Sadly, 2017 is the year that the weed-schmokin' threesome at the center of Comedy Central's Workaholics will say farewell to audiences, but at least we can all give thanks that years of juvenile humor provided creators Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson and Kyle Newacheck a brighter future in the entertainment industry. Things are going dark for a new movie that will team the TV quartet with multi-hyphenate Ben Stiller for a much-desired home at Netflix. Titled The Eggplant Emoji, it's a movie that's ki-i-i-ind of about a guy who gets his penis cut off.
It'd be a stretch to say that The Eggplant Emoji is a stunningly intricate portrayal of an adolescence gone impure. At the heart of it all (or whatever body part) is a teenage boy out with his friends on a camping trip...a trip that goes extraordinarily wrong when his penis is accidentally cut off. Attempts are then made to save the lil' limb before the point of no return. Hard to believe things could still go downhill from that first point, but they definitely can, and according to THR, the tone will be akin to Superbad in the way it mixes R-rated laughs with teen friendships.
With Zoolander 2 as his most recent trip into extreme comedy, Ben Stiller isn't so surprising a name to find behind the scenes of The Eggplant Emoji, and a past cameo on Workaholics is a sensible connection to the other funnymen. The man who embraced a colorful assortment of genitalia gags in There's Something About Mary will be executive producing the film with Nicky Weinstock through their Red Hour Films shingle. Also no strangers to penis-themed antics, Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson and Kyle Newacheck will serve as producers, so you can be sure no one will be stepping in to say something is "too extreme and/or crude."
The Eggplant Emoji was conceived as a spec script from Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, who created the dialogue-driven web comedy Gentlemen Lobsters, which started at GQ and can also be found on NBC's comedy streaming site Seeso. And apparently their spec was quite the hot and gross commodity; Netflix took control of The Eggplant Emoji by beating out five other studios who also had a vested interested in showering dollars on the ribald concept. At a time when reboots and sequels are all the rage, it's interesting that a dude losing his dong was such a magnet for attention.
You can check out an installment of Gentlemen Lobsters below for a possible taste of what's to come.
Unfortunately, no details about release timelines or casting were noted, so it's unclear if Ben Stiller or the Workaholics crew will star or make appearances. Anders Holm wrote the action-comedy Game Over, Man, which Newacheck will direct for Netflix, and Holm will again co-star with Adam Devine and Blake Anderson. Hopefully that means we'll get to see them here, too. While we're waiting to hear more, though, head to our 2017 Netflix schedule to see what else the streaming service will deliver this year.
