Podcast Summary: This Is Important – Ep 276: Jelking For Idiots
Podcast: This Is Important
Hosts: Adam DeVine, Anders Holm (Ders), Blake Anderson, Kyle Newacheck
Episode: 276: Jelking For Idiots
Date: December 23, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode of "This Is Important" is a classic, freewheeling exploration of “seriously important” topics, blending absurd humor and surprising earnestness. The gang dives into subjects like sleep deprivation, energy drinks, male grooming, male pattern baldness, the pros and cons of hair plugs, self-acceptance, bizarre gym routines, penis enlargement myths, and the shifting mentality of younger workers around mental health and work-life balance. As always, the crew’s irreverent banter is laced with personal anecdotes, playful roasts, and the occasional (uncomfortable) overshare.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Sleep Deprivation and Life on Set
- Blake shares he's running on zero sleep due to filming and jokes about living in a "hostel" in Winnipeg.
- [05:08] Blake Anderson: “Hey, I’m on death row. Don’t you see my film quality?”
Energy Drinks: Evolution, Brands, and the Gym
- The group debates the difference between energy drinks and pre-workouts.
- Ders admits his return to energy drinks after a hiatus, celebrating the proliferation of delicious flavors.
- [07:41] Blake Anderson: “Welcome back.”
- [08:04] Adam DeVine: “Yeah, the taurine was heavy, yes.”
- Ders describes the appeal of brands like C4 and Ghost, mentioning collaborations with candy like Sour Patch Kids.
- The hosts riff on the idea of a "gas station workout," using ice bags and gas nozzles as gym gear.
- [14:13] Blake Anderson: “With slingships?”
- [14:31] Ders: “You farmer carry bags of ice until all of the ice melts.”
Fitness Talk: Jargon and Fads
- Playful confusion over fitness buzzwords such as “hypertrophy,” “lipids,” “eccentric,” and “macros.”
- [15:09] Adam DeVine: “Buckhole. It's like lifting with chains.”
- [15:47] Blake Anderson: “I like pH. A T. Yeah, sorry, we’re from the 90s.”
TV Binging: Lioness and Male Body Goals
- Ders recommends the series Lioness and discusses writer Taylor Sheridan’s dramatic transformation (“all the tea,” referring to testosterone).
- Discussion of shirtless action montages and the aesthetics of aging muscular men.
- [17:27] Ders: “And now he’s on so much tea…he is so red looking.”
- [18:37] Adam DeVine: “The fuck me muscles.”
When Is It Okay to Juice Up?
- The group agrees only men over 50 (and fully gray) should be allowed to get unnaturally jacked.
- [19:02] Ders: “At what age do we start?...I feel like right now I’m too young.”
Going Gray & Hair Loss
- The hosts trade thoughts on celebrities who have embraced gray or white hair—Ted Danson, Eugene Levy, Johnny Knoxville, George Clooney.
- Playful rivalry over who will go gray first and best.
- [20:45] Adam DeVine: “What about Clooney?”
- Existential panic about balding, with Ders recalling his college hair scare.
- [59:28] Ders: “I was taking a shower, and there would be, like, hundreds of [hairs] in my hands.”
Hair Transplants, Rogaine, and Societal Stigma
- Open conversation about modern hair loss remedies, including plugs and Rogaine.
- Ders presses Blake on whether he’d get hair restoration if he began balding rapidly.
- [38:49] Blake Anderson: “I think at that point, I would shave my head. Yeah. I would bust.”
- [39:01] Adam DeVine: “You would pay ten grand?”
- The group discusses how normalized and advanced hair restoration has become, name-checking comedians like Santino and Theo Von.
- [43:21] Adam DeVine: “Theo. What, the hair plugs?”
- [43:31] Ders: “Joel McHale has done it, like, five times…”
Masculinity, Insecurity, and Appearance
- The crew veers into how much appearance affects comedy careers and self-confidence.
- Blake jokes about “embracing the skullet” or getting a scalp tattoo.
- [40:18] Blake Anderson: “Yeah, you just do like Bam Bam Bigelow. That would be kind of fire.”
Shaved Armpits & Male Grooming
- Ders and Adam express dislike for armpit-shaving in men, unless you’re an Olympian.
