Nick Kroll's Netflix series 'Big Mouth' is the candid conversation about sex you never had as a teen

Nick Kroll, surprisingly, doesn't remember much from sex ed.?

You'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you've watched Big Mouth, Kroll's animated Netflix series that plays the mind-bending confusion of puberty for laughs.?

In the first season, a young Kroll and his best friend Andrew, a character based on the actor and comedian's real-life best friend, awkwardly sit through a middle school classroom presentation on fallopian tubes that feels all too real.?

What happens next is where Big Mouth goes beyond getting real and plumbs the murky depths of the adolescent male psyche. Suddenly, the imaginary "Hormone Monster" shows up to encourage Andrew to duck out of class to masturbate. Andrew is reluctant for obvious reasons but ultimately gives in.

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The scene hits on a recurring theme, one that Kroll says will become an even bigger part of Season 2, which debuts Oct. 5: "Can I be horny and be a good guy? How do I do that? It's a huge question ... that we're constantly asking in this show. We don’t necessarily have a definitive answer to it."?

Should Kroll and his collaborators ever settle on a conclusion, they owe it to America to share their findings. Of course, there are plenty of men working to create a new model of masculinity that views women as human beings with hopes and dreams rather than conquests, but none of them have Kroll's following or a platform like Netflix. And that isn't lost on Kroll, who will discuss the importance of comprehensive sex ed at the 2018 Social Good Summit on Sept. 23.?

The best moments of Big Mouth break down the nausea-inducing stigma of what it's like to "go through changes." In many ways, Kroll and his co-creators, writers Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin, have put together a show that is more prescient and introspective than you'd expect of a raunchy animated series about puberty.?

The first and second seasons were written before the start of the #MeToo movement, or as Kroll puts it: "before the world changed." And yet they include episodes on enthusiastic consent and what newfound sexuality can feel like for girls.?

The second season features a new character called the Shame Wizard, a specter that begins haunting Andrew when he's caught masturbating, and ultimately gets into every kid’s head. The idea grew from — no joke — the researcher Brene Brown's TED Talk on the importance of listening to shame in order to live a full life.?

"The more that you don’t talk about what you're going through, the more shame can grow, because it's really this feeling of aloneness that you can't share what's happening, you can't share your shame," says Kroll. "We really tried to listen to that and build stuff off of that."?

The show is billed as an adult comedy, and plenty of older viewers surely watch it from the safe distance of having somehow survived adolescence. Every so often, they might experience a flash of insight about human sexuality that, chances are, they didn't understand as a teen. Some women, for example, might be surprised by the religious frequency with which the Hormone Monster shows up for boys — and by the vivid depravity of his fantasies. Female characters have their own Hormone Monstress, who is voiced by Maya Rudolph, embodying the exact combination of sultry, quirky, and tempestuous you'd expect. ??

You can imagine teens watching Big Mouth and suddenly feeling less isolated by the desires, urges, and curiosities they might keep secret. For some kids, the series might be one of their few opportunities to get a practical glimpse of how hormones and sexuality affect tweens and teens. ?

Less than 40 percent of U.S. high schools and 14 percent of middle schools offer students comprehensive sex education, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is prioritizing abstinence-only education in programs that receive federal funding.

"I think it's scary and troubling how this administration is dealing with sex ed," says Kroll. "It's just not realistic to what kids are going through and what they have access to and can see other places."?

That current political moment is why one of the episodes from the new season is dedicated to Planned Parenthood. Five different vignettes tell the viewer about some of the nonprofit health system's services, including cancer screenings, family planning, and abortion care. Big Mouth is definitely not your average broadcast network coming-of-age series.?

When the show fails, though, you can't miss it. One maladjusted character spits out homophobic and disability-related slurs, perhaps as a commentary on his sociopathic tendencies, but that's not clear. A bizarre storyline that uses the murders of ponytailed women to ultimately humiliate Andrew for (what else?) masturbating, makes a punchline out of every woman's worst nightmare.?

If Big Mouth's writers are nervous about sacrificing laughs for the sake of so-called political correctness, they shouldn't be. The show is actually more entertaining — and endearing — when the characters are drawn with compassion and the jokes come with a dose of empathy for whichever kid happens to be suffering the worst indignities of puberty at any given moment.?

Big Mouth's absurd treatment of puberty makes it a good comedy. But its emotional vulnerability, candor, and willingness to tackle the stigma of teenage sexuality have the potential to make it great.?

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About Social Good Summit

The intersection of technology and new media has redefined our understanding of human progress. In the midst of this rapidly changing world, the Social Good Summit focuses on where we’re headed. Held annually during the United Nations General Assembly week, the Summit unites a lively community of global citizens and progressive thought leaders around a common theme: #2030NOW. A dynamic exploration of the world we want to live in by 2030, the Social Good Summit will focus on how we can unlock technology’s potential to make the world a better place. For complete event details, visit socialgoodsummit.com.

This year's summit is brought to you by Mashable, the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme, and the 92nd Street Y. For complete event details, visit socialgoodsummit.com.