Television series

Big Mouth

Name: Big Mouth
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Released: 2017
Cast: Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph

Big Mouth animates puberty's chaos literally, sending Hormone Monsters, a Shame Wizard and an Anxiety Mosquito to torment Brooklyn middle-schoolers through masturbation, periods, crushes and humiliation. It's gleefully filthy, structurally inventive, and surprisingly tender underneath the raunch, using fantasy to say true things about bodies and self-loathing that live-action comedy rarely risks. Best for anyone who can laugh at their most mortifying adolescent memory.

TVMaze rating

7.7

If you liked this

Sex Education2019

Same raw honesty about sex and confusion, but grounded in real British comprehensive-school life rather than cartoon monsters — just as funny, more instantly recognisable.

But The animated fantasy and gross-out gags are gone, so it can feel tamer if you loved Big Mouth's anarchic swings.

PEN152019

Adults playing thirteen-year-olds among actual teen actors, capturing the same cringing specificity of puberty's humiliations, just live-action and even more excruciatingly accurate.

But No supernatural gloss to soften the embarrassment — it can sting more than it soothes.

BoJack Horseman2014

Same voice-cast overlap and Netflix pedigree, but trades puberty for midlife despair; the animation swings from absurd jokes to real heartbreak just as deftly.

But Considerably sadder and slower-building; don't expect the relentless joke density of Big Mouth's early seasons.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ginger Snaps2000

Both shows externalize puberty as a literal monster living inside the body — Big Mouth's Hormone Monsters are Ginger Snaps' werewolf curse played for laughs instead of screams.

A teenage girl's first period triggers a werewolf transformation in this cult Canadian horror-comedy — puberty as literal monstrous metamorphosis, played with real bite.

But It's gory horror, not sitcom comedy, and the practical creature effects are a world away from Big Mouth's warm cartoon fuzziness.

Human Resources2022no page yet

The actual spinoff — same Hormone Monsters, wider lens, following the creatures running the emotions rather than the kids feeling them.

But Less about adolescence specifically, and some found the shift away from the teen cast a diminishing return.

F is for Family2015

Bill Burr's foul-mouthed 1970s family sitcom shares Big Mouth's love of raunchy honesty about bodies and shame, with a stronger streak of domestic dysfunction.

But Meaner and angrier in tone — less warmth, more shouting, and no fantasy creatures to lighten it.

Never Have I Ever2020

Mindy Kaling's teen comedy tackles grief, horniness and identity with the same unashamed directness, narrated with real wit and warmth.

But It's a single-camera live-action high-school comedy, so anyone missing the cartoon chaos and monster puppetry will feel the absence.

American Vandal2017

A mockumentary about a school scandal that treats teenage absurdity with total deadpan seriousness — same fascination with how ridiculous being a teenager is.

But It's a true-crime spoof, not a hangout comedy, so the tone and structure are much drier.

Broad City2014

Different age, same shameless commitment to bodily humiliation and friendship-as-anchor; Abbi and Ilana's chaos is Big Mouth's energy transplanted into adult New York.

But No puberty, no monsters, no animation — just two women being filthy and hilarious in their twenties.

The Inbetweeners2008

The British granddaddy of cringing teen-boy humiliation comedy; cruder and meaner, proof this genre was thriving well before Netflix got hold of it.

But Live-action and much rougher-edged, with none of the emotional generosity Big Mouth eventually earns.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl2015

It uses the identical device — animated fantasy sequences erupting from a real teenager's inner life — that Big Mouth builds an entire show around, just in miniature and in earnest.

A teenage girl's sexual awakening in 1970s San Francisco, rendered with the same collision of raw honesty and cartoon fantasy — her drawings literally animate around her.

But Frank, sometimes uncomfortable sexual content handled with arthouse seriousness rather than gag-a-minute comedy.

My So-Called Life1994

Strip away every monster, gag and animated body part and you're left with My So-Called Life's core promise: that being a teenager feels exactly this overwhelming, arrived at by total sincerity instead of fantasy.

The mother of the honest teen drama — Angela Chase's diary-voice narration captures the same emotional chaos Big Mouth cartoons, decades earlier and completely straight-faced.

But Zero jokes about masturbation or bodily fluids; it's earnest 90s network drama through and through, and can feel slow by comparison.