"I recently had a chance to talk to the cast and director of Comedy Central’s new show, "Workaholics." Director Kyle Newacheck and co-stars Adam Devine, Anders "Ders" Holm and Blake Anderson participated in a conference call with The Oswegonian and the following schools: Spartan daily (San Jose State University), K State Collegian (Kansas State), Mace & Crown (Old Dominion University), The Daily Collegian (Penn State), The Spectre (University of Buffalo), The Carolinean (UNCG) and The Daily Athenaeum (West Virginia.)
"Q: Where did you get your inspiration for three guys working at a tele-marketing firm after college?
"Adam Devine: Uh, well, both Ders and I did just that. We both worked at tele-marketing and it was just some of the worst experiences of our lives so we thought we’d bring that to television.
"Anders "Ders" Holm: Yea, it was that entertaining
"Q: Did those experiences come through on the show?
"Adam: A little bit, yeah. It’s like the desperation was there. It’s almost like when I was sitting there making calls, I wish I was doing what we were doing on the show because it is like a f****** prison.
"Q: (For Blake) In the show, it seems like your character is more passive than Adam and Anders. How would you say your roles in the show differ from your personality in real life?
"Blake Anderson: When I took that test in college to see what personality I was, I was definitely an INPP introverted so…I’m a shy guy but you know you get to know me, I come out of my shell and I’ll be your best friend for life, and I promise that.
"Q: And are you guys all best friends in real life?
"Adam: Absolutely, 100 percent. Kyle, Blake and myself all live together at the house that we shot the show at so we’re just roommates and best friends till we die.
"Kyle Newacheck: Yeah and I’m making up for it by having these guys be my groomsmen at my wedding coming up. Sorry ladies!
"Q: Since you film the show at your house, are you ever worried that a crazy fan might try to find where you live?
"Blake: I mean, if some sexy, crazy fan just crawls through my bedroom [window] at night, that was really the whole thing for me shooting at the house. I want that to happen. Basically, I just want more friends.
"Ders: Yeah, I guess what would be the craziest thing would be if they came over, drank beers and watched Wrestlemania with us; I’m totally down for that. Just don’t post our address in your guys’ newspapers. We want it to be like finding a treasure. We leave clues around the city.
"Q: What is your favorite 3 a.m. culinary creation from college?
"Adam: Pancake Pizza! You whip up a pancake, throw some spaghetti sauce, sprinkle some cheese, throw it in the microwave. But do not undercook your cheese.
"Blake: Yeah, make sure that your cheese is melted. That’s crucial.
"Q: How easy or difficult was it to capture your events in real life onto the TV screen?
"Kyle: Well, I feel like we just sort of sit around in a room and talk and tell stories about everything, and sometimes it sticks and sometimes we just totally make shit up. Like the whole poop dollar thing happened to my buddy in college, and I just thought it was the funniest thing ever at the University of Nebraska and they used to do it in front of the library there and I just thought it was the best.
"Q: Where in Northern California are you from?
"Adam: Kyle and I grew up in Concord, California.
"Q: From the Die Hard plan you guys had with the drug test episode to being submerged in rotting milk and stopping robbers while stoned, there’s been some pretty crazy stuff going on. What other things can we expect this season?
"Adam: One thing you can expect: keg nog. Tight butholes, rapping wizards, not getting laid, professional body-building and childhood heroes.
"Q: What kind of advice would you give for the upcoming graduates and aspiring workahaulics?
"Ders: Give up, get a shitty job and get a house with your best friends and try to be a kid forever!
"Adam: My advice would be: take full advantage of the Internet. Very useful in this age.
"Blake: Pick up another major and stay in school. Be a student forever. F*** Kanye.
"Q: Earlier you guys mentioned the tele-marketing job as being the worst experience of your lives. Can you recall the actual worst experience that you had as tele-marketers?
"Adam: Well, actually, truthfully, you sort of just make the best out if it. It sucked. It was just mind-numbingly boring but if you sold three whatever in a day – I was selling Omaha Steaks – so I was selling steaks over the phone, and if you sell three steaks, you get a hat that says "Top Gun," so I would just really be obnoxious as hell and wear that "Top Gun" hat and every time I’d get a sale, I would point to it and call myself Maverick. That’s basically how I got myself through the day without killing myself and my coworkers.
"Q: Where do you draw your comedy inspiration from?
"Blake: We all have very eclectic tastes in terms of shows, like Curb Your Enthusiam is something that we all love. Tim and Eric. I’m a big fan of Tim and Eric’s irreverent style.
