Directed by Kyle Newacheck (Workaholics), the action comedy Game Over, Man! (available to stream at Netflix) shows what can happen when a star-studded event at an L.A. hotspot is taken over by armed gunman. Amid the chaos, Alexxx Kingle (Adam Devine), Darren Duncan (Anders Holm) and Joel Duncan (Blake Anderson) realize that it’s up to them to save the day by becoming heroes, if they can manage to survive the guns, explosions and all other manner of danger.

At the film’s Los Angeles press junket, Collider got the opportunity to sit down with Blake Anderson to chat 1-on-1 about making a big action movie with his friends, working with a naked Adam Devine, how their comedy has evolved, over the years, having the freedom to improvise with each other, being impressed with Kyle Newacheck’s transition to feature directing, the most dangerous scene, why they should remake The Rocketeer, what made him want to sign on for the new NBC multi-cam comedy Like Family, and when he realized that he was good at being funny.

Collider: How long had you guys been thinking about making a movie together?

BLAKE ANDERSON: I think we have always thought that, hopefully, it would lead to movies, at some point. For this actual movie, I want to say we started developing and writing the script during maybe Season 2 of Workaholics. It was a long time ago. When we were first writing it, I was like, “This just feels like just Workaholics. Why are we even doing it?” Now, I feel like people are ready to see us back together again, and it’s perfect timing, in that way.

Could you ever have imagined that you’d do a big action movie, like this?

ANDERSON: We didn’t want to approach it ironically. We really wanted to make a good action comedy. Maybe it’s action first, and comedy second, but it’s also a really fun place for us to be able to improv with each other because we know each other so well. It’s a really nice backdrop to be able to have those moments where you’re just buddying around and saying dumb stuff, but then, have our lives be at stake. It’s fun to play with, as an actor.

Were there ever conversations about which one of you would have to be the one to get naked, or was that always just a given?

ANDERSON: I don’t think there was too much discussion. I think it was pretty much Adam [Devine], the whole time. He may have even offered it up. That might have been the first scene we had. It was Adam naked, and then we had to build from there. I have come to terms with it, that it might be something that goes the rest of my life. At this point, it’s like looking at myself naked, in the mirror. It’s like “Whatever, let’s go. Let’s do it.” I’m ready to go on a nude trip to Greece with him, at this point. We’ll see. We might not film that. That might just be for us. We’ll see.

You guys have been doing comedy together for a long time. How would you say it’s really evolved, since you started doing it?

ANDERSON: We were doing stuff for YouTube, on the internet, where we couldn’t afford to spend more than $25 on a video. Literally, Adam, ‘Ders [Holm], or myself was holding the boom mic while Kyle [Newacheck] held the camera, with no crew.

Do you all miss those days?

ANDERSON: Not specifically. There’s definitely a freedom to it, and it’s cool to be able to film something, edit it and put it out, all on the same day. Workaholics was a lot of work. TV shows are crazy. They’re a real shotgun blast. You’re writing, acting, casting, editing and producing, all at one time, and you’re shooting 12 pages, a day. And then, you go to movies, where you may shoot a scene and come back to it the next day, it’s like, “Whoa, we’re still in the same location, on the same scene? Holy smokes!” To be able to take time with it and really mine for the comedy, I really enjoyed it.

Is it an adjustment to get used to so much waiting around?

ANDERSON: Totally! I could see where, if you were on one of those Marvel movies or something crazy like that, where you clock in at 6am to get your make-up done, but then you shoot one shot at 7pm, and then you go home. Definitely bring some stuff to read, for sure.

Did you do a lot of variations of jokes for this? Did you get to play around a lot with that?

ANDERSON: Yeah, for sure. We’re all so comfortable with each other, and that’s half the battle. What’s cool about us is that we’re all so comfortable with each other, we can approach each other and tell each other when we think something is not working, or when we need to re-think a scene, or be a little more loose. Of course, we all work really hard on the script and on the story, and ‘Ders is an awesome dialogue writer, so you want to respect that, as well. But when something needs a little play, that’s one of the perks of us working together. We can have that freedom.

What’s it like to then throw Kyle Newacheck into the mix, as the director? How do you feel he handled all of this?

ANDERSON: Oh, man, I couldn’t be more pumped. It would’ve really sucked, if Kyle was bad at his job. We had to let Kyle direct. I’ll be honest, he’s my best friend, but I had my doubts, too. It’s a big stage. But I’ve been so impressed with Kyle, throughout his whole career. He’s really an awesome team captain. I couldn’t be happier with how the movie turned out. I think he knocked it out of the park, and I know it will open so many more doors for him. I can’t wait to see what he does, in the future.

