The men of Workaholics have been gainfully employed for five seasons — much to our late-night binge-watching delight. But, long before they were playing riotous 9-to-5ers on TV, they navigated less glamorous vocational territory as revealed to us at PaleyFest in Los Angeles last weekend.
"I worked at a pumpkin farm for a couple of seasons," said Kyle Newacheck, one-fourth of the show's creative team. "That was cool. I mean odd. Super odd."
Odd? Sure. Endearing? Definitely. We bet his skills come in handy whenever Halloween rolls around. But, Newacheck's pumpkin handling is easily trumped in strangeness by his coworker — er, castmate — Adam DeVine's resume details.
"I sold cleaning supplies door to door for a while," he shared. "I would just walk up and say 'You need bleach?' and they'd go 'Get the hell out of here!'"
"'If I needed bleach, I'd go to the store!'" his co-star Blake Anderson riffed. "'And, not have a 15-year-old boy ride his bike up with cleaning supplies in a basket,'" DeVine replied. (Open message to DeVine: You can come by our houses with cleaning accoutrements anytime.)
Meanwhile, Anderson fondly recalls his days in the meat industry. "I worked at a butcher shop," he shared. "That was kind of weird. Then again it was really fun, too. I wouldn't trade it for the world." (We count our inability to read Anderson's sincerity vs. sarcasm here to his total comedic charm.)
Rounding out the foursome's career past is Anders Holm. "I was a firefighter," he joked. "No. My worst job was in telemarketing — and that's one of the reasons we do it on our show."
So, the moral of the story is: next time you're sitting bitterly at your desk, remember that inspiration can truly come from anywhere. And, if you just can't shake the white-collar doldrums, laugh about them on TV.
New episodes of Workaholics air every Wednesday on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. EST.