"Kyle: I like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and even some Comedy Central shows like South Park and stuff we all grew up on.
"Q: For Kyle: What is the central point you want to get across to the audience for the show? What do you want them to take away at the end of the 30 minutes?
"Kyle: Basically, just live in the moment. Seize the day; carpe the diem.
"Q: We noticed Chris Parnell in one of the episodes. Are there any other familiar faces we should expect to see later on in the season?
"Blake: I know of one. I’m not sure we want to give it away though. A clue is: it’s a hero of ours from childhood.
"Adam: Yeah, we’ve never done anything so, for the most part, people in Hollywood are like "screw these guys." Don’t expect too many. Gene Hackman is not showing up. We tried to find a child predator, basically, and we wanted to cast somebody famous so it wouldn’t be as scary, and we asked literally everyone. We went out to Paul Walker really hard and it turns out he doesn’t want to play a child predator.
"Q: Can you guys name a time where you have tried and failed and had to try again?
"Kyle: As a group, we tried to make internet videos and get seen by millions of people like over 60 times but every time we would make videos, I don’t know, about 600 people would watch. But we just kept going, you know? Mailordercomedy.com. Actually look up Mailorder comedy the app too and I bet it’s awesome. It’s what we want to be. Just a lot of shirtless, greased up dudes. Chippendale models.
"Q: For Kyle: Can you say what it’s like working with these guys on the show?
"Kyle: Yeah, it’s a nightmare. I wake up screaming every day. Though, in all seriousness, it’s a dream come true. I mean, we’ve been working together for a long time and it’s something that we all strived for. We would keep each other going in terms of making videos and working together but the way that these 3 improv together is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s just that they have such a dynamic and are incredible to work with, and it’s a dream come true. They’re my best friends in the worlds and I’m working with them. It’s great.
"Q: That episode where you eat the shrooms at the camp out…did that actually happen? Did you guys actually do that?
"Blake: [Jokingly] Yes, all the drugs and booze that we partake in on the show are absolutely real, and none of it’s fake.
"Adam: I don’t know about Ders, but [my job] was so horrible. It sucked as far as jobs go. So I would go out to my car every break that I’d get and smoke weed to numb the pain. That’s what I did but I never camped out there.
"Q: Can you talk more about how your experiences with Second City, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, National Lampoon and even Mail Order Comedy influence your plans for "Workahaulics?"
"Adam: I think just working together so much. I mean, I met Ders at Second City while we were both students there and I was like "woah this guy’s weird" and he thought the same thing I think so we just got along and then, with Blake and Kyle, they’ve known each other forever so we just started hanging out everyday and working together and sort of teaching each other stuff and working off each other and we got super comfortable with each other. It made making the TV show a lot easier because we knew what the person was thinking and what they were going to say before they say it.
"Ders: Yeah, and any of those improv classes like that out here are just good ways of networking with people and also just kind of keeping you sharp because if you’re just on the couch drinking and smoking all the time, your improv brain just kind of dies. It’s good to keep it flexible.
"Kyle: I went to film school and I really liked all the different genres. You know, I’m just a film nerd in general. When we all decided to do comedy together and kind of explore those different genres, it was like a dream come true. I love all the different genres and we got to explore and kind of hone them.
"Blake: We all sort of share the same mentality. Just work as hard as you can for as long as you can and something good will happen. Luckily, it did, or else we’d all still be doing the same thing. Just broke as hell.
"Q: When you guys were doing the project together with Mail Order Comedy and making your videos, did you ever expect having your own show on Comedy Central?
"Kyle: I’d like to say kind of. The goal was to get a show, get a movie, you know, and I know that these guys, in the back of their minds, were in the same mentality or else we wouldn’t be hanging out and doing what we’re doing. The most accessible platform for us in LA is the Internet. So we tried to make as much noise there as possible to take it to the next level, which would be TV or features and luckily we made it.
"Ders: I mean, yeah, the first thing we ever did together was a pilot and it was a TV show that we all worked on. It was all improv. We were so confident that we were going to get it on MTV. Adam knew like an intern at MTV so we worked on this for like, I don’t know, I think we shot it over two weekends and we were in post on it for a long time but we were confident that it was going to be a TV show. The first thing we ever did, it was awesome.
"Adam: Yeah, like some MTV intern saw me do standup and was like "Hey, funny stuff!" and I’m like "We’re in! That’s it, we’ve got our own show!" Then, of course, they never watched it but it got us making videos at least.
