Funny Stuff: Party Down

By on Mar 21, 2009 in Daily Distractions | 0 Comments

I Twittered (sorry, I don’t use “tweet,” too gay) about this show last week and I’ve been meaning to post it here. (Damn, Twittering is so easy, writing a semi-coherent blog post is hard.) Anyhow… I like this show and you will too, trust you’re Cap’n Cranky on this one.

Ken Marino (“The State”) should have been a star by now. He’s funny, charming, handsome and has just enough awkward edge to make you shudder when you see him turn up in a Lifetime/Hallmark type movie (got to pay them bills!). I think he’s finally got a solid vehicle to display his chops as the head of an LA catering company. His slightly smarmy but sweet character and the insecure confidence he exudes in this new series should win over fans of “The Office” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” He’s very relatable, you feel like you’ve worked for this type of guy at least once in your life.

In addition to Marino, the solid catering staff also delivers the goods: Jane Lynch (always funny), Lizzie Caplan (needs a bit of eyebrow wax) and the understated Adam Scott create a nice mix of angst, defeat, nuttiness and hope you’d expect from the Hollywood actor types they portray, all waiting for — or in one case, escaping from — their big moment in the sun.

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You will not be surprised that Rob Thomas of “Veronica Mars” fame is the director. He’s nice enough to bring some of the VM favorites to the show like the loveable dope Ryan Hansen (playing pretty much the same role he did on VM), bad boy Jason Dohring (cameo) and the always enjoyable Enrico Colantoni (cameo). Also, good to see Martin Starr (Bill for “Freaks and Geeks”) in a sizable supporting role.

Airs: Fridays at 10:30pm. The only drawback, it’s on Starz. I don’t know what that is.

Website: www.starz.com/originals/PartyDown

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