Top 10 Small Details in Big Mouth

At over 70 million years old, it’s no surprise that Maury has some interesting tattoos. In season one we get a glimpse of his adorable Connie tattoo, in honor of his beau the hormone monstress. In season two he shaves his entire body in solidarity with Andrew when his parents wax his mustache. A hairless Maury is a little creepy, but it’s a sweet gesture and allows us to see his other tattoos. He has a classy “I’m with stupid” back tattoo with an arrow pointing at his bottom, and also a tattoo of Captain Crunch from his marine days. Now that’s a flashback we’d love to see.

One of the great things about Big Mouth is that it manages to build an entire world using blink-and-you’ll-miss-them details and foreshadowing. In the third episode of season two, we see a mysterious ad for a place called “Guy Town” with picture of Jay’s Dad . . . so you know it has to be something shady. It isn’t until episode seven that we get to visit Guy Town, which is essentially an apartment complex for lonely bachelors who dance with blow-up dolls and gamble with fleshlights. Maybe the show let us see the ad early so that we could mentally prepare ourselves.

Actor, writer, and director Jordan Peele plays the Ghost of Duke Ellington on Big Mouth, and the show manages to work in a few shoutouts to his other work. In 2017 Peele wrote and directed the horror movie “Get Out”, and you can see a “Stay Out” billboard in the cartoon, with Jordan Peele’s name conveniently placed right next to Duke Ellington’s head! Duke also helps recreate a particularly dramatic and iconic scene from the movie. It’s a less subtle reference than the billboard, but then Duke is known for his theatrics.

We all like to imagine our favourite cartoons existing in the same universe, and Big Mouth makes it a reality. In a bathroom stall we see “Call 555-0113 for a good time” which is the home phone number of “The Simpsons”! “EAT MY SHARTS” is also there, which is a cruder interpretation of Bart’s go-to-line of “eat my shorts”. If you look closely at this vending machine you’ll also see a bag of “CHAAAAPS”, which is Steven’s favourite brand of chips in “Steven Universe”! You gotta love it when cartoon worlds collide.

Showrunner Nick Kroll and actor John Mulaney, who voices Andrew Glouberman, don’t need to toot their own horns. They let “Big Mouth” do it for them! In 2016 the duo hit Broadway with their own comedy act “The Oh, Hello Show”. In “Big Mouth” you can see a billboard advertising it not far from the “Stay Out” Billboard. Before “The Oh, Hello Show” made it to Broadway, it started out on the “Kroll Show”, a sketch comedy series. When DJ Shame Wizard is laying down some sweet dubstep, he’s actually playing the “Kroll Show” intro.

Remember when you were little and got shirts as gifts that for some reason were always just way too big? John Mulaney remembers, and rants about it in his hilarious Netflix comedy special “Kid Gorgeous”. Mulaney’s mom would always say that he could wear his XXL Billabong T-shirt as a ‘night shirt’. So naturally Andrew, Mulaney’s character in Big Mouth, offers the same wisdom to Nick when he’s having issues with an oversized jersey. Of course, you know what else works well as a nightshirt Andrew? Actual pajamas! But hey, do the best with what you’ve got!

Of course we have to talk about the Shame Wizard, or if you’re Tyler the “Floaty Guy with the Harry Potter Accent.” It just so happens that the wizard is voiced by David Thewlis, who plays Remus Lupin in Harry Potter - hence the Harry Potter accent. As the name implies the Shame Wizard lives for all things Shame, so in his office he has a signed poster of Unella, the infamous shame Septa from “Game of Thrones”, the OG shamer. He’s apparently also a fan of the dog shaming blog, and has a poster of a dog being shamed too.

Here is the tale of Svetlana and Dimitri, a story of heartbreak and toilet paper. While Jessi searches for toilet paper in a washroom, we see “Sevtlana + Dimitri 4 Eva” written on the stall with a little heart. Jessi blames the lack of toilet paper on a “sadistic female hating janitor” and it turns out . . . she’s right on the money! The janitor is none other than the aforementioned Dimitri, who we see chucking toilet paper into the ocean cursing Svetlana and her entire gender. In a later episode we glimpse Svetlana and Dimitri having a miserable dinner together, and in “The Pornscape” Andrew sees Svetlana working as a cam girl. What a rollercoaster!

Dolph Lundgren fans rejoice! In “Big Mouth”, the Swedish action hero gets a larger-than-life mini golf course dedicated to him! His face is everywhere, and there are a ton of references to his movies. At Golf Lundgren there’s tasty food and great deals, especially the “if he dies cheese fries” special - referencing his line “If he dies, he dies” from “Rocky IV”. We’re not sure what circumstances would lead to someone dying during mini golf, but Andrew was lucky Lola didn’t kill him during their date. Maybe she just wanted the cheese fries!

Before we reveal our top pick here are a few honorable mentions.

Jessie’s Period Towel

The Dude

Matchbox 420

Tribute to Vine

Goat Cheese Omelet

Whoever writes the message board at Bridgeton Middle School needs a raise! It always features insightful thoughts or small details about the “Big Mouth” world. In season one we learned about the Ponytail Killer, a deranged psychopath who kills people and cuts off their ponytails. The detective on the case is Florez, an homage to J. J. Bittenbinder, a real detective who John Mulaney pokes fun at in his stand-up routines. Apparently, Florez didn’t have enough street smarts to solve the case, because in the first episode of season two, the school message board asks “Did we ever catch the ponytail killer?". We get a brief glimpse of the killer in the season's penultimate episode, confirming that he’s still at large!