‘The Mortified Guide’ Is A Hilarious, Cozy Reminder That We’re All A Bunch Of Weirdos

Watching the first episode of The Mortified Guide is like going back in time and giving your 16-year-old self a warm hug. Based on the popular stage show and hit documentary, the six-episode docuseries is a true celebration of awkwardness as a host of intrepid adults share their mortifying tales of teenage calamity with a group of strangers. A mix of interviews and Mike Birbiglia-esque storytelling, the series, which is now streaming on Netflix, revisits the jumbled mess of emotions known as adolescence with a reaffirming honesty that celebrates just how clueless we all were (are?) about love, sex, dating, and, well, life in general.

What makes The Mortified Guide such a snug trip down memory lane is that it doesn’t just acknowledge the fact that we all live in our own personal cocoons of insecurity, it celebrates humanity’s innate weirdness in an earnest, hilarious manner. I wish this series existed when I was a teen so that I could fully grasp that using Counting Crows lyrics to express my immense melancholy via AOL Instant Messenger was completely normal.

In many ways, love truly is similar to the longest of Decembers.

Episode 1 focuses on a slew of brave souls discussing their earliest memories of love and sex. Reading from her childhood diary, one performer shared her incredibly detailed erotic teenage fan-fiction that centered around New Jersey icon Jon Bon Jovi. Spoiler, it’s even better than you’re imagining. The premiere offering concludes with a relatable tale of young love as two storytellers, a boy and his old high school crush, read their old online chat transcripts.

One of the reasons why The Mortified Guide is such a cozy stream is because it focuses on the silly, relatable aspects of our formative years. It’s more endearing than cringe-worthy, which translates into a light-hearted, genuine series that captures the universal coming-of-age experience with heart and sincerity.

Other episodes of the series center on family, fitting in, growing up gay, and pop culture obsessions, all while celebrating the unifying theme of inclusion. No matter what your background, The Mortified Guide is a fun, comforting look back at the terrifying experience of adolescence.

As the series is fond of saying, “We are freaks, and we are fragile, but we all survived.”

Stream all six episodes of The Mortified Guide on Netflix.

Stream The Mortified Guide on Netflix