Surviving a cement truck, nearly missing their big break, and banning jokes about … bacon?
Turns out there’s a whole lot you probably didn’t know about the wild and wacky slackers
behind “Workaholics!”
As the sketch comedians behind "Workaholics" went from internet notoriety to TV breakouts,
they proved that they were anything but the slackers they portrayed on TV, diversifying
themselves on the show by earning credits as directors, writers and producers.
Anders Holm took the boss's chair for a few episodes throughout the series, starting with
the Season 4 classic "Best Buds."
DeVine later stepped up to direct an episode that he had also written.
But one tidbit that might surprise the more casual fan is that the show's drug-dealing
homeless man, in actuality, was the show's primary showrunner, directing more than half
of the series.
Kyle Newacheck, known as Karl on "Workaholics," graduated from Los Angeles Film School and
directed most of the crew's online sketch routines.
Since the conclusion of "Workaholics," in fact, his star has only soared higher.
Newacheck has gone on in the years since to direct episodes of popular comedy shows like
"Community" and "Parks and Recreation," and was recently nominated for an Emmy for his
work on "What We Do in the Shadows."
Not content with just series work, Newacheck also directed the Adam Sandler-led Netflix
hit "Murder Mystery," as well as "Game Over, Man," which starred the "Workaholics" crew.
The "Workaholics" crew were so determined to avoid cliches at all costs that they kept
track of pitfalls whenever they arose.
By the final season, they had crafted two jam-packed, hilariously moan-worthy whiteboards
of joke cliches, determined to avoid them at all costs.
In 2016, executive producer John Quaintance posted a photo of the whiteboards on Twitter
as a public service not only for other comedy writers, but for millions of viewers who never,
ever wanted to hear another joke involving the phrase, quote, "awesome sauce."
"Hey I love you."
"Dude shut up!
That is awesome sauce!"
The boards included tons of cliched phrases that have popped up in sitcoms, but perhaps
the highlight of the entire list, however, was one small notation that simply read - "Bacon anything."
"Workaholics" fans are familiar with the comedic stylings of Erik Griffin, who played Montez
Walker on the series, appearing in some 44 episodes.
But one woman in Kentucky, it seems, is decidedly not a fan.
In a 2016 clip that went viral, Griffin had a wince-worthy confrontation during a comedy
set at The Laughing Derby in Louisville.
The woman, sitting in the front row, had apparently been heckling Griffin throughout his set.
Things came to a head when he began addressing her from the stage, and as comedy club employees
and patrons urged her to leave, she became increasingly indignant.
According to TMZ, she eventually resorted to taking a swing at Griffin, and she was
tossed out of the club just as police arrived.
For two of the series stars, confusion with their names has presented some difficulty
as their famous quasi-doppelgangers have landed in hot water.
Blake Anderson, for instance, shares a name with the football coach at Utah State.
This would be a minor annoyance, perhaps, but it got worse in 2021, when coach Blake
Anderson was recorded telling his players that it, quote, "has never been more glamorized
to be a victim" of sexual assault.
For understandable reasons, the name "Blake Anderson" received some hate on the internet
in the aftermath of the scandal.
Adam DeVine, meanwhile, takes it in stride that those who approach him often mistake
him for Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.
While some might see being mistaken for a sex symbol musician as a blessing, when Levine
admitted in 2022 that he had, quote, "crossed the line" with a TikTok influencer named Sumner
Stroh, the association suddenly required some distancing, with DeVine taking to Instagram
to make a lighthearted post saying -
"My wife [Chloe Bridges] and I are doing great and going strong.
I am not Adam Levine.
He's a different guy and a worse singer.
We are however naming our future baby Sumner."
"Workaholics" often paralleled the lives of its creators, and that was true for Anders
Holm, whose character was depicted throughout the series as having an unusually over-the-top
affinity for swimming.
Much of that aquatic enthusiasm was based on the actor's real-world experiences.
In actuality, Holm is a talented swimmer; he was on an impressive track when he swam
for two years at the University of Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, his sports career did not end well, as he revealed in 2022 on the swimming
podcast "Inside with Brett Hawke."
"I made a mistake and got in a bar fight and was terminated from the team."
"Oh really you were booted?"
"Yeah I got booted."
These days, Holm continues to harness his talents in aquatics; he competed in the Malibu
Triathlon in 2022, finishing 62nd overall.
Holm credits the work ethic he developed from swimming for giving him the drive to succeed
in his comedy career.
Each of the members of "Workaholics," post series, has managed to build and sustain their
film and television careers in one way or another.
But one of the trio's most notable cameos was performed together — when the group
made an appearance in the 2014 comedy hit "Neighbors."
In the Nicholas Stoller-directed film, while recounting the storied history of their fraternity
Delta Psi Beta, Dave Franco and Zac Efron's characters describe the decades-past adventures
of their frat forefathers.
Viewers see "The Lonely Island" trio inventing the toga party in 1930, and then the "Workaholics"
group in 1971, inventing beer pong.
As a quid pro quo for that latter appearance, "Neighbors" stars Seth Rogen and Zac Efron
cameoed in a short marketing clip for "Workaholics" ahead of its 2014 season finale.