Are there ever times where you guys give him a hard time and just don’t pay attention to him being the boss, on set?

ANDERSON: I can imagine it can be frustrating for Kyle ‘cause we definitely don’t treat him with the respect that you should give a director. We give him a lot of shit, but it comes with the territory. Hopefully, it opens other doors, where people will treat him very kindly, but not when he’s with us. We all give each other so much crap. It’s just part of being in a friendship. You hurt your friends’ feelings a lot. You’ve gotta cut ‘em, and you can cut ‘em where no one else knows.

Were there things that you had the most fun doing, with this?

ANDERSON: As a little kid, you always envision yourself as a superhero or action star, or whatever, but then when you’re actually out there, dangling 30 feet up, on an ironing board, and they’re dropping you, and then they’re hoisting you back up, it’s like, “How much of this can my body take?!” But, it really is so cool. You’re like, “Wow, this is it! Stunt me up! I’ll do whatever. I’ll do fight choreography.” Whatever they’re willing to let me do, or us do, I think we’re down.

Was there anything that felt particularly dangerous?

ANDERSON: Dropping on that ironing board. You just put your full trust in the guy who’s cranking the thing up, and you’re like, “Okay, you’re sure this won’t kill us?” For the most part, you assume the crew won’t kill you, unless they really want to just go on vacation, or something. But I never felt too in danger, even though Adam got shot with one of the squids, one time, right in the leg. We were like, “What is in these guns?!” He had a fat welt on his leg. Glad that wasn’t me!

Was there anything that you tried to get them to let you do, that didn’t make it into the movie?

ANDERSON: No. It would’ve been cool, if I was flying on a jet pack. Now that I think back, they were right, it wouldn’t have fit into the movie. We can that for when we remake The Rocketeer, or something. I can put some dreams on hold. We could knock The Rocketeer out of the park. That needs an update!

Were there things that you guys learned about each other, making this movie, that you didn’t know?

ANDERSON: Well, I definitely learned exactly what Adam’s penis looks like. That’s burned into my retinas. No. I’ve known these guys for so long now that there really aren’t many secrets between us. We’ve all got so much dirt on each other. You take one of us down, you take us all down. There’s not much for us to learn. We’re pretty transparent, amongst each other.

Haven’t you also signed on for the NBC pilot, Like Family?

ANDERSON: Yeah, I’ve actually done the first couple table reads. I’m pretty anxious. We’ll see what that’s like. It’s a multi-cam. I view it almost as going back to my roots of doing sketch, and stuff like that. In that way, I’m really excited. The pilot script’s awesome, and it’s a good cast.

What was the appeal of that series, for you? Was it the story, was it the character, or was it to work with that cast (which includes Kether Donohue, Brandon Mychal Smith and Rebecca Mader)?

ANDERSON: It was definitely a combination of all of it. I really liked the character, I really liked the pilot script, and I just believe in the product. And it shoots super close to my house. If this is something that could go, it could be a really cool job. I’ve got mouths to feed and bills to pay. My heart really lies in making stuff with the guys. They’re my best friends. I’ve been fortunate to have my dream job, and it’s just cool to be able to keep doing it.

Was making it a career always the goal, or were you just looking to have fun?

ANDERSON: A little bit of both because it still is such a fun thing. Even when we were making sketch comedy in our nasty little two-bedroom, with four dudes in a house, is that we were very disciplined. When we weren’t working on the weekends, we’d put out a video. We had index cards taped to our wall, that were just sketch ideas, and we were like, “Let’s knock that one out.” We’ve always been really focused on the dream and on keeping ourselves on task. That may be a little secret to our success. As much as you want to party with each other, all the time, you’ve gotta make sure to get the job done, too. Every time we go to a college town, the first question is, “How high are you guys on set?” It’s literally 6am when we get there. If was just gonna rip a bong and go to work for 12 hours, that’s a long ass day. You’ve gotta have some discipline. We definitely play hard when it’s time to play, but we work hard when it’s time to work.

When did you realize that you were good at being funny?

ANDERSON: I still don’t know if I admit that to myself, but I definitely do recall, in junior high, I was taking some exploratory theater class – it wasn’t actually drama or theater class, but every three or four weeks, you switched and did a new class – and they introduced improv. I remember doing an improv scene and people were laughing and I was like, “Oh, this is all coming for me. These laughs are all just from what I’m making up, off the top of my head, and I’m getting bigger laughs than any time we’ve done little scenes together.” That’s when I was like, “Oh, this is cool! I like this feeling. I might be able to entertain.”

Game Over, Man! is available to stream at Netflix.