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Actor-writer-producer Nick Kroll has a big place in the heart of animation lovers around the world. We all know him as the co-creator/exec producer and voice of 79 characters on Netflix’s Emmy-winning and super popular show Big Mouth (including Nick Birsh, Maury the Hormone Monster, Coach Steve and Lola, to name a few). But he has also been a consistent voice player in some of the biggest animated movies and TV shows of the past 15 years including the Sing movies; The Secret Life of Pets 2; The Addams Family movies; The Life and Times of Tim; Sit Down, Shut Up; and Sausage Party (as the voice of a vaginal douche) as well as guest voices on The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy and American Dad!
The talented star has had a busy few months, making live appearances on panels and discussing his work on the past season of Big Mouth. We recently had the chance to catch up with him about his plans for the eighth and final season of Big Mouth. Here is what he told us:
Animation Magazine: Congrats on all the acclaim and attention Big Mouth has been receiving this year. We know we are in for a treat with the eighth and final season of the show premiering on Netflix next year. How does it feel to talk about the end of such a big period for you and the team?
Nick Kroll: The funny thing is, as you know, animation has this this incredibly long process with all of these different steps. It’s funny because we are now talking about a season that we finished a long time ago, and the eighth season hasn’t even aired yet and nobody knows anything about it yet. But the beauty of it is that to call this show a labor of love would be an understatement. The show means so much to me, and it’s so personal for me. Now that’s coming to an end, I think I have an even better grasp and appreciation for the whole journey of making it.
Can you take us back to the time when you and Andrew Goldberg came up with the premise of the show, which must have been at least 10 years ago now?
Andrew and I have been best friends since you we met in first grade, and we really did form each other’s comedic sensibilities. We stayed friends throughout our lives: I moved to L.A. doing more you stand up and sketch comedy and and acting Andrew cut his teeth working as a writer and producer on Family Guy. I believe it was around 2015 when I finished Kroll Show, Andrew and Mark [Levin] and Jennifer [Flackett] came to me with this idea: How about an animated show about you and Andrew in middle school going through puberty? That was one of those ideas that immediately made so much sense — because we thought it was such a smart idea, but also because our skills would complement one another’s. At that point, I had some experience as a voice actor, and Andrew had done so many years of Family Guy, and Mark and Jen as writers and directors could really see the broad picture.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the notion of ending things so that new things can begin. Oftentimes, it’s hard to kind of really give your heart and passion to something until you know you are finished with something else. Big Mouth was one of the things that came out of ending Kroll Show, and it’s been so gratifying for many reasons.
How does the final version of the show compare to what you had originally envisioned in your minds?
When Andrew had been at Family Guy, he connected with artist Joe Vaux, who’s one of the senior directors on that show. He helped us with character designs and helped us hire someone to cut together a pencil test. I think you can find it online somewhere. I had seen the pencil test Mike Judge had done for King of the Hill, and thought we should really use that as model for helping us show what we were about. I mean any show benefits from that especially a show about kids masturbating and going through puberty, It’s a hard sell. That’s why having a two-minute pencil test as a means to talk about the tone and look of the show really helped us sell it, and informed us on how it could and would work.
A few weeks ago, you and the cast performed a live show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. How was performing the show live different for you and the cast?
It was unreal, because the show is coming to an end, and we had this live table read of the final episode at Netflix a few months ago. It’s wonderful to be able to share it with fans, and everyone who’s working on it can also appreciate and share with the fans. I feel the love from the fans because I do stand-up and other live things, but these was a great way for the writers, animators, storyboard artists, the audio tea, the producers, and everyone who’s involved with the show to come and feel the love people have for the show on such a big scale. So it was quite gratifying on so many levels for all of us.
Since it’s Emmy season, let’s talk about the episodes that are submitted for consideration this year
I believe we submitted “The International Episode” (seventh episode of the seventh season, Episode 68), and I love it for so many reason, partly because Netflix dubs all of their shows in 17 languages or more. We have this great voice talent that does all the dubbing all over the world and to be able to feature them and showcase all these international comedians and musicians, and let them tell different stories that were specific to their region of the world. We also have our writers who have interests in in specific regions where they have family or cousins (for example in Brazil, Iran, South Korea, India, Australia, Kenya or Sweden, I think the only continent we couldn’t quite crack was Antarctica!)