Long-standing "Workaholics" fans were thrilled when Paramount announced in 2021 that a "Workaholics"
reboot movie was in the works.
Alas, it was not to be.
Mere weeks before the film was set to launch from its 2023 starting line, the rug was suddenly,
unceremoniously pulled out from under the "Workaholics" boys.
DeVine took to Instagram to share his disappointment, writing -
"Welp, Paramount+ decided to cancel the Workaholics movie [...] [Paramount+] told us we don't
fit their new 'global' strategy.
We are deeply butt hurt about this decision because we were so excited to bring the weird
one last time.
I'm butt hurt that I don't get to work with my best friends again."
Fate put Adam DeVine through a tumultuous path on his way to helping create "Workaholics."
When DeVine was still in grade school, he was in a severe automobile accident that nearly
took his life.
In an interview with "The Off Camera Show," he explained that when he was 11, he was hit
by a cement truck while attempting to cross the street to meet his friend.
"Crushed my legs from the knees down and took all the skin off.
Like, broke my ribs.
Punctured lungs."
The event resulted in a two-week medically induced coma and 26 surgeries over the next
few years.
The tragic incident that nearly took DeVine's life surely changed things, as DeVine elaborated
on the "Armchair Expert" podcast, saying -
"I think that's kind of why I got into comedy.
After that, I couldn't do anything, anytime anyone would make fun of me, my dad was like,
'You can't get into fights so you gotta punch them back with your words, think of some funny
things to say back to them.'"
DeVine spent years writing comebacks and insults in notebooks which inevitably brought him
to performing comedy.
The boys from "Workaholics" spend most of their days working the phones at TelAmeriCorp.
Telemarketing is rarely represented on television, but the boring office job helped emphasize
the amount of slacking from the "Workaholics."
Unsurprisingly, the creators of the show captured the real-world monotony of telemarketing from
their own backgrounds.
While appearing on "What's Trending," Holm and DeVine each revealed that they had worked
in telemarketing before achieving their big break and joked about how the portrayal is
seen by fans.
"Like telemarketers will come up to me and be like 'it's so real, thank you.'"
"This is my life!"
They did take away a couple of jokes that made it into the series, such as manipulating
the elderly into making purchases over the phone.
Making a television series was always the goal for the crew behind Mail Order Comedy.
Unfortunately, they forgot to put someone in charge of checking their messages in case
such an opportunity arose, as DeVine explained in an interview with Collider, saying -
"Comedy Central came to us and sent us a message on YouTube, which we didn't check for about
a month.
[...] And then, one day, we were editing a video and we all showed up to do the edit
session and Kyle [Newacheck] was like, 'We need to contact Comedy Central!'"
Newacheck went on to add that even then, they weren't in a hurry to respond, saying:
"The weirdest thing was that we weren't excited enough to figure out how to contact them.
We waited a week to figure it out."
Audiences love the three stars that are the primary focus of "Workaholics."
However, it was one of their coworkers that became a resounding fan favorite.
Jillian Bell played the office assistant who perfectly navigated the work-life balance
between the slacker trio and their boss, Alice Murphy.
Her placement in the series was completely intentional for the creators who saw her as
their secret weapon, as Anderson told Vanity Fair:
"We always knew that she had to be in it.
She was actually part of another group, and we poached her because we needed a female
presence in our Internet videos.
Jillian, being one of the funniest people on the planet, man or woman, stuck out."
Unfortunately, the comedic powerhouse that is Jillian Bell could not be contained to
sitcom television for very long.
By the last couple of seasons of "Workaholics," fans noticed that Bell was becoming more absent
from the series, and only appeared in one episode in the last year.
As it turns out, Bell's career was moving too fast as she landed various and high profile
film roles.
For those who have ever been curious about where the "Workaholics" crew get all of their
amazing material, there is good news.
The boys revealed their trade secret back in 2014 when they made yet another appearance
on "Conan."
"I hate to let the cat out of the bag and tell everyone where we get our secrets but
... internet porno."
Hopefully, the trio is making a hilarious joke, but that is part of what makes them
special and unique.
The crew behind "Workaholics" never take themselves too seriously.
In nearly every interview that can be found, the group is quick to make jokes and play
off each other's immaturity.
In truth, that is where their writer's room flourishes.
This group of friends spends most of their time together trying to make each other laugh,
and thankfully, that translates to rib-cracking comedy and audiences cannot get enough.
There has been a serious gap in television content since the series ended back in 2017.
Thankfully, the four jokesters that created the series agree that the world could use
more of their unique brand of comedy.
In 2020, all four original members of Mail Order Comedy decided it was time for a new
type of project.
That year they launched their first podcast, "This is Important."
The podcast series is not another skit from the group, but rather a peek at their everyday
conversations and behind-the-scenes workings.
"This is Important" does not cover anything of real importance with episodes covering
in-depth conversations about warm toilet seats or the best appetizers from Outback Steakhouse.
Under the iHeart Radio brand, "This is Important" is already over 100 episodes deep with new
episodes released weekly.
Meanwhile, you can watch the episodes as they are released on the podcast's YouTube channel.