Since the 2011 premiere of Workaholics, cast members Adam Devine, Blake Anderson, Kyle Newachek and Anders Holm have become ubiquitous in the realm of comedy films and streaming series — even expanding on their own work with their movie, Game Over, Man!, in 2018. While a Workaholics movie has, for now, been put on hold by Paramount+, we expect it's only a matter of time before the gang strikes a deal to bring the feature elsewhere or pivot towards making another movie together. Anderson and Newacheck grew up together in Concord, California, later meeting Holm and DeVine (who were improv buddies) while attending college in Orange County. The quartet then began making YouTube videos before Comedy Central plucked them from obscurity to create their hit show.
After the pandemic hit, the Workaholics crew teamed up again for a podcast, This Is Important, which has made for some of their most hilarious content yet. Still, as DeVine has carved out the biggest acting career of the group with roles like Kelvin Gemstone on The Righteous Gemstones, we long for the days of seeing this funny foursome grace the screen all at once. Like Voltron, together they are much deadlier than they are apart. For now, we'll continue to enjoy their respective roles in film and television, and hope that they coalesce for some more hilarious work together.
The following are the 10 best movie and tv roles from the Workaholics cast.
10 Bumper in Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin
Adam DeVine became the unlikely star of Peacock's expansion of the Pitch Perfect franchise, with a journey through the weirdness of Germany in Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin. His surprisingly fleet of foot dance moves as Bumper Allen, a TikTok influencer wannabe who get lured to Germany with few prospects of success, made the character endearing (if a bit idiotic).
DeVine actually cooks up a bit of on-screen chemistry opposite Modern Family alum Sarah Hyland, and finds himself stumbling towards success time and again thanks to his charismatic foolishness. DeVine's role as Bumper has probably given him his highest profile among the Gen Z set, as the Pitch Perfect franchise continues to expand and has grown an enormous cult following over the years.
9 Cousin RJ in The Out-Laws
In The Out-Laws, Owen Browning (Adam Devine) finds himself smitten with Parker (Nina Dobrev), who comes with a little extra baggage in the form of her bank robber parents. Luckily another one of those in-laws is Cousin RJ (Blake Anderson), a hilarious EMT, who puts his ambulance navigation skills to good use when Owen finds himself in a pinch trying to appease said parents and win Nina's admiration. RJ gives a particularly side-splitting introduction to his zany behavior in a hibachi-adjacent scene early in the film, and never wavers — a classic Blake performance as the curly-haired-one again impressed with his effortless comedic prowess. Let's face it — the hair does half the work!
8 Charlie in The Freak Brothers
Not only did The Freak Brothers feature an all-star cast including Pete Davidson and Woody Harrelson, but Blake Anderson put another feather in his cap doing voice work as Charlie, one of a young duo that befriends the Freak Brothers in the present day. It's easy to see why Anderson was cast in the role (as a stoner weirdo with a "heart of Acapulco Gold"), given his proclivities for the finer things in life and his actual physical resemblance to the animated character. Adam Devine plays Chuck, his compatriot in all things psychedelic, but this format was tailor-made for Anderson's stoner-acting-wizardry.
7 Lucky Collins in About My Father
About My Father is a culture clash comedy that pitted Robert De Niro as a not-so-forward-thinking Italian immigrant father getting to the bottom of his sons' engagement — playing the "real life" father of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco — who plays himself. In the film, Anders Holm plays Lucky, Maniscalco's brother-in-law-to-be, who embodies the excessive privilege of his fiancée's family through his completely out-of-touch personality (and plaid sport coats). Despite his hilarious performance, Holm had no idea, at first, that he was playing a real life person. "No, I just found out last night that I'm based off somebody that's real, I didn't know that," Holm admitted to Daily Distraction. "But now I want to party with him."
6 Phil in Jexi
Despite his Workaholics colleagues constantly ribbing Adam DeVine about Jexi on their podcast, This Is Important, T.I.I. Nation knows it's all in good fun. The absurdist comedy was an early vehicle for DeVine, essentially parodying Spike Jonze's Her with a funny imitation of the techno/human romance plot. In the movie, Jexi, a Siri-like virtual assistant takes over Phil's life, as he's become anti-social thanks to his obsession with phone technology.
