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A little over a week ago, I had the opportunity to discuss Party Down on Box Office Prophets because its first season was finally made available on DVD. In the part where I specifically talk about Party Down in How to Spend $20, I decided to go bold and state that the Starz TV series is the funniest show that you aren’t watching.

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).

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