Party Down takes on the Proud Boys
Nick Offerman plays one of the many alt-right creeps in "First Annual PI2A Symposium"
TV Reviews Party Down
Way back on the second-ever episode of Party Down, the gang catered an event for a group of young Republicans with bad neckties and worse dreams. The biggest argument these guys had was over whether presenting a box of Cuban cigars to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would make them look like communists.
Cut to the latest episode, and the conversation has evolved (or rather, devolved) in reactionary U.S. politics. Among the attendees of an alt-right conference, the debate isn’t about the optics of gift-giving; it’s about whether conservatives should openly glorify Hitler or secretly glorify Hitler. Welcome to the 2020s!
Series co-creator John Enbom penned the scripts for both “California College Conservative Union Caucus” and “First Annual PI2A Symposium,” bookending an era that saw right-wing politics metastasize into something grotesque. Though the 2023 Party Down team makes no bones about calling their clients Nazis, they’re almost as nonplussed as they were about the budding neocons they served back in 2009. And much like Lucy’s swine butter and shaved granite raclettes, “First Annual PI2A Symposium” leaves a strange taste in your mouth.
The caterers find out too late what kind of gig Ron has booked them for. Lucy’s not having it: “Do you have no morals?!” Ron, as usual, is blinded by dollar signs and desperation: “Morals? What does that have to do with anything? This is just business!”
The gang begrudgingly agrees to go through with the event for reasons that are, weirdly, all about their cars: Ron has to make a payment ASAP on his beloved van so it doesn’t get repossessed; alarming screeching sounds are issuing from the hood of Henry’s Honda Civic; and Roman and Sackson are having a pissing contest over whether the income of a sci-fi vlogger or a TikTok influencer can score you a nicer ride. Kyle, meanwhile, just wants Henry to give him a crash course in Shakespearean acting. And yes, he is auditioning to play the lead in an “edgy” production of Othello. (“Everybody else is Black; Othello is white. That’s why it’s not racist.”)
The ringmaster of PI2A—a hilariously terrible acronym for “Policy Ideas 2 Action”—is Stuart Glueberd (Calum Worthy), the kind of guy whose smiles are all white teeth and dead eyes. For the event to go off without a hitch, he would very much like his presenters to speak in dog whistles. “We are a new group building a conservative politics based on open-minded, good-faith debate in an open marketplace of ideas!” he tells the caterers.
Then there’s Dermott, a man who loves molecular gastronomy, mock turtlenecks, and talking about how Hitler “gets a bad rap.” The most significant thing about the character is that he’s played by Nick Offerman, making a 180 after breaking all our hearts on The Last Of Us a few weeks back. The actor uses his innate charm and papa-bear reliability to unnerving effect in the role—sort of like a charismatic dictator might. But it’s alarming that this guy comes off as the calm voice of reason in the episode (more on that later).
When a small cadre of protesters materializes in front of the venue, Stuart jumps at the chance to get some press. Meanwhile, Kyle sees an opportunity to make over his image in the wake of his own (accidental) Nazi scandal. He rips off his bowtie and goes outside to join the demonstration, Henry’s Shakespeare For Teens textbook in tow. “I’ll just, like, yell stuff or do some hand gestures,” he tells the group.
About those protesters: There’s something very fishy about them, from the slogans on their signs (“Mediocre white men can’t jump,” “Hate is bad!”) to their outfits, which run the gamut from Halloween store hippie to Halloween store Antifa. When Stuart addresses the crowd (while live-streaming), the protesters begin chanting, “Fuck free speech!”
Of course, these guys are as fake as their getups; it’s all a ruse Stuart cooked up to garner publicity for PI2A. They’re easily unmasked when the Rowdy Boys (Party Down’s version of the Proud Boys) launch a very real attack on the protesters. It’s Kyle, ironically, who takes an actual stand against these guys. Sure, he starts out dance-fighting (which Ryan Hansen performs to maximum effect); but he soon leaps fists-first into the fray, earning a bloody face for his troubles. He’s doing it because he’s caught up in a narcissistic vision of himself as the superhero he almost got to play. But Enbom seems to be asking us: Do motives matter if the optics work?
