Podcast Summary: "This Is Important – Best Of Eps 66-70"

Hosted by: Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, Kyle Newacheck
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

Overview

This special "Best Of" episode features highlights from episodes 66 to 70 of This Is Important with the original Workaholics team: Adam, Anders (Ders), Blake, and the returning Kyle Newacheck. The hosts revisit their most absurd, hilarious, and deeply unserious takes on life's "important" topics—from meal debates to the etiquette of farting, school stories, Covid updates, New Year’s expectations, bro-culture confessions, and the ups and downs of their creative and personal lives. The prevailing tone is irreverent, raucous, and full of tight-knit-group razzing with plenty of overshares, running gags, and random philosophical tangents.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tongue Twisters & Theater Kid Energy

• The guys kick off with goofy tongue twisters and warm-ups, flexing their drama school origins.
  • Notable moment: Adam and Blake improvise tongue-twisters, ending in "That was a freestyle, bro." (04:04)

2. The Great Lunch Debate

• Adam stakes a controversial claim: lunch is the best meal.
  • "You can eat breakfast for lunch. You can eat dinner for lunch. Lunch is the perfect meal." (04:38, Adam)
• Anders challenges: "Who's eating lunch for dinner? Nobody." (04:43)
• The debate morphs into a riff on fourth meal (Taco Bell-style) and eating habits, descending into jokes about losing weight by farting:
  • "I fart and lose a pound." (06:00, Adam)

3. Covid Chronicles & Mask Protocol

• Adam reveals he had Covid twice in three months: "I have Covid again right now. Currently, I’m battling the vid." (07:57)
• Extended riff on mask habits, with Anders claiming he's never let his mask slip under his chin ("I'm not buying that off the–well, I do..." 10:43, Adam), and playful teasing about robot-like behavior regarding Covid safety.
• Kyle’s absence is attributed in part to adopting new sobriety habits and scheduling clashes.

4. The Return of Kyle/Arugaloids Lore

• Kyle returns for the 69th episode ("It's a 69 ninth episode miracle!" 12:48), triggering intense banter about his abrupt departure and the fallout among fans (now called "Arugaloids").
• On missing Sizzler and podcast drama:
  • "It happened to line up at the right time. So I did check in to see what y'all were saying about that, because I did sing it, and there was a lot of noise coming in from the Internet at me." (14:19, Kyle)

5. Political Play & Let's Go, Brandon

• The hosts rib Kyle on his political leanings ("Are you a Go Brandon guy?" 15:31), then riff on the absurdity of "Let's Go Brandon" and how euphemisms catch on everywhere.
• Adam pitches: "Instead of cursing, we should say, just be more supportive of someone with a completely different name..." (15:56)

6. Nightlife & Dress Codes

• Reminiscing on LA clubbing days, including struggles with dress codes and armpit hair pride stories.
• "There was a lot of tank tops." (18:18, Blake)
• Discussion of door policy double-standards and how the group had to up their dress game in LA.

7. Middle School & Body Mishaps

• Stories about using aftershave and cologne as teenagers, leading to painful repercussions.
  • "I was like, dude, I’m going to put some cologne on my dick, bro. Make my dick smell good... definitely got inside my penis and it hurts." (19:03, Blake)
  • “I tried to shave... with my father's old straight razor... then poured aftershave on the wound. Burnt so bad.” (19:44, Adam)

8. Jenkem, Fart Science, and Gross-Out Humor

• Deep dive on the prison improvised drug “jenkem,” leading to a run of fart etiquette and whose farts reign supreme.
  • "You're the king of farting and not admitting it for some reason." (23:10, Ders to Adam)
  • "You fart Jenkem." (23:52, Blake)
• Debate over whether Adam farts more rarely but with greater potency.

9. Teacher Torture and School Antics

• Adam’s confession of making a teacher cry by fake shooting and exploding during class antics (30:55).
  • "And then she's like, Adam, Orion, can I talk with you?... then just started bawling, dude." (32:13, Adam)
• Speculation on whether the teacher's tears were from frustration or "sexual tension," with the hosts immediately taking it to absurdity.

10. Kyle's Departure, Mental Health & Podcast "Heel" Turn

• Kyle candidly discusses leaving the podcast for mental health and work reasons.
  • "Honestly, it was... call it a mental health break. I had too much shit on my plate, and the scheduling was going nuts, and we were finishing up Shadows..." (34:40, Kyle)
• The group teases his “heel turn,” and debate whether his move was an asshole or bitch move, settling on "yin yang."

11. Ellen, TV Plugs, and Hollywood Shenanigans

• Adam shares news about hosting Ellen and promoting The Righteous Gemstones, joking about wardrobe mishaps:
  • "You could just see my nipples, and they're like, no, let’s get you a different shirt. Maybe it’s too much... Nope, we're keeping it. I'm going to be nipped out on Ellen..." (36:28, Adam)

12. Gross-Out Side Hustles & Fetishes

• Discussion about the woman selling farts in jars and foot fetishes; Adam jokes about monetizing his own body odors as a Renaissance man (38:07).

