Trivia / Big Mouth

• Acting for Two:
  • Nick Kroll voices up to twelve characters, including Nick Birch, Maurice the Hormone Monster (doing a pitch-perfect Will Arnett impression), and Coach Steve, the last of whom even reuses Kroll's voice for Douche.
  • John Mulaney not only voices Andrew, he also voices Mint in "Pillow Talk", Babe the Big Blue Ox in "Am I Gay?" and the recurring character Detective Flores.
  • Jason Mantzoukas voices Jay Bilzerian, Guy Bilzerian, and the ghost of Socrates.
  • Fred Armisen voices Elliott, a bus driver, and the ghost of Antonin Scalia.
  • Maya Rudolph's characters include Nick's mom Diane, Connie the Hormone Monstress, the ghost of Elizabeth Taylor, the ghost of Whitney Houston, Principal Barron, and Ms. Clinkscales.
  • Jordan Peele voices the Ghost of Duke Ellington, a Santa Claus character played by Tyler Perry, Freddie Mercury, and Patrick Ewing.
  • Paul Scheer voices one of Jay's older brothers Kurt, as well as a camper (the one with his hair, eyebrows and tooth gap) in Season 4.
  • Pretty much the only regular who doesn't play more than one character is Jessi Klein, and the only time she played a character other than Jessi was in "Duke" when she played Jessi's possible ancestor, Margaret.
• All-Star Cast: The show definitely prides in its cast, with big names in comedy like Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele and Richard Kind, with appearances from Andrew Rannells, Kristen Bell, Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm and Nathan Fillion. Season 2 adds David Thewlis, Gina Rodriguez, Jean Smart, and Bobby Cannavale. Season 3 brings in Ali Wong, Thandie Newton, and, in appearances, Martin Short, Carol Kane, and Wanda Sykes. Season 4 brings in Seth Rogen, John Oliver, Maria Bamford, Lena Waithe, Zach Galifianakis and Sterling K. Brown. Season 5 gives us Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Scott, Jemaine Clement, Kristen Schaal and veteran voice actor Pamela Adlon.
• Actor-Shared Background: In episodes 1-3 of Season 4, Seth Goldberg is Canadian, like Seth Rogen. However, Goldberg is from Montreal, Quebec and Rogen is from Vancouver, British Columbia. And for unknown reasons, he doesn't bother with a native accent.
• The Cast Show Off:
  • Maya Rudolph gets to show off her singing voice in "Girls Get Horny Too". This happens again in season two with her song "I Love My Body".
  • Jenny Slate gets to sing in "Requiem for a Wet Dream."
  • Broadway veteran Andrew Rannells does his own singing. It’s most notable in “My Furry Valentine”. He gets to sing again in "The Funeral".
  • The season 3 episode "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!" is pretty much an excuse for everyone to sing.
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Male as female examples: Kroll as Lola and (possibly) Ladybug.
  • Female as male example: Writer Emily Altman plays male camper Milk.
• The Danza:
  • Nick Kroll plays Nick Birch and Jessi Klein plays Jessi Glaser.
  • Season 2 adds Gina Rodriguez as Gina Alvarez.
  • In season 3, Ali Wong joins the cast as Ali, and Chelsea Peretti (who was already playing Missy's mom) gets a new role as Nick's cell phone, Cellsea.
  • In season 4, Seth Rogen plays Seth Goldberg, and Lena Waithe and Quinta Brunson appear as Missy's cousins Lena and Quinta.
  • This applies in the European French dub where Nick is dubbed by Nicolas Matthys.
• Dawson Casting: With the exception of Natalie, who was voiced by a 19-year-old in her debut, none of the actors playing teenagers are under the age of 30^note or, in the case of Missy's new voice actress, under the age of 25. This, plus the show being animated, justifies a certain level of detachment which allows the show to go as far as it does with it's subject matter that it couldn't possibly do in live-action with child actors. Lampshaded in the season 1 finale.
  Nick: Isn't [a show about a bunch of kids masturbating] basically just, like, child pornography?
  Maurice: Holy shit, I hope not! I mean, maybe if it's animated, we can get away with it. (glances at the fourth wall) Right?
• Descended Creator: Co-creator Kroll plays Nick Birch. And then some.
• Fake Brit: In Season 4, Sterling K. Brown voices Michael Angelo, a street artist who becomes Jessi's boyfriend.
• The Other Darrin:
  • The cast had a live table read of the episode "How to Have an Orgasm" during the 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak as a fundraiser. Not all stars were able to participate, so as a result Jenny Slate filled in for Kristen Wiig as Jessi's vagina, Brandon Jay Armstrong filled in for Jordan Peele as the ghost of Duke Ellington, and Kroll played Jay's pitbull Featuring Ludacris, among others.
  • On June 24, 2020, The co-creators and Jenny Slate announced via social media that the role of Missy would be recast with a person of color in light of the George Floyd protests. On August 28th, it was announced that Ayo Edebiri will be Missy's replacement. Slate voices Missy for the first 8 episodes of Season 4 due to having already recorded her lines at that point before announcing her decision, with Edebiri replacing her at the end of the penultimate episode "Horrority House" as well as replacing Slate's spot in the opening credits in the season finale.
  • In Season 5, Chloe Fineman replaced Kat Dennings as the voice of Leah.
• Posthumous Credit: Charles Bradley, whose cover of "Changes" is the theme song, died one week before the series premiere.
• Playing Against Type: Richard Kind, who's normally known for playing jolly buffoons like Molt and Bing Bong, here plays a loudmouthed jerkass.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • Matthew and Aiden are voiced by Andrew Rannells and Zachary Quinto respectively, both of whom are openly gay in real life.
  • Josie Totah, a transgender actress, plays Natalie, a transgender character.
  • Missy's cousin Lena is attracted to women, and her voice actress, Lena Waithe, is a lesbian.
  • Charles Lu is a closet bisexual, whereas his voice actor Joel Kim Booster is gay.
  • Montel, who is gender-neutral, is played by non-binary comedian Cole Escola.
• Reality Subtext: While Missy's arc about understanding her culture as a mixed black girl was written before the decision to recast Missy's actress, it accurately reflects the discussions surrounding Missy's character in response to the prominent discussions of racism during the summer of 2020, which ultimately resulted in Missy being given a last-minute voice actress change. The black actress Ayo Edebiri begins voicing Missy near the end of "Horrority House" after Missy finally makes peace with her complex identity. It breaks out of being subtext a couple of times when Missy lampshades the issues with being voiced by a white woman earlier in the season.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was apparently one pitched joke that was deemed too gross for even Netflix's lax censors: a graphic shot of a thermometer coming out of a urethra. The staff didn't really want to fight for its inclusion either.
  • The show was originally called "Bar Mitzvah Boys", and was about a group of Jewish schoolboys.
• Write What You Know: The show is largely based on Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg's memories of their own respective puberties. Like the character he's named for, Goldberg also once ejaculated in his pants while dancing with a girl when he was a teenager.

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