Make an Argument
Why Party Down Is the Funniest Show You Aren't Watching
By Eric Hughes
April 15, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Though I managed to fill in more than 300 words on the subject, it didn’t feel right to discuss Party Down at great length in a column that compiles blurby snippets about a number of new home media releases. Make an Argument is the more proper forum for that kind of thing, and that’s what I’ll be talking about this week. It’s all here just in time for the series’ second season premiere, too. Starz has it penciled in for Friday, April 23rd.
So, what is Party Down? Well, it comes from a four-person executive producing team that includes the hilarious Paul Rudd and Rob Thomas, perhaps best known for creating Veronica Mars, which ran for two seasons on UPN and an additional season on The CW.
Actually, Veronica Mars fans will feel right at home with a show like Party Down. John Enbom, who exec produces and writes almost every episode, was a scribe on Veronica Mars. Series regulars Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch and Ryan Hansen all acted in some capacity on Veronica Mars. And guest stars like Ed Begley Jr., Jason Dohring, Martin Yu and, of course, Kristen Bell, all worked on Veronica Mars, too.
Party Down is the name of a fictitious catering company in Los Angeles. The company’s employees – save for the head honcho, Ron – couldn’t care less about the food industry and their place in it. Instead, they’d rather be doing something, anything, in entertainment. Similar to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s Extras, each episode of Party Down happens at a different catered event, be it a porn awards after party or a corporate retreat.
If you’ve never seen Party Down, you probably should get on that right away. It’s the funniest show on TV, and here’s why:
”This little piggy’s goin’ to market!” – Constance Carmell
The core to any show is its cast. And Party Down’s main stable of players is exceptional. Each actor on the show seems to have their respective character’s motivations down to a T. Fortunately they don’t come off as one-note stereotypes either, but refreshing and very funny.
A comic genius, Jane Lynch is the best part about Party Down. Her character, Constance Carmell, has a gigantic actors’ ego and innately knows that she is better than her fellow co-workers. It’s the type of role Lynch thrives in, as she’s basically doing the same thing on her current TV gig, Glee. The major difference, however, between the two characters is that while Sue Sylvester is menacing and incredibly intimidating, Constance is as chill as a teddy bear. (But the kind of teddy bear that will stab you in the back if it will benefit her uneven acting career).
As you’ve probably realized, Lynch left Party Down for a spot on television’s hottest (and only) musical comedy. Subbing for her in season two is Megan Mullally, who got her big break a dozen years ago as Karen Walker on Will & Grace. Though Lynch is simply irreplaceable, Mullally is an inspired source for comedy. Here’s what we can expect from her character, Lydia, courtesy of Starz:
“Having left behind her loutish husband, Lydia has arrived in Hollywood with a single goal - achieving stardom for her 13-year-old daughter Escapade. Eternally optimistic and naive, earnest and straight-talking, Lydia is delighted to find herself working alongside the ‘entertainment professionals’ at Party Down, and eagerly cultivates their wisdom and advice about ‘making it’ in show biz.”
My other Party Down favorite would be Ken Marino, who plays Party Down Team Leader Ron Donald. Ron is the type of boss who is super friendly on the surface, but super hard ass when his employees do something a smidge out of line. (Like, say, smoking pot in the bathroom). This would be because he considers Party Down a mere stepping-stone towards his goal of managing his own restaurant or franchise. Unlike the underlings he supervises at catered events, he has come to realize that the food service industry is his niche.
Rounding out the cast is Ryan Hansen as dreamy and aloof Kyle Bradway, Martin Starr as Sci-Fi geek Roman DeBeers, Adam Scott as frustrated ex-actor Henry Pollard and Lizzy Caplan as failed comedian Casey Klein. Scott and Caplan, actually, have a Ross and Rachel thing going on, which I’ll discuss in more detail a little bit later.
”What happened to him? Is that Sulu?” – Alan Duk (Ken Jeong)
One of my favorite TV series to date is Extras, which had Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen playing struggling actors who land roles on various productions that offer (at most) a line of dialogue. Oftentimes they’re relegated to the background, or “extra” roles, as the name of the show implies.
The brilliance of Extras was that every episode happened on the set of a particular production, be it a take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest (“Patrick Stewart”), a UK police thriller (“Samuel L. Jackson”) or a fantasy film (“Daniel Radcliffe”). Each episode had a celebrity guest star (or more) playing “twisted” versions of themselves.
