When comedian Nick Kroll isn’t writing, recording a voiceover for his hit Netflix series “Big Mouth,” or collaborating with Mel Brooks on “History of the World, Part II,” you might find him having breakfast with his family on Purchase Street.
The comedy star, 45, who was born and raised in Rye, wants to give “a big shout-out to Poppy’s,” because he has “incredibly fond memories” of weekend breakfasts with his dad growing up. Now he gets to continue the tradition with not just his parents, Jules and Lynn, but his wife Lily Kwong and their two children.
In fact, hometown visits hold a whole new dimension for Kroll now that he’s a dad. When it comes to showing his kids around Rye and Westchester, he has a lot of ground to cover.
Kroll attended private schools when he was growing up — Solomon Schechter Westchester Middle School and Rye Country Day High School — but he had friends all around town due to his love of sports. While he was in a few plays during grade school, performing took a back seat to sports until he went off to college at Georgetown. Kroll nostalgically recalls playing soccer at Midland and Osborn, Little League at Disbrow Park, and hockey at Playland Ice Casino.
“All of those sorts of activities were ways for me to stay connected to the kids in Rye that I wasn’t necessarily going to school with. It kept me connected to the town,” he said during a telephone interview in Los Angeles.
Kroll has become something of an authority on conveying the teenage experience through comedy. His award-winning series “Big Mouth” follows a group of middle school kids in a small, affluent suburb of New York City.
But the real adolescence expert in his family, according to Kroll, is his sister Vanessa Kroll Bennett, host of “The Puberty Podcast” and author of “This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained.” Vanessa (along with her colleague Dr. Cara Natterson) consults on “Big Mouth,” making it a true Rye family affair.
“Not only has she raised four kids, but she just has so much insight into what they’re really going through both emotionally and physically,” Kroll said. “So she’s ended up being a great resource.”
When it comes to remembering his own teen years, Kroll divulged that some adolescent mischief took place “in and around golf courses,” and in Edith Read Wildlife Sanctuary.
The beauty of Rye, he said, is how “it’s the kind of town that gives you what you need, at different ages. From being a little kid playing Little League, being a high school kid who was, you know… being a high school kid,” he laughed. “And now as an adult with children, it serves in this other way.”
He loves taking his family for walks around the Nature Center and to the Westchester Children’s Museum.
In his debut Netflix special released in 2022, Kroll talks about taking karate lessons at Resurrection School and pokes some fun at his parents. His dad is the founder of Kroll Inc., and is known as the pioneer of modern corporate investigations and risk consulting.
It was at Georgetown, while majoring in Spanish and History, that Kroll started in comedy. He joined an improv group with John Mulaney and Mike Birbiglia, who themselves would soon be major stars. Before long, he was performing regularly at Upright Citizens Brigade and doing stand-up comedy in New York City. He was hired as a writer on “The Chappelle Show” and cast in NBC’s ill-fated “Cavemen” series, based on the GEICO commercials. Though “Cavemen” was a flop, the role moved Kroll to Los Angeles. Since then, he has acted in dozens of onscreen and voiceover roles, as well as creating and starring in several of his own series like “Kroll Show,” “Big Mouth,” and “Human Resources.”
“Big Mouth” will complete its eighth and final season this year, and while Kroll has a few other projects in the works, he’s planning to take a little time to reset.
“Every six, seven, eight years, I like to begin anew,” he muses. When his previous hits like “Kroll Show” and “The League” finished, he took some time to “build the next group of shows and movies I’m in.” The results of that creative refresh include “Oh, Hello” (his hit play and Netflix special with John Mulaney), “Big Mouth,” and its spinoff series “Human Resources,” to name a few.
Even during this reset period, Kroll has a few projects you’ll be able to catch soon. He’s developing a new TV pilot with FX, and his movie “I Don’t Understand You,” featuring “Big Mouth” co-star Andrew Rannells, premiered recently at South by Southwest. This comedy/thriller/horror story follows a gay couple who take a trip to Italy while awaiting the birth of their first child.
Kroll said that even though he makes his home in L.A., Rye will always hold a special place in his heart. “Everywhere I look around Rye, there are these little visual memories,” he said.
Keep an eye on “Big Mouth” and Kroll’s future work — some of those visual memories just might show up on your TV screen.