Adam DeVine has yet to accept the fame that comes with success.
The co-creator and co-star of the Comedy Central series “Workaholics” laughs at the use of his name and the word “career” in the same sentence and grimaces at the mentioning of the show ever winning an award, but when fans scream “butthole” at him, he takes it as a compliment.
“Could you imagine if they gave us an Emmy or a Golden Globe? That’d be disastrous,” said DeVine, who plays Adam Demamp on the show, in a conference call with college media. “They shouldn’t do that. I doubt they ever will.”
But being that the cast occasionally parties with The Black Keys, Jason Bateman has been known to tweet pictures with the cast on the set of “Arrested Development” and fans have done things as crazy as bake him hairy cupcakes, DeVine might be underrating the show’s potential.
The second half of Season 3 of “Workaholics,” also called Season 3B, premiered 10 p.m. Wednesday on Comedy Central.
The show centers on three friends, Adam, Blake, played by Blake Anderson, and Ders, played by Anders Holm, who live together and work at the same telemarketing company.
Off-screen, the acting trio make up the comedy group Mail Order Comedy, which initially caught attention from its Internet sketches.
Having somewhat mastered writing for TV and no plans to stray from that for a while – “Workaholics” got picked up for fourth and fifth seasons on Comedy Central – the comedians recently finished writing a script for their first movie, which they will produce alongside Seth Rogen and Scott Rudin.
“We’ve written it, but we just haven’t stuck a name on the movie. It’s an action comedy,” DeVine said. “It’s not a ‘Workaholics’ movie, but it will star the three of us as good friends.”
DeVine was just on the big screen in October as well for his role as Bumper in “Pitch Perfect.”
Only acting was a nice break from the stress and criticisms that come with writing, he said.
“The script was really funny,” DeVine said. “‘Pitch Perfect,’ if it sucked, it wasn’t really on me. So I really got to concentrate on what was important to me, which is drinking booze.”
DeVine also said despite there being a maximized stress factor to writing his own script, getting to hang out with his friends every day on the set of “Workaholics” makes going to work worthwhile. He didn’t discredit the payoff from the fan support either, which is made up mostly of men.
“Workaholics” was ranked as the second highest-rated comedy on cable Tuesday nights by men ages 18-34, according to a press release.
“It’s just the sense of humor that dudes like and luckily we were able to tap into it,” DeVine said. “If dudes like it, great and if super hot, model-esque chicks like it, even better. The latter hasn’t happened yet, but I think our fanbase is pretty cool.
“There’re some psychopaths, but for the most part everyone’s rad.”
DeVine said once a girl baked him cupcakes, and when he took them home, he noticed there was a lot of hair in them.
“She wanted me to devour her hair or something bizzaro,” he said.
He also recalled one of the first times he was recognized in public. DeVine said he was sitting at a stoplight and a pedestrian shouted to him that he had a “tight butthole.”
Hearing the phrase wasn’t too out of the ordinary for DeVine, though. The expression has turned into a catchphrase for “Workaholics” fans, he said.
“It’s kind of a s—ty catchphrase because in order to say it you have to say butthole,” he said. “A lot of times people don’t know how to use it.”
“Tight butthole” means something is cool, whereas “loose butthole” means something is lame.
Some Ohio State students tune into the show just for its crude humor.
“It’s kind of raunchy, which is what I like about it,” said Brandon Kalnasy, a second-year in mathematics.
The show has developed a following from celebrities as well. One who caught on late was Bateman.
The day the crew was filming its cameo on the set of “Arrested Development,” Bateman made the mistake of tweeting a picture of himself with the “Workaholics” stars without knowing who they were.
“Twitter just exploded,” DeVine said. After that, Bateman had to ask the guys who they were.
DeVine also said the lead singer of The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, is a pretty big fan of “Workaholics,” and the band and the cast get together every once in a while.
“When they come in town sometimes they invite us out. We get to go party with them like we’re huge arena rock stars,” he said.
DeVine said the show seems to have a more loyal college following than celebrity fanbase.
Sage Boggs, a fourth-year in English, agreed.
“‘Workaholics’ is different. I really like the slogan they have, ‘get weird,’ because it’s just a weird show,” Boggs said. “They can get crude, but it’s the right kind of crude.”
Other students, such as Ana Singer, a fifth-year in international relations, watch the show for the characters.
“I love the show. Blake is my favorite character. I was actually Blake for Halloween,” Singer said, and added she hopes to see more guest stars in Season 3B.
DeVine said the premise of the show is what’s relatable to college students.
“You’re kind of in that point of your life when you’re about to be a grown-up and it’s scary as s— because grownuphood sucks,” he said. “Pretty tight butthole if you ask me.”
Daniel Fyffe and Kat Niu contributed to this story.