Henry, meanwhile, is too busy juggling the circumstances of his messy life to bother with moral outrage. He’s in the weeds with directing a high school production of ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore—a play, he emphasizes, he did not choose—and his alimony payments are draining him dry. He’s trying to hide the chaos from Evie, whom he had a very good date with over the weekend. (No will-they-won’t-they here; they will!)
His attempts at compartmentalization fail thanks to a complicated string of events that scream “orchestrated by a writers’ room.” Ultimately, Evie and two of his students—Cloris (Galilea La Salvia) and Riley (Christina Offley)—wind up in the venue’s kitchen, giving Henry an opening to make amends.
The best scene in “First Annual PI2A Symposium” comes when our bedraggled hero opens up to his pupils about his industry past; we get a rare glimpse into the passion that drove him to acting all those years ago before the light went out of his eyes. “This was always interesting to me as an actor: good or bad or whatever, just, y’know, finding that piece of humanity in the character that the audience connects with.” This hidden wellspring of empathy is what makes Henry a good bartender—and a good person—despite his misanthropy and nihilism. Still, the girls have their doubts about the value of “a bunch of pretending.”
When Stuart (taking a page from Trump) tells Ron he can’t pay right now thanks to the damage the Rowdy Boys did to the venue, Henry’s acting chops save the day. “You’re looking a common man in the eyes right now and totally fucking him over,” he says tearily, turning Stuart’s own empty platitudes back on him. Dermott agrees to foot the bill in exchange for PI2A giving him free reign to extoll the virtues of Hitler in his presentation.
Henry breaks character as soon as they’ve left, brandishing his fat check and announcing to the girls, “See? Pretend.” What he doesn’t tell them is that playing pretend isn’t just going to serve them in theater, but in adult life, where everything comes down to how well you can bullshit.
Unfortunately, the rest of the episode isn’t as tight as your average Party Down. You can see the strings, as the writers find convenient ways to force the characters into position for the scenes they need to be in. Why does Sackson record his first sponcon TikTok at the front bar while wearing his dorky uniform? Why do Ron and Stuart walk into the kitchen at the exact moment Henry wraps up his inspirational speech?
But the episode’s most unsettling failing is the way it presents its cast of crypto-fascists as toothless buffoons (or, in Dermott’s case, level-headed people). And they don’t seem to be racist at all, which is something Nazis are, safe to say, pretty well-known for! Enbom & Co. do a disservice to their nonwhite characters—Sackson, Lucy, and Riley—when they’re as vaguely annoyed with their clients as their white counterparts. A scene in which Lucy’s outrage cools when she connects with Dermott over his discerning palate is particularly cringey, despite a hilarious performance from Offerman (“I had the sensation of tumbling pell-mell down the slope of the Jungfrau!”).
I know Party Down is a satire, and that TV—or any art form, for that matter—is at its least interesting when it’s moralizing. But this is less about principles than grappling with the reality of contemporary politics; and this season has been otherwise unflinching, particularly in its take on the ravages of late-stage capitalism. In the end, the episode settles on Henry’s advice to his students when it comes to playing villains: “Some people suck; but they’re still people.”
Stray observations
- In the mid-credits scene, Cloris and Riley show Henry how his infamous beer commercial has become meme-ified: “Rrrwee hevvin’ fun yut???” “Yeah, because my TikTok dance got a like.” “No, because I’m caught in an infinite cycle of consumption and exploitation from which escape is impossible.”
- The romantic chemistry between Henry and Evie (and by extension, Adam Scott and Jennifer Garner) is finally starting to gel. Witness Henry’s face blooming into a rare smile after they share a tender kiss in the kitchen.
- Sight gag of the week: After Lucy knocks over two trays of hors d’oeuvres in protest, Ron manages to save the third one—only to walk it straight into a doorframe.
