Interview: Workaholics

Workaholics

Four seasons in, WORKAHOLICS is just starting to become that television sitcom you hear about from everyone – including soul-patched baristas. It’s predominantly because Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, and Kyle Newacheck are slipping into their prime, one that’s given fans and yes, America, a whole new outlook on Molly, outercourse, and being Bro-Choice. To get weird, we went one-on-two with Ders and Blake, discussing their show’s fourth season and touching on everything from pranks to Chief Keef to Prince impersonators. The interview was sans Adam and a bit of a long read, but as you’ll see the four dudes that started with string cheese are pretty similar to The Purple One: it’s easy to prepare for them to go in one direction but they’ll floor you by doing the opposite.

If you’re not too busy eating raw dogs, Workaholics airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central


It’s been a while since we last spoke, but congrats on having Workaholics renewed for two seasons! How sick are you of being asked how it feels to have at least 26 more episodes?

BLAKE ANDERSON: Thank you!

ANDERS HOLM: So annoyed, it’s all we talk about.

BLAKE: It just boils my blood. I’m sick of people being nice. I want them to go back to being assholes.

DERS: Yep, well put.

BLAKE: Thank you.

Do you think you’ll ever get to the point where you’re ten seasons in and making that Friends and Frasier money?

DERS: No, I don’t think that’s possible.

BLAKE: I don’t see that happening, we’re at Comedy Central. It’s a different type of network and they ain’t cutting the big checks. I’m not going to count it out though. We’re trying to get that Drake money.

Considering the themes and catchphrases fans have seen this season – like popping Molly, Koi friends, Bro-Choice – has the writing process changed for you guys?

DERS: I don’t think it has. It’s pretty much the same, wouldn’t you say?

BLAKE: I’m always surprised when people say a season is awesome or that it sucks because they’re all exactly identical! They’re like twins or quadruplets. Nothing has really changed. We’ve been the same dudes since we started – in a room with a bunch of string cheese, throwing stupid ideas at a board.

How do you decide which stupid ideas are good stupid ideas?

DERS: I think that’s how we know they’re worthy of being on the show. If they’re too stupid, we’re like, “Yup, gold”.

So the more impractical and unrealistic they are, the better they are?

DERS: What’s funny is that all this stuff is actually character based and I don’t think we get enough credit for that. We’re not just a show that does dumb things for no reason. We’re a show about guys that do dumb things for dumb reasons. You know what I mean? It’s not like it’s totally unbelievable when we do all these dumb things.



You’ve sort of been pushing the limits of traditional comedy as the “Fry Guys” episode featured a pretty legendary fish fight. How did that idea come about and what was the mood like on set when you guys were filming in the pool?

BLAKE: We had always been playing around with the idea of the roommates fighting because it spans from the fact that every year around Thanksgiving there would be some form of a fight that we would engage in, like a boiling point. It became some sort of a ritual. How was throwing up on each other Ders? I wasn’t a part of that.

DERS: You know, spontaneous. We felt it and we just did it. The whole thing is based on Kyle and Adam. Those guys end up getting into a physical fight every year and we thought we should put that in an episode. The koi fish were there because of Blake’s story; we thought we should do a fish fight and someone mentioned the idea of doing a simultaneous knockout. Then we thought it might be funnier to make them both hit each other at the same time and have the fish explode causing them both to vomit, which is essentially a new version of a simultaneous knockout. Then what happens is when you have two guys puking – who are still pissed at each other – the only weapon they have is their vomit.

BLAKE: A to B really…

Blake, did I hear you correctly when you said you guys have disagreements off-set?

BLAKE: Kyle, Adam, and myself lived in the same house for quite a long time. Anybody who has had roommates, you know, it just happens. Dishes stack up, beers get drank, and every once in a while you gotta’ wrestle each other and put someone in a death headlock. Just guys being guys.

What would you say was the most difficult scene to shoot this season?

BLAKE: That’s a good question.

DERS: I don’t really remember this season to be honest. Now that they’re airing the new episodes, it’s been so long that we’re like, “Oh yeah, I lived that for a little bit!”.

BLAKE: The only thing that’s very difficult for me is if there’s a big ass monologue or something. There’s an episode later on where I’m hosting a murder mystery party and I had to memorize over seven lines. That was tough.

What’s the most serious prank you’ve ever pulled off in real life?

