attends Bridgeton Middle School. He is the youngest among his friends, Andrew, Jessi, Jay and Missy. He is based on and voiced by showrunner, Nick Kroll.
Jay Bilzerian is one of the main characters of Big Mouth. He is a 13-year-old boy who lives in the suburbs of New York City and he makes a habit of having sex with static objects. Jay is a very sexually active boy who tries to engage in sexual relationships with girls and later on, also guys. He suffers from his inability to self-actualize and self-reflect, often causing Jay to suffer inwardly from nervous tension and emotional insecurities, which always leads to feelings of shame, guilt and sadness.
Although dedicated, Jay’s love goes unrequited, which effects manifest themselves as being clingy once it’s given to him. He struggles with finding and creating his own identity and occasionally seeks out attention from others to cope with bouts of loneliness and sadness.
Andrew Glouberman is the secondary main character of Big Mouth. He is the 12-year-old best friend of Nick Birch, who goes to Bridgeton Middle School and lives in a suburban house in Westchester, New York. As if being a socially awkward dork wasn’t enough, puberty has hit Andrew like an oncoming train, turning him into a greasy, hairy mid-pubescent mess, who gets driven to madness by his hormone monster, Maury, who constantly urges him to masturbate, even at the worst possible times.
Lola Skumpy is a major recurring character. Lola is loud and obnoxious and nobody seems to like her. Melodramatic, attention-seeking, boy-crazy, and quick to anger, Lola is quite egotistical and believes she’s a lot better than she really is. People don’t like going near her because of how crude and repulsive she is, so she doesn’t have many friends, other than fake friends such as Devin, who secretly bully her and involuntary friends like Gina, who only befriend her because they feel obligated to be with her for some reason.
Maury (Aka the Hormone Monster) – Arguably the best character in the whole show, the cherry on top for all adult humor and references.
According to Maurice, he was born in the Archean eon during the Earth’s formation, when a Giant Alien fucked the planet, causing a bunch of lakes and lava pools to start forming. A volcano blasted a bunch of fireballs into a lake, which caused them to start bubbling. From that bubbling water, rose Maurice the Hormone Monster.
He is not only the hormone monster of boys who are entering puberty, but evolution itself. Maury is also the perfect personification of all the adult kinks and fetishes. Without him the show wouldn’t be the same.
Breaking the fourth wall on every occasion it can get, the show covers everything about puberty and coming of age. It’s the perfect blend of emotions, a show definitely not for kids, bound to make everyone relate to it one way or another.
If you want something fresh to make you laugh, with a pinch of nostalgia, watch Big mouth. Puberty. Coming of Age. All over the place.