- Sackson has landed a sponsorship deal with Wombachu, a drink tablet that, Sackson learns the hard way, blows out your digestive system. Lucy and Roman’s plan to dose the PI2A crowd goes sideways when Kyle unwittingly feeds it to the protesters—then comes back around when they turn out to be alt-righters in disguise.
- If you’re not up on your Renaissance theater history, ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore is a 1633 play by John Ford about the incestuous romance between a pair of Italian siblings that ends in one cutting out the other’s heart and parading it around on the point of a dagger. Fun!
- Though Roman is the most outspoken conscientious objector of the catering crew, Sackson takes him down a peg: Turns out the “sci-fi enthusiasts and intellectual sophisticates” that Roman says watch his vlog are actually incels, men’s rights activists, Gamergaters, and Nazis. (Frankly, it’s hard to believe that Roman isn’t on an incel subreddit or five himself.)
- I found myself really missing Constance and Lydia in this episode. Bring us your beautiful nonsense, ladies!
- In an inspired little visual gag, the Rowdy Boys’ symbol is an ostrich. Head in the sand, indeed.
38 Comments
I dunno. As an activist commie myself, I thought it was well done how they subverted the most obvious “both-siding” trope by making the protest a “false flag”. I thought they kept the nazis on just the right side of buffoons whilst also not making the statement that “Some people suck; but they’re still people.” ring false.What I can’t abide by is that we had Nick Offerman whilst Megan Mullaly was completely absent!
they wouldnt be proud boys if there were any women about. they would simp like ron with tammy 1
Also, the alt-right is mostly buffoons? This isn’t to say they aren’t abhorrent and causing damage to real people, either through policies, harassment, or actual violence, but as the all those Capitol rioters proved, most of them are just losers.
Murderous losers who want to overthrow the government because they can’t outvote groups acting in solidarity. It’s hard not to realize Party Down’s writers sit back from the fray with a wall of white supremacy and wealth protecting them from the actual brutality of these goons.
What a stupid comment.
The College Republicans episode really worked because it could contrast the students’ arrogance with their childish naivete and with the main characters’ cynicism and incompetence. Ultimately there was nothing at stake, but the college kids wanted to believe there was. This episode more or less goes to the same well – they’re catering for a fringe group with no real power. But college republicans are much more benign than grown-ass white supremacists, so the show strains a bit trying to present the rightist characters as feckless and silly without minimizing how awful their views are. The idea the chef will hang out with a nazi if he loves her food is funny in principle, but her character is pretty thinly drawn, and she doesn’t get a button. If there was some closure on her interactions with Offerman’s character it would feel less like he got the last word.
I must admit, it was quite odd to see Ron Swanson lecturing Ben Wyatt on the benefits of living under an authoritarian and oppressive governmental regime.
That and drinking clear liquor.
Cringe. Proud Boys are trash, but at least be funny.
Based on the headline, it seems like this show has gone woke. But it was already broke. Go figure! :p
Look at you, putting words on the internet.
Into the Kinjaverse.
I gotta be honest: I think a version of Othello where he’s white and everyone else is black sounds interesting.
The poster for it would be a shot of the board game Othello, with all the pieces turned to the black side except one.
Fantastic reply; thanks for the smile:)
It exists, there was a particularly famous run of it with Patrick Stewart as Othello
There have been some. For one: https://playbill.com/article/patrick-stewart-stars-in-race-reversed-othello-in-dc-nov-17-com-72158
One of the things I find interesting reading Othello is that actually, such a formation doesn’t quite map, except through our own extratextual readings of the play developed over time (it’s Americans who love Othello, as I understand it. It took a while to become a canonical great in the British/greater European estimation). It was written before the transatlantic slave trade was ubiquitous, and you can see religious and racial strife transforming into slavery-era colonialism and strict racial lines, in Shakespeare’s moment, as you read or watch it.
Yeah, I remember Patrick Stewart talking about that production of Othello. The reverse race thing was his idea, probably because he’s been obsessed by the play since he was a child. He tried pitching it to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, but they were a little too wary of the potential controversy so passed on the idea. Then a chance meeting with the director of the Shakespeare Company in Washington got the ball rolling, and it came to fruition in 1997.The RSC had to settle for a 2009 production of Hamlet starring Captain Jean Luc Picard and The Doctor. It was an intergalactic, transdimensional masterpiece. (It really was excellent, available on Amazon.)