"Kyle: You got to have that like naivete. You have to be dumb enough to think it’s going to happen or else you’ll be sad and depressed. Also just to get a job and have kids and a basketball hoop. That’s my endgame basically: kids and a basketball hoop.
"Q: You know how in elementary school you have that one teacher you really hate and when you graduate high school you give her your diploma to show her you made it? Have you ever given like a tape of your show to your old boss?
"Blake: I know the last job I went to I was working delivering sandwiches but those dudes were cool as hell and they’re nothing but supportive so I’ll like those dudes ‘till I die. Luckily, I don’t have that many haters in my life, thank goodness. They’ll be here. I’m ready.
"Adam: Yeah, I didn’t do that. I’m just hoping they see it on television and cry themselves to sleep. I am getting a bunch of random people from high school that I didn’t know or didn’t like that are like "I always knew you’d do it bro! We should hang out more man!" And I’m like "I’m not…what?"
"Q: With that being said, do you have any episodes that revolve around things that happened back then?
"Kyle: Yeah, in one episode we call up a hybrid of two girls I knew from high school and I call her the third love of my life: Chelsea Neederdeppy and so my high school girlfriend and a friend of mine are just a shout out.
"Adam: I think you even mention your rival, Mike Mccoy, in there.
"Kyle: Oh yeah, I throw Mike Mccoy under the bus a few times. He’s not expecting it at all. He’s going to be like "What the f*** is this bro?"
"Q: I know fans can twitter with you guys and theres’s the extra content online. Can you talk more about that?
"Adam: We tweet constantly and sometimes we respond. Blake responds to every single person that tweets him.
"Kyle: I don’t really know how twitter works but it is an eye-opening experience. The first time I really tweeted hard was during the sneak peak and it was really cool to see the amount of feedback we were getting, most of it good. A lot of people were like "It’s an awesome show" and some people were like "This is garbage!" But we didn’t respond to them.
"Blake: I do think it’s cool, though, with all the comments on twitter and having like all that available. It does make you feel more connected to the fans and it’s cool to be able to give love back to people if they’re showing you love.
"Ders: It makes you feel [like] people actually watch the thing because in LA, everybody’s too cool for school. Even if they really like the show or not, they won’t say anything to you. Or you think someone behind you in line is staring at you but they’re really staring at Ryan Phillipe at the yogurt shop.
"Q: What happens if you guys get sick of each other since you are actually roommates in real life?
"Adam: Season 3 will be a deathmatch. We just sort of hole up in our rooms and watch movies and we all sort of do different stuff. You know, like recreationally so, we spend time apart if we need to. Truthfully, we live together and hang out like everyday for seven or eight years now so we’re kind of like brothers. We can fistfight each other and be Ok an hour later, which we’ve done a few times.
"Blake: Just boys being boys. Adam threw a piece of pizza at my ass. Weird things happen on tour.
"Q: Could you talk about how it is working with your co-stars on the show, for example your boss, the secretary and the friend you got the tickets off of?
"Kyle: Well, Jillian is a really good friend of ours that we’ve known for years and she plays the secretary and she’s one of the funniest people we know. She’s hysterical. She wrote for SNL and stuff and we’re lucky to have her. Marybeth, actually, Ders saw her perform at the Second City in Chicago and was a big fan of hers.
"Ders: Yeah, like five years ago or something like that, and then our paths crossed, as they do.
"Blake: For me, it’s really awkward on set because I try to just have sex with every single person who walks onto the "Workaholics" set.
"Adam: Montez is just "woo!" Montez is actually Eric Griffin, who is a fun stand-up comedian here in LA that I know from doing stand-up. Waymond we just found on Craigslist but he just happens to be one of the best character actors of all time, one of the best human beings also.
"Ders: He’s actually a black-belt in, I believe, kung-fu so he’s dangerous. He’s also a marine. Waymond is a jack of all trades. He’s the best. They’ll change the phrase "jack of all trades" to "Waymond of all trades." Everybody loves Waymond.
"Q: I see that Mail Order Comedy just came out with a hip-hop album. Which one of you is the best rapper?
"Adam: I think that Ders is the lyricist. He grew up in the streets for sure. He’s got that background.
"Ders: The way it’s divided, we have Adam who’s good on the hooks. Dropping long notes that you might hear in a wizard church. Blake is the ODB and Kyle’s definitely our RZA. He’s the kingpin of it all. But, please buy The Wizard’s Purple Magic on iTunes.