- [35:46] Adam DeVine: “A guy with a shaved armpit.”
- [35:48] Ders: “Yeah, a guy with shaved armpit. I don’t like it.”
Penis Enlargement: The "Jelking" Segment
- The hosts stumble through discussion of “jelking,” riffing on its supposed history and effectiveness.
- [46:14] Adam DeVine: “I heard there’s actually a term for when you try to, like, stretch your penis…think it’s called guelking.”
- [47:34] Adam DeVine: “You know what? I feel like if joking [jelking] worked, a lot of people—yeah, we would all be joking.”
- It turns into a meta joke about the podcast becoming a “men’s health” show.
Generational Work Ethic & Mental Health Days
- Extended, serious comic rant on Gen Z's approach to office jobs and mental health days, contrasting it with their own upbringings.
- Discussion of shifting work culture, whether “mental health days” actually work, and their memories of their first jobs.
- [67:40] Ders: “How many mental health days can you take?...I don’t work in an office.”
- [68:28] Adam DeVine: “I think a mental health day is a sick Day. I think they’re the same thing.”
Notable Quotes & Moments
On Balding and Appearance
- [23:34] Blake Anderson: “God, can you believe none of us went bald? Unreal. Yet.”
- [40:41] Blake Anderson (on going bald): “I’d have to, like, tattoo my head.”
On Male Grooming
- [35:48] Ders: “Yeah, a guy with shaved armpit. I don’t like it.”
- [36:06] Adam DeVine (on swimmers): “Mark Spitz style. Do you understand how much slower he was because of that [mustache]?”
On Penis Enlargement
- [46:14] Adam DeVine: “I heard there’s actually a term for when you try to, like, stretch your penis to make it longer. I think it’s called guelking.”
- [47:34] Adam DeVine: “If joking worked, we’d all be joking.”
On Generational Differences in Work
- [63:00] Ders: “You can’t even be stern right to your employee anymore.”
- [63:38] Adam DeVine: “You know, comedy’s dead too.”
- [67:40] Adam DeVine: “If you need a month off, you know what would relieve the stress? Quit your job.”
Timestamps for Key Segments
- [04:29] – Episode proper begins; sleep deprivation and acting life
- [05:53] – Energy drinks—comeback, flavors, and fitness debates
- [14:31] – Gas station workout routine riff
- [16:23] – Diet, macros, and fitness jargon jokes
- [17:15] – Discussion of Lioness and Taylor Sheridan’s testosterone-fueled makeover
- [19:02] – Ethics of taking steroids/testosterone as you age
- [20:04] – Celebrity gray hair and embracing aging
- [38:49] – Would Blake get plugs or accept baldness? Dilemma discussion
- [43:21] – Modern hair restoration and celebrities
- [46:14] – "Jelking" and penis enlargement jokes
- [59:28] – Ders’s college-era balding anxiety and hair counting
- [62:27] – How youthful looks shaped the Workaholics sitcom
- [63:00] – Shifting work norms; Gen Z and mental health days
- [67:40] – Mental health days: how many is too many?
- [71:15] – Running joke on taking mental health days to binge shows and "jelk"
- [72:24] – Reflections on work-life balance and technology’s future impact
Final Remarks
The episode maintains the "This Is Important" signature blend of raunchy, absurdist humor and sincere bro-philosophy. The hosts riff on insecurities and modern masculinity (balding, gym culture, penis size) with a mix of genuine vulnerability and relentless punchlines. There’s a pervasive nostalgia for the “old school” (whether office culture or 1990s snacks), alongside both trepidation and curiosity about society's evolving attitudes toward appearance, work, and self-care.
For Reference: Noteworthy Quotes by Timestamp
- [19:02] Ders: “At what age do we start? Because I feel like right now I’m too young [for steroids].”
- [46:14] Adam DeVine: “I heard there’s actually a term…think it’s called guelking.”
- [63:00] Ders: “You can’t even be stern right to your employee anymore.”
- [67:40] Adam DeVine: “If you need a month off, you know what would relieve the stress? Quit your job.”
- [68:28] Adam DeVine: “I think a mental health day is a sick Day. I think they’re the same thing.”