My favorite would probably be the one that took place on the set of a World War II Holocaust film, which guest starred a version of Kate Winslet who admittedly booked the film role within the episode to secure her first Oscar win. (Funnily enough, her performance in The Reader, a Holocaust film, later won her that real-life Oscar – her first).
Similarly, Party Down episodes are set at separate catered events. Even better, one, if not more, guest stars support each episode. Season one celebrities include Ken Jeong, J.K. Simmons, Rob Corddry, Steven Weber, Molly Parker, Ed Begley Jr., Kristen Bell, Rick Fox and George Takei. With the exception of Fox and Takei (Sulu!), Party Down's guest stars play fictional people.
This kind of structure, which I find pretty fascinating, allows the lead characters of Party Down to interact with a variety of other characters over the course of one season. There’s an unmatched freshness to the show, as the characters – and the setting – are constantly changing.
”Bro, she’s trippin’ her balls off” – Kyle Bradway
During what was supposed to be an inspirational conversation with Henry, Bobbi St. Brown (Jennifer Coolidge) says: “You know what, Henry? Nice guys finish last. But grab your destiny by the balls and squeeze hard. I bet you’ve never done that in your career.” He deadpans that he “wouldn’t even know where destiny’s balls are.” She then recalls for Henry the time when she auditioned for a part in Cannonball Run II. Bobbi says she hit the girl she was up against with her car because it “felt right.” Henry is left with little to say.
Such is the comedy in Party Down. It’s awkward. It’s strange. But in the end, you’ll probably find yourself laughing harder than ever from a TV comedy. What’s crazy is the series airs on a teensy pay cable network, Starz, which happens to have only a handful of originally programming credits – of any genre – to its name.
Other comedy highlights from the show’s debut season are George Takei suffering from an allergic reaction to shrimp, Constance (Lynch) selling her voiceover talents to an executive by voicing a number of barnyard animals, Kristen Bell playing the humorless head of a rival catering company and Bobbi – while high on mushrooms – mistakenly arranging an appetizer in the shape of a Swastika. (She claims the plate of food started out looking like a snowflake).
”Are we having fun yet?” – Henry Pollard
As quirky and hilarious as Party Down may be, it at the same time balances the zaniness with a dramatic relationship between Henry and Casey, played by Adam Scott and Lizzy Caplan, respectively. They would be the only characters on the show that I’d be comfortable calling “normal.” (Though next to dudes like Ron or Roman, that may not be saying much).
I like it when a show doesn’t take itself too seriously, but contains elements that add depth and meaning to the storyline. Party Down, in my opinion, fits the bill. Where a show like Reno 911! goes wrong is that it’s all foolishness all the time. In some instances – like, say, The Sarah Silverman Program – it can only be that way. Any seriousness added into the storyline would only come across as mockery. The characters on Reno 911!, however, are meatier than those on Sarah Silverman and would have benefited greatly with something to do outside of maintaining the law in the biggest little city in the world.
What we have on Party Down is two characters who realize a connection between each other, but know it would be impractical to move beyond the friend zone. Why? They know their part-time catering job is temporary. Who knows where life will lead them three months, six months, one year from now?
Writing drama into a comedy like Party Down is incredibly difficult. I find myself amazed, actually, when I totally buy an intimate moment between Henry and Casey when in the scene that preceded it, a character stoned out of her mind (Constance) giddily laughed at a photo Ron keeps in his wallet to remind him of the dangers of making bad choices: That of a dude who lost his foot in a car wreck.
What scares me is the fact that Party Down may lose Henry and Casey (and Kyle) if the actors who play them find success in their new television projects. Last month, Adam Scott signed on for a series regular role on Parks and Recreation. And earlier this month, Lizzy Caplan booked a part on the CBS pilot, True Love, while Ryan Hansen was cast on the NBC pilot, Friends with Benefits. However, Starz has yet to renew Party Down for a third season anyway, so I may be getting ahead of myself.
Yet what’s interesting about a show like Party Down is its principle characters yearn for something to work on outside of catered events anyway. For them to move on to bigger and better things (within the context of the show) makes sense. It almost adds to Party Down’s credibility for its leads to hang around for a season or two before their characters catch their big break.