13. Covid, Vaccines, and "Mark of the Beast"

• The group debates vaccination policies, CDC rules, and unvaccinated friends.
  • "I’m kind of stoked that like at this point it’s mostly unvaxxed people dying. Not because I don’t like people that aren’t vaccinated..." (38:33, Ders)
• Adam describes filming in the South and hearing vaccines called "the mark of the beast": “...people were calling it the mark of the beast. And I was like, that’s off the chain.” (40:30)

14. Old Man Feet and Body Decay

• Jokes about how feet get grosser with age and comparing dad feet horror.
  • "Yeah, my shit's all yellow... peeling back the nails, like, revolting." (37:36, Adam)

15. Fights, Dads, and Proving Your Manliness

• Adam recounts slap-boxing with his dad, leading to a real punch and a night spent spooning in tighty-whities after being locked out (73:53).
  • Memorable: “He [dad] somehow had stripped down to just his tidy whities... then brings me in close and goes, I love you, honey. I'm sorry, baby.” (75:10)

16. Formative Friendship Fails and Podcast Betrayal

• Group laments high school language classes, false pacts in school, and feeling betrayed by friends who secretly cheat (67:49).
  • “We all said that we were going to fail this one. Kyle betrayed me.” (68:11, Adam)
• The notorious missed threesome story: “I’m really happy we didn’t. Because then that’d be, like, a really weird thing that we have between us.” (68:34, Adam)

17. "Red Hat Society" Discovery

• Blake mistakes “grandmas in purple hats” for the actual Red Hat Society.
  • "You want to chunk out of the Red Hat Society? That shit is cool." (63:27, Blake)
  • "Did you have like a cool black grandmother that was taking you to church or something?" (61:20, Adam)

18. Jokes on Unwritten Social Codes

• Ongoing riffs about catchphrases ("Let's go," "if I’m being honest"), fashion advice, and meal etiquette.
  • “If a teenager starts fighting you in front of your kids, what do you do? You have to fight. You have to win.” (113:14, Adam)

19. Best Meals—Lunch Wars Finale

• Reheated lunch debate: group struggles (mock-seriously) to define if lunch is actually the best meal; Adam and Blake versus Ders and Kyle (115:23).

20. Murder Ethics & Home Invasion Hypotheticals

• The group darkly ponders scenarios where it would be “okay” to kill someone—mostly in defense of home/family, relating to crime shows and documentaries.
  • “If I come... out of my bedroom and there's just, like, a guy in the hallway and he has, like, a knife or a gun... If I end up killing him, I don't want to, but if I think, like, he's there to kill me...” (107:03, Adam)
• Ders shares fascination with "soldiers' first kill" stories on YouTube.

21. Beatles "Get Back" Documentary Reactions

• Disagreement about the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary: boring or mesmerising?
  • Adam: “It was interesting, just how it made me go, like, I could be the Beatles.” (106:08)
  • Kyle: “That shit was so good. So good.” (106:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• "You can eat breakfast for lunch. You can eat dinner for lunch. Lunch is the perfect meal."
  Adam – 04:38

• "You are the king of farting and not admitting it for some reason."
  Anders – 23:10

• "It's a 69 ninth episode miracle."
  Blake – 12:48

• "Let's go, Brandon."
  Group riff – 15:31/15:34

• "If you fart and then mirages appear..."
  Blake – 06:35

• "I've never had it on my chin."
  Ders on mask etiquette – 10:29

• "Klarna brings everything together..."
  (Repeated ad, but becomes self-parody)

• "You're a bass hitch."
  Blake inventing a new hybrid insult for Kyle – 43:43

• "I have Covid again right now. Currently, I'm battling the vid."
  Adam – 07:57

• "He [my dad] somehow had stripped down to just his tidy whities... then brings me in close and goes, I love you, honey. I'm sorry, baby."
  Adam, post-slapping dad story – 75:10

• "If a teenager starts fighting you in front of your kids, what do you do? … You absolutely cannot lose that fight."
  Adam – 113:14

• "My feet are gross. Yeah, my feet are legit Yucca."
  Adam – 37:21

Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Drama Exercises & Freestyles | 03:25–04:11 | | Lunch Debate: The Greatest Meal? | 04:31–06:07 | | Fart Science, Jenkem, Gross-out Champs | 06:09–07:41 | | Second Wave of Covid Stories | 07:49–09:58 | | Mask Wearing: To Chin or Not To Chin | 10:05–11:13 | | Kyle Returns, Sizzler Debate, Podcast Drama | 12:33–15:07 | | Let’s Go Brandon and Euphemisms | 15:19–16:32 | | Nightlife Memories & Club Dress Codes | 16:37–18:19 | | Adolescence Body Mishaps (Cologne and Razors) | 18:56–20:31 | | Farts, Flatulence Ranking, Workaholics Room | 23:03–24:49 | | Teacher Torment: Making Teachers Cry | 30:46–32:13 | | Kyle's Departure, Mental Health, Heel Turns | 34:39–36:28 | | Ellen Hosting, Nuggets, TV Promos | 36:28–37:37 | | Gross-out Hustles (Sell Your Farts) | 38:07–38:33 | | Covid, Vaccines, Southern "Mark of the Beast" | 38:33–40:53 | | Foot Rot and Smelliness with Age | 37:00–37:43 | | Dad Fights & Black Eyes | 72:19–76:00 | | Forsaken Threesomes and Friendship Barriers | 68:11–69:32 | | "Red Hat Society" and Grandma Subculture | 61:13–63:27 | | Murder Ethics/Home Invasion Hypotheticals | 106:18–108:42 | | Beatles Doc: Boring or Inspiring? | 105:44–106:18 |

Final Thoughts

This episode distills the core This Is Important experience: chemistry between lifelong friends, escalating bits, winding banter about juvenile and universal topics alike, and a pronounced refusal to “grow up.” The interplay of raw vulnerability, gross-out humor, and sudden philosophical pivoting is their signature. Whether reminiscing about high school antics or dissecting the politics of lunch, the show is a masterclass in comic group dynamics—and an endless source of comfort for "Arugaloids" everywhere.

For New Listeners

Jump in anywhere. The references run deep, but at its heart this is comedians goofing with, and about, their best friends. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’d rather have penises for fingers or vaginas for ears, if you think lunch deserves more respect, or if you can’t decide when to fight a dad—or when to just sell your own farts—welcome home.