6 Reasons You Need To Watch Big Mouth

Last year, Netflix unveiled a trailer for their new show Big Mouth: an adult-oriented animated sitcom about the pratfalls of puberty. The reaction to the trailer was... less than generous, to be, well, generous.

Amassing over 21 thousand dislikes, much of the backlash toward the show centered around the unusual art style and gross-out humor as it pertains to underage characters. Many thought that this was a huge step backward for a platform that gave us animated shows such as BoJack Horseman and F is For Family.

However, the first season came and went, and the response to the show warmed up immensely. The first season boasts a 78% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes (with 100% of critics rating it positively), and an 8/10 average on IMBD. Clips of the show are very popular on YouTube, and with the reveal of a trailer for Season 2 (which premieres on the 5th this week), the response compared to last year is night and day.

So how has this show that looked incredibly rough on the surface endeared itself to viewing audiences so well? What's their secret... or secrets...

Big Mouth is the joint creation of four producers, and the most well-known of the bunch is actor and comedian Nick Kroll. A veteran of television and the stage, Kroll stars in the series as Nick Birch, and he and all his adolescent friends are voiced by adult actors. However, unlike South Park, there is no attempt to modulate the voices to make them sound more childlike. Instead, Kroll and the ensemble cast are allowed to breathe their natural cadence and delivery into their performances, giving the show a vibe that may seem dissonant at first, but gradually, you come to accept as it allows for more variety in what the characters can discuss.

Among Kroll's co-stars are veteran actors Jenny Slate, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas (who many will recognize from Kroll's long-running FX sitcom The League), and John Mulaney (who co-starred with Kroll on the very successful two-man Broadway show Oh, Hello). All of these actors fit their characters perfectly.

And of course, it's not just the kids who have great performers. From Fred Armisen to Kat Dennings to Jordan Peele as the Ghost of Duke Ellington (seriously), the show has a wide array of voice talent to go around. Perhaps the greatest get for Big Mouth is Maya Rudolph as the Hormone Monstress, a supernatural creature who communicates with the female characters on the show. Rudolph completely disappears into the role and steals every scene she's in.