What I like about what we do in the show — and I can sort of brag about this because I take very little credit for it — is that the producers always try to do something in every season that was incredibly ambitious. As you know, we did a Christmas special where we had mixed media like claymation, cut-out art and puppets. This year, “The International Episode” was such a massive undertaking and I was so happy about it. As far as submitting for the voice acting Emmy, Maya [Rudolph] has won the category three times for this all-time iconic character that she plays. I was told that this year, they are doing the voice award category differently where you can submit one character per episode, but I think we submitted Lola [one of the many characters Kroll voices] for one of those episodes.
Looking back at all of the years of Big Mouth, do any of the episodes stand out for you?
I would say, the “Vagina Shame” episode from Season 7 was really fun. There’s also the “Poop Madness” episode (Season 4, Episode 3), where it’s the final night of camp and Andrew and Nick are in a fight. Paul Giamatti plays Andrew’s poop [that has building up in Andrew’s bowels for a month]. It’s the embodiment of the hate and jealousy Andrew has been holding on to against Nick all summer. Seth Rogen is in that episode, too.
Of course, there’s “Everyone Bleeds” (Season 1, Episode 2) where Jessi gets her period and we have a tampon singing a song called “Everyone Bleeds,” and that’s the introduction of Connie, the Hormone Monster (Maya Rudolph) and she gives us this amazing monolog. I also loved David Thewlis as the Shame Wizard (Season 2, Episode 3) which was incredibly ambitious. Another favorite was the “Nick Starr” episode (Season 4, Episode 6), in which we see Nick in the future, and there we have the original “Changes” song by Black Sabbath. It deals with Nick and his fears of intimacy and anxiety. We also have an episode this season with Nick and Andrew sneaking into the city in the back of Judd’s car and they mistakenly eat mushrooms. I really enjoyed that one, too.
I mean now as I look back, we have 80 episodes of Big Mouth and 20 episodes of Human Resources and a Valentine’s Day special, and of course, I’m biased because so much of the show is based on my life and Andrew’s life, and I’m so connected to it.
One of the many aspects of the show that makes it stand out is the fact that unlike most cartoons, the characters actually age and graduate to higher grades. It was not what we had planned from the beginning. It was something that we discovered along the way, because these kids were going through puberty. They needed to change for the show to continue to evolve and for the basic premise of the show to make sense. That’s why we really embraced that and we move them forward in time and also change their physical appearances as well.
There are things that happen to our characters in the upcoming season that I won’t ruin, but obviously they go off to high school, and we see them in this next stage of life. They’re out of middle school and I think that kind of environmental change is really interesting. By season eight, it felt like we were still cracking new ideas, stories and material and really not repeating ourselves in any way, and I’m really happy that we were able to do that.
OK, now it’s time for our rapid-fire question: What were the animated shows or movies that really influenced you growing up?
Of course, The Simpsons and South Park. I also loved The Critic. Oh, and Bobby’s World for a brief period as well. Of course, I don’t mean to diminish the impact of shows like ThunderCats and G.I. Joe. Obviously, watching Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices (2008) made a big impact on me. I don’t think I knew it then, but I am sure in the back of my head, I was thinking, “Ooh, I could do a lot of voices like that!” Oh, and Animaniacs was really big for me, as well.
Of course, we have to ask this: What was your own puberty like growing up in Rye, New York? Did being funny help you a lot?
I had a I had a really great childhood, but puberty came late for me. I mean, that was really the premise of the show. I was a super late bloomer; I really didn’t hit puberty until I got to high school. I was really small and I was sort of looking and waiting … and waiting. Then, when I finally did hit puberty, it was a little late and I was incredibly emotional and volatile in a way that I’d never been before. So, that was my freshman and sophomore years, where I think a lot of kids hit puberty in sixth, seventh and eighth grade years. But being little and a late bloomer did kind of make me work on my sense of humor and try to be charming as a defense mechanism. So, now looking back, a lot of who I became and my sense of humor are based on that period of time in my life.
What do you hope the legacy of the show will be?
I think obviously like our goal first and foremost was to be as funny as we could be. I think inside of that comedy, we worked incredibly hard at telling real emotionally truthful and vibrant stories about all types of kids’ experiences during adolescence and sexual development period. The most gratifying thing is hearing parents and teachers and kids come to us and talk to us about the show as a means to navigate their own puberty or education around puberty; that the show would provide some a platform and foundation to have some very big, hard conversations. Of course ,you want to hear that people think the show is funny, but what has been really meaningful to me is to know that the show works on another level, that it has impacted people on an emotional level, and helped them not to feel alone.
Season 8 of Big Mouth is executive produced by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin through their prodco Brutus Pink, with animation by Titmouse. The regular series voice cast includes Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Andrew Rannells and Jordan Peele.