“
It was Stewart who came up with the concept. “I’ve been imagining myself
playing Othello and, in a sense, preparing for it, since I was about
14,” he said in a statement. “When the time came that I was old enough
and experienced enough to do it, it was the same time that it no longer
became acceptable for a white actor to put on blackface and pretend to
be African. One of my hopes for this production is that it will continue
to say what a conventional production of Othello would say about
racism and prejudice… To replace the black outsider with a white man
in a black society will, I hope, encourage a much broader view of the
fundamentals of racism.””Well, it was the 90s.
I know this is a controversial opinion for which I’ll no doubt he raked over the coals, but I really don’t understand all of the love for Adam Scott. While he’s been in a lot of great things, he himself is simply…not that funny to me. I would make the exact same observation about Jason Bateman. They’re both just fine, but I would never go out of my way to seek them out.
It’s called being a straight man.
I’ve never followed his work but he was really brilliant for Severance
Also his villain/extremely annoying role in The Good Place was hilarious
Okay.
I’m so sick of shows being judged on how well they espouse political ideology instead of just…being funny…People who make criticisms like this literally don’t understand how comedy is written.
“People who engage with and think about the content of the show instead of just sitting there slack jawed don’t understand how comedy is written.”Yeah writers actually do want people to think about what they’ve written bro.
Soooo deep to include the same level of politically liberal analysis every piece of mainstream comedy has held for the past 6-8 years.Seriously – really intelligent comment. Has anyone ever told you how brave you are?
While not as egregious as Arrested Development’s reboot seasons, it’s unfortunate when you can tell how hard it is for them to get all the actors in one room together. They’re definitely relying on the new characters (Sackson and Lily) heavily to make up for the absence of others.I’m starting to get concerned six episodes isn’t enough time for the current cast to gel together. Here’s hoping a fourth season is in the cards.
I was also thinking how simple the series concept is but production must be extremely complex and expensive since they are always in a new external location, nothing like the usual sitcoms
I know part of the original run was that it was super cheap to produce. No standing sets and a single location for each episode.
Ron dropping the third tray makes the episode an A for me. I nearly peed myself.
I’m usually that grumpy guy who doesn’t laugh at brilliant slapstick, but that was just brilliant.
I miss Lizzy Caplan.
It’s so super lame you guys haven’t bothered to update the cast list since 2009. You people are so fucking lazy and bad at your jobs it’s insane.
I definitely thought this was the clunkiest episode of the season—but actually Henry’s speech on pretending and then his acting… was one of the things that didn’t work for me (neither did the two students) the most.
However, I did enjoy all the ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore references because my mother took us to a production of it when we were 12 (she swears she thought it was a restoration comedy like She Stoops to Conquer, but I mean…) and much to my parents horror I kinda became obsessed with it (and actually won a scholarship in grade 12 for an probably pretentious essay I wrote about how it was a subversion of the earlier Romeo and Juliet—honestly, I do think it’s a fascinating play.)
Fun fact, there’s a fascinating (well… to people who like old theatre and bizarre Euro 70s movies like me) there was a 1971 Italian (but dubbed for most places in English) adaptation by underrated director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi,with a gorgeous Oliver Tobias and Charlotte Rampling in the leads, that seems more interested in the homoerotic relationship between the brother and his now young and hot monk friend. But it was actually funded because Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet was such an international hit and Griffi basically persuaded producers that this would have a similar appeal.
I joined a college acting group for their production of Tis Pity She’s a Whore (I got to deliver the title line, in fact), mostly as a chance to meet new people after a death in my family. I don’t know if it’s a good play or not, but I met one of my best friends when we rehearsed a torture scene.
Were you torturer or tortured? 😉 I DO think it’s a good play, certainly one of the best (maybe along with Duchess of Malfi) of the post-Shakespeare, Jacobean/Caroline era tragedies.