DERS: I called a friend up one time and told him that this dude from middle school died. Then I was like, “Just kidding, he didn’t die. Whats up?”.

BLAKE: That’s pretty funny.

DERS: Yeah, I thought it was pretty good.

How long did you wait before you told him that you were kidding?

DERS: Like 30 seconds, so it was a pretty elaborate prank.

I was going to say that was mean but if you told him quickly, then no harm done.

DERS: Are any pranks not mean? I’m bouncing questions back to you now. Pranks are meant to be at the expense of someone else’s feelings or beliefs or joy and happiness, right?

BLAKE: Damn dude, that’s cool.

DERS: Well it’s not really my style, so that’s why the only one I have is the, “Hey, that Chris dude died… just kidding, whats up?”.

BLAKE: That’s fun to do on Twitter too, like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe Steve Martin died. RIP” and then just watch the rumor go nuts.

DERS: Let the wildfire begin.



We met a couple years ago at your SXSW party where you introduced me to The Wizards. They made a brief cameo in last week’s episode so is there a chance we’ll see them again?

BLAKE: Lucky that you met them. I heard they might be making some live appearances here or there. Rumor has it they could possibly show up at Bonnaroo, but I don’t know. They’ve been really trying to do that live grind again. You never know when the realm is going to open.

DERS: The mud people.

As you name-dropped him in “Fish Fry” – are The Wizards a fan of Chief Keef?

BLAKE: Hell yeah, 300 baby. GBE!

Outside of the show, do you guys have any crazy concert or festival stories?

DERS: Blake and I have an experience in New York City. We were just there for the Super Bowl and we were looking to party. We were out – it was probably three in the morning – and we were looking for the “next thing” and we ran into a friend of mine who asked if we were going to go to the Prince party. I replied coolly, “Oh yeah, were totally for sure going to try to make that, where is that again and how can I get in?”, and he gave us a password and the info of the guy who was throwing the party. We show up and it’s at this underground speakeasy in Manhattan that I didn’t know about and no one I know who’s from New York knows about it.

We get down there and it’s a cool crowd but no Prince in sight. We decide to sit next to Tyson Beckford of male modeling fame and we’re just kicking it, not talking to him because he’s too cool for us or whatever. I’m sure he’s a cool guy but we’re just not of his caliber. About three minutes later, somebody who looks exactly like Prince sits next to me across from Blake. We’re there for about 20 minutes and he’s like dancing with people, coming back and forth from the DJ booth, making requests. He leaves with the security guards that were there and the lights come on, so I’m like, “Blake, that was pretty cool” and he’s like, “What do you mean? That was a Prince impersonator”.

BLAKE: I thought it was a Prince impersonator.

DERS: But it was Prince. So we’re all best friends now and that’s pretty cool. Have you ever met Prince?

I definitely haven’t. I don’t know what I would have done if I was in your position.

DERS: You probably would have thought he was an impersonator because what would the real Prince be doing sitting anywhere near us or you? He’s Prince!

Blake, why did you think he was an impersonator?

BLAKE: I don’t know. He had a little afro and I didn’t know Prince was rocking an afro right now. I need to keep up on my Prince hairdos. You just don’t expect the real Prince to sit next to you in the club. It’s like sitting next to God.

You’d think he would want to make a grand entrance. It was his party after all.

BLAKE: I know, I’m a fool.

DERS: That’s why he’s Prince. You would think all sorts of stuff about him but he will do the opposite.

BLAKE: You just never know.

Now I know where to look for Prince. Maybe I’ll find him sitting next to me on the bus.

DERS: Justin Bieber could be driving the bus

BLAKE: (singing) What if Prince was one of us?

What surprises can we expect from you for the rest of the season? Will your characters ever grow up or find true love? Or will the bromance continue?

BLAKE: A lot more jokes and a lot more craziness. I’m going to name drop – have you ever heard of Lorenzo Lamas? Maybe or maybe not, but he’s the guy from Renegade (Editor’s Note: can’t forget The Bold And The Beautiful) and he’s showing up at some point. There’s some French kissing and a lot of really cool stuff.

1 Comment

  • vince says:

    there should be a workaholics movie it’s the most funny and entertaining show I have ever watched and comedy central souls let them make at least 10 seasons and a movie like reno 911 and workaholics is way better then Reno and any other show on tv I reacon it’s better then moden family

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