The role is a perfect fit for DeVine's neurotic touch, as only a man completely lacking confidence would be led to such thankless ends by a smartphone. By the end of the film, Jexi has Phil jumping through hoops on his way to a romantic recompense that gives this film a (slightly) happy ending!
5 Darren in Game Over, Man!
Anders Holm did some of his best post-Workaholics work as Darren in Game Over, Man!, a salvia-tokin' hotel maid...er...housekeeper with big dreams for a breakthrough in the tech sector. He gives some of the movies most hilarious heartfelt speeches as he and Alexxx bicker over their passion project, finding themselves caught up in a hostage situation that stands between them and their dreams. Luckily, Darren fashions a plan to use the Skintendo Joysuit to use one of the terrorists against the hotel's captors. The plan goes off without a hitch (ok, a few hitches), leading the Bey of Tunisia to help the boys achieve their video game dreams.
4 Alexxx in Game Over, Man!
Not only does Adam DeVine bear it all for the camera physically, with some hilariously-slapstick naked acting as Alexxx in Game Over, Man!, but he bears his soul — a man who dreams big despite his occupation cleaning toilets. DeVine seriously brings the ruckus in this (literally) balls-to-the-wall performance, getting the movie's biggest laughs as he and his trio devise one clumsy solution after another to battle a Die Hard-esque scenario.
Turns out Alexxx isn't very handy with a gun (or anything, for that matter), but he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals of fame and fortune. Sure, we got a little more familiar with DeVine's family jewels than we had ever expected, but he made up for it (and then some) with his action-packed redemptive acts at the film's conclusion.
3 Joel in Game Over, Man!
Blake Anderson shows out with a tender performance as the anxiously-closeted Joel in Game Over, Man!, flexing his tech-worthy prowess as the brains behind the star trio that becomes the focus of this highly-unexpected action film. Joel has some secrets to get out in the open, though they're incidental to the film's major plot, which makes John McLains out of this trio of Workaholics alums.
Joel always seems to speak up at the wrong time, especially when it concerns his lifestyle choices, though Anderson does well to make him into the audience's rooting-interest in the film. By the time he revises his "Skintendo Joysuit" for anti-terrorist purposes, we're fully invested into this wholly-Blake Anderson character. The rest is comedy history!
2 Owen in The Out-Laws
One of Adam Devine's best recent performances, Netflix's The Out-Laws pitted him against a wily Pierce Brosnan and a spry Ellen Barkin as two unmanageably-criminal, potential parents-in-law. As Owen, Devine is a model fiancée with dreams of sparkling nuptials, before finding out his bride-to-be comes along with some major baggage.
Devine proved he could be a viable lead in a romantic comedy, and got barrels of laughs for his non-stop slapstick as he stumbles through his job as a bank manager-gone-crooked in the major Netflix film. Owen cooks up some serious on-screen chemistry opposite Billy (Brosnan), who will stop at nothing to keep this devoted bonehead away from his daughter, while pursuing a means to his outlaw ends. Ok, so Rotten Tomatoes seems to disagree that this is a good film, given it's 20% rating on the aggregator, but it's worth a watch if only for DeVine's performance.
1 Kelvin Gemstone in The Righteous Gemstones
Combining the forces of early 2000s emo rock, evangelical Christian worship, and a general spunkiness that makes him one of the show's most depthful characters, Adam DeVine's role as Kelvin Gemstone on The Righteous Gemstones has emerged as quite probably his best work on screen, forming a triumvirate of stupidity with his siblings, Jesse (Danny McBride) and Judy (Edi Patterson), and a perfect partnership with Keefe Chambers (Tony Cavalero), whose love/hate relationship and war against the unholy becomes one of the show's funniest subplots.
The show has seen DeVine rise to a series regular on a hit HBO show — a true coming out party for the greatest talent to come out of the once-humble origins of the Workaholics crew.
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