Television series

Workaholics

Name: Workaholics
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2011
Cast: Kyle Newacheck, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, Edward Barbanell

Comedy
Light-hearted

Workaholics is a half-hour comedy about three directionless roommates grinding through office jobs they don't care about while scheming elaborate pranks and barely-concealed schemes to avoid actual work. It's anarchic, absurdist, deeply silly, and designed for people who find workplace monotony funny and have no patience for sentimentality.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like hangout comedies where three friends drift through their days, the jokes grow out of their rapport, and the scheming stays small while the goofing stays sincere.

Skip it if you need tight plotting or a steady narrative spine, since episodes often reset and the humor leans juvenile, repetitive and loud for long stretches.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes that move quickly, but across seven seasons, so you're committing to a long run of loose, shaggy scenes rather than a single arc.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005

Same anarchic energy and refusal to learn lessons or grow. Five terrible people navigating Philadelphia with relentless creativity and zero shame—seasons 3-7 especially hit that sweet spot of controlled chaos.

But Gets darker and meaner over time, and the humor relies on characters being actively awful rather than charmingly incompetent. Not for people who need likable protagonists.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia poster

Trailer Park Boys2001

Three protagonists bumbling through existence with spectacular bad planning and infectious camaraderie. The mockumentary format gives it a warmer, almost affectionate lens on failure that Workaholics shares.

But Heavy Canadian accent humor and the serialized drama builds past the purely comedic. Uneven seasons mean some stretches drag.

Community2009

Group-based comedy with bottomless commitment to weird concepts and character dynamics. The best episodes have the same 'let's just commit to this absurd premise' energy that makes Workaholics sing.

But Gets progressively more meta and conceptual rather than grounded in character. Later seasons lose the relatability that grounds the early humor.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Workaholics

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Scrubs2001

Both use workplace setting as a stage for character dynamics and friend-group chemistry, but Scrubs shows what happens when consequences enter the room—a shadow version of what Workaholics refuses to acknowledge.

Hospital setting where the workplace is genuinely consequential and occasionally dark—gives the workplace comedy framework actual stakes. Proves you can mix sincere emotional beats with pure gag comedy without one destroying the other.

But Tonal shifts are severe and often jarring. The later seasons abandoned the ensemble dynamic entirely in favor of serialized drama, which completely rewires what the show is.

Arrested Development2003

Dysfunctional found-family comedy with layered writing and running gags. Dense with callbacks and clever construction—shows you can do workplace-adjacent comedy with real craft underneath.

But Demands attention and rewards rewatching in ways Workaholics never does. More scripted, less improvisational.

The Office2005

Foundational workplace comedy that makes mundane office life the stage for character comedy. If you love watching people fail at jobs, this is the genre peak—warmer and more character-driven than you'd expect.

But Tone shifts wildly across nine seasons, and the mockumentary format can feel stagey. Many people bounce off it entirely depending on timing.

Parks and Recreation2009

Office comedy that gradually became something sweeter: characters who actually grow and care about each other. If Workaholics made you want more structure with your chaos, this is the answer.

But Earnestness builds steadily—early seasons feel awkward and thin. For people who just want anarchic laughs, the heart eventually overwhelms the joke.

30 Rock2006

Workplace comedy moving at sprint speed with barely-developed characters used as props for rapid-fire jokes and bits. Same throwaway pacing as Workaholics, just TV-insider humor instead of office culture.

But Relies heavily on references and specificity that haven't aged well. Each joke is discrete rather than building from character, which some find exhausting.

Eastbound & Down2009

Half-hour comedy built on a terrible protagonist who bumbles through failure in a small town. Dark, cringey, stupidly funny—proves you can build comedy around someone's consistent inability to improve.

But Much darker in tone and genuinely uncomfortable in ways Workaholics avoids. The main character is harder to root for because consequences actually matter.

Broad City2014

Two best friends in their twenties being relentlessly chaotic in New York. Irreverent, fast-paced, committed to weird bits—shares Workaholics' willingness to be visibly stupid for comedy.

But Heavily NYC-specific in flavor and the comedy sometimes gets too reference-heavy. Two seasons in and it starts resting on character chemistry rather than actual jokes.

SuperMansion2015

Three to four core characters sharing a space, pranking each other, and failing at their ostensible purpose—structurally identical to Workaholics but animated and aimed at the deepest Adult Swim crowd.

Stop-motion animated comedy about idiot superheroes living in a mansion together. Adult swim absurdism with voice cast doing improv-adjacent work—same chaotic-roommates energy but filtered through plastic action figures and pure weirdness.

But Deliberately crude animation style and humor that's sometimes incomprehensible. The references are so inside-baseball obscure that watching feels like eavesdropping on a conversation you weren't invited to.

Veep2012

Core group failing upward through incompetence and selfishness, but Veep adds institutional resistance and actual stakes—what Workaholics would look like if the job fought back and the world cared about the outcome.

Workplace comedy where the job is real enough to matter and everyone is genuinely terrible at their role. Malcolm McDowell's direction creates momentum that makes failure feel consequential and hilarious simultaneously—proof the setup can go serious-faced and still work.

But Becomes increasingly bitter and cynical as it progresses. By the end it's not a comedy anymore—it's a character assassination that takes politics as its subject matter, which requires patience some viewers won't have.