When one thinks ofNick Kroll, stand-up comedy likely isn’t the first thing to come to mind. But the comedian says that even though he may be best known for his raunchy cartoon creationBig Mouth, stand-up has always been in the background for him.
Now, ahead of theseason 6 premiere of his animated comedy, Kroll is releasing his first stand-up special in over a decade. TitledNick Kroll: Little Big Boy, the special will be his first for Netflix (despite a lengthy relationship with the streamer).
Shot in June at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C., Kroll says thatLittle Big Boyis “more honest and revelatory and vulnerable” than ever before. Speaking with Variety about the special, which has been in the works since before the pandemic, the comedian shared howa rapid series of life-changing eventsshaped his material.
“The lockdown happened and shut down all stand up. But then also, a ton of life stuff happened to me. The special, even before the pandemic, was thematically about this feeling where I had turned 40, and yet there were still elements to myself that I felt were not entirely grown up. So I felt sort of in between,” he said. “And then the pandemic happened and I got married and had a child.”
When COVID restrictions finally loosened and a special was once again in the works, Kroll found himself faced with the challenge of how to fit these new experiences in with his already fine-tuned set.
“It was a combination of, where am I in my life? How does that apply to the themes that I was already talking about, around being a man, self-worth, letting go of things from my past? And realizing that inside of that, that the things that were happening to me in real time, [such as] getting married, having a child, could be integrated in.”
“But it also meant shifting things around,” he added. “Pulling certain things out that were jokes that I had been doing on that tour that worked really well but now didn’t feel quite like they were in sync with the rest of the show.”
An ‘Exercise in Vulnerability’: HowBig MouthHelped Shape Kroll’s Special
Kroll partially credits his success withBig Mouthfor allowing him to open up more on the stand-up stage.
“DoingBig Mouthreally has been such an exercise in vulnerability. There are a lot of autobiographical elements to it,” he said. The show, which Kroll created alongside Andrew Goldberg, isloosely based on their awkward adolescent years. “And I think the lesson I learned with it was that audiences really connected to the more honest, truthful, vulnerable material.”
Related:The Best Big Mouth Characters Ranked
“If I tried to do that on my stand-up, that I would hopefully connect with people, that there be the opportunity for a deeper connection with the audience,” he added.
Produced by Kroll, John Irwin, and Casey Spira and Christie Smith,Nick Kroll: Little Big Boypremieres September 27.
