Party Down Caterers
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Henry Pollard
Henry Pollard
Actor: Adam Scott
A failed actor and perpetual underachiever who rejoins Party Down catering at the beginning of the show. He is unable to get away from his catchphrase from a beer commercial, "Are we having fun yet?"
- Catchphrase: Henry was in a beer commercial where he said, "Are we having fun yet?" He hates it when people recognize him and ask him to say it.
- The Cynic: Unlike the other members of the catering team, Henry has given up all hope of ever being a successful actor.
- Embarrassing Ad Gig: Henry became famous for his role in a beer commercial that spawned the in-universe catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?!". He thinks the role killed his chances of having a real acting career, and he dreads being recognized in public.
- Kavorka Man: He hooks up with several extremely attractive women despite the fact that he's a bit of a jaded loser and is not characterized as particularly handsome.
- Informed Ability: You hear a comment here and there about Henry's acting talent and then he blows everyone away in "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday Party".
- Love Triangle: With Uda and Casey.
- Only Sane Man: Plays the straight man to his wacky coworkers (with the possible exception of Casey), as well as to a fair amount of Party Down's clients.
- The Slacker: Henry during Season 1, when he's still fresh off the failure of his acting career. He becomes more of a hard worker in Season 2.
Ron Donald
Ronald Wayne "Ron" Donald
Actor: Ken Marino
Ron is Party Down's bumbling team leader who takes great pride in his job. His dream is to manage a Soup R' Crackers, a franchise that offers all-you-can-eat soup.
- Berserk Button: Ron goes off when the group is in danger of getting poor client feedback cards or when his reputation is at stake. Examples of this include threatening to destroy the teen girl's life in "Willow Canyon Homeowners Annual Party" and desecrating the American Flag in "California College Conservative Union Caucus."
- The Chew Toy: Ron is a pedantic, sycophantic, socially inept loser who thinks he may well be the next Donald Trump. He's also put through more mental and physical trauma than any other character on the show.
- Glory Days: As shown in the class reunion episode, Ron has a complicated relation to his past.
- Important Haircut: While Ron is a slacker, he wears his hair shaggy. When he's an insufferable jobsworth, he sports his signature flat-top.
- Self-Serving Memory: When they cater his high school reunion, Ron is happy to be back at the school where he was the popular class clown. However, talking with his classmates makes him realize he was actually the loser everyone picked on.
- The Stoner: Ron makes frequent allusions to his past as a stoner. In the first part of Season 2 he reverts to his old ways until getting trapped in a coffin while smoking in "James Ellison Funeral."
- Stupid Boss: Despite being the team leader of the group of caterers, Ron often gets himself and sometimes the crew into hot water by way of his own incompetence.
Casey Klein
Casey Klein
Actor: Lizzy Caplan
Casey is struggling to make it as a comedic actress and resents authority, particularly Ron.
- Awful Wedded Life: Casey and her husband clash often, and get divorced during Season 1.
- Informed Judaism: Casey's religion is never brought up in Season 1. In Season 2, she makes a couple references to being Jewish, though it doesn't factor into her actions. Actress Lizzy Caplan is Jewish in real life.
- Only Sane Employee: Along with Henry, she's a rare level-headed caterer at Party Down.
Kyle Bradway
Kyle Bradway
Actor: Ryan Hansen
Kyle is a wannabe actor/musician/model, and not the brightest tool in the shed.
- Brainless Beauty: Kyle is good-looking and not particularly intelligent.
- Bromantic Foil: To Roman and his more pretentious outlook on life.
- Dumb Blonde:
- Fratbro: He's certainly the most likely to start the party.
Roman De Beers
Roman DeBeers
Actor: Martin Starr
A pretentious and judgmental screenwriter, who primarily writes hard science fiction.
- Berserk Button: Roman can't stand it when people mix up his precious science fiction with hated fantasy. He even ruins a sure thing with a porn star when she mentions that she likes dragons.
- Jerkass: Roman is unpleasant and rude to most of the people he interacts with. Kyle is a frequent target. He even ruins a conversation with a porn star right when it turned out they had some connection and could actually hit it off when she reveals that the literature she reads is fantasy, which, given his obsession with accuracy in all forms of media, leads him to blow up and end it prematurely.
- Lust Object: He sees Casey as this. He even goes so far as to insist there is a line.
- Technobabble: Roman's scripts brim with it at the cost of actual plot or emotional resonance.
- Wicked Pretentious: As mentioned above, for all of his obsession with scientific accuracy and his extreme snobbishness and disgust at any story that doesn't follow his standards (to a self destructive point: ruining potential job offers and relationships when their tastes differ) his script is a lifeless, boring, slog that has no chance of actually being picked up.
Constance Carmell
Constance Carmell
Actor: Jane Lynch
A former B-movie actress with a cheerful and optimistic disposition.
- Age-Gap Romance: Constance and her fiance Howard in "Constance Carmell Wedding". Howard's daughter shows up halfway into the party and turns out to be Constance's age.
- The Ditz: Constance is quirky and often distracted from whatever her job calls for her to be doing.
- Meaningful Name: Constance is named for the fact that in her pursuit of her dreams and her optimism, she's completely constant.
- No Sense of Personal Space:
- Put on a Bus: Constance after S1E8 due to Jane Lynch's conflicting schedule with Glee. The Bus Came Back at the end of Season 2, when Party Down caters her wedding and throughout the revival season as she becomes a co-owner of Party Down.
- Self-Serving Memory: Constance clearly believes she was a much bigger actress in the 1990s than she actually was.
Bobbie St. Brown
Bobbie St. Brown
Actor: Jennifer Coolidge
Constance's roommate who replaces her on the Party Down team after her absence.
- Convenient Replacement Character: Bobbie shows up the episode after Constance leaves. Justified, as they were roommates and Constance could easily give her the job.
- Pollyana: She wants her coworkers to smile and listen to dolphin noises
Lydia Dunfree
Lydia Dunfree
Actor: Megan Mullally
A stage mom and recent divorcée who joins Party Down in the second season, seeking to make her daughter a star.
- The Ditz: Lydia is naïve and will take advice from anyone about Hollywood.
- Stage Mom: Wants her 13-year-old daughter, Escapade, to become a big Hollywood star.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Lydia replaces Constance in Season 2. They're both weird, middle-aged, female ditzes. Lydia eventually gets more fleshed out and she moves away from being too similar to Constance, but the fact that she replaced her is lampshaded in "Constance Carmell Wedding."
- Cloudcuckoolander: A bit scattered and all over the place.
