80
COMEDY = TRAGEDY + TIME
WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT
PUBERTY?
PEN15 EDITION
The Authorities: Maya Erskine (right)
and Anna Konkle (left), creators and stars of Pen15 (Hulu), in which
they play themselves at thirteen.No 17
WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT
PUB ERT Y?
BIG MOUTH EDITION
18
The Authority: Nick Kroll, cocreator of Big Mouth (Netflix),
an animated series based on his adolescent life.
He hits the road this fall for a string of stand-up shows.“Everyone—rather, almost everyone—has gone, is going, or will
go through puberty. So there are a lot of universal themes. For
those going through it, things are drastically changing and the
stakes feel very high. Obviously, our show is very dirty, but also
incredibly sweet. Our goal is always to try to balance the big dirty
jokes with an honest, vulnerable look at this incredibly kooky time
in people’s lives. Working on Big Mouth has taught me that you
can be crazy, and you can have crazy jokes, while also talking about
what’s really happening with you, what’s going on in your emo-
tional life. And that one can really benefit the other.”
No19
SAD TO SEE YOU GO,SUP E R DEL U X E
Esquire video editor DOM NERO remembers
the place he once called home
For three sweet years, the comedy site Super Deluxe
served as a refuge for the most batshit videos on the
Internet. TikTok and Vine (RIP) were for the fame seek-
ers; Super Deluxe was for the oddballs. I contributed a
handful of videos—I still can’t believe I was paid, in money,
to make a compilation of beach-volleyball butt slaps. In
October 2018, Turner Broadcasting, who owned the site,
decided to “redirect” its investment. Like that, Super
Deluxe was no more, proving once again that the struggle
between art and commerce isn’t really a struggle at all.No 20
EDDIE
Pubescent
Konkle
“You’re acclimating to new
emotions that you just don’t yet
have the skills to cope with.
Seeing these mid-tweens engage
in these really mature
activities but not knowing how to
do it—it’s pretty funny.”Erskine
“Everyone that you talk to is like,
‘I felt like a reject inside at thirteen.’
As adults, we become better
actors. At that age, if someone
said, ‘Your mustache is really dark,’
I would cry for days. Now I
can be like, ‘Okay, I’ll just bleach it.’ ”No