Party Down S01e06 Aiff -

Henry runs into an old acting class friend, Michael (played by Breckin Meyer ), who has snagged a role in Leonard’s new film. This sets off a classic Party Down chain of desperation: Henry tries to network for a part while Kyle attempts to sleep with Leonard’s wife, Diandra ( Joey Lauren Adams ), to get that same role.

The catering team arrives at the lavish home of Taylor Stiles, an eighth-grade girl throwing a birthday party. But this isn't pizza and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Taylor is the queen bee of a hyper-privileged social circle, and she treats the staff with the withering contempt usually reserved for totalitarian dictators. party down s01e06 aiff

Originally aired on April 24, 2009, this episode is a standout for its sharp satire of Hollywood power dynamics and its impressive guest roster. Henry runs into an old acting class friend,

The highlight is Constance’s misguided attempt to empower the kids, which results in a self-aggrandizing speech that goes over like a lead balloon. Jane Lynch is at her absolute peak here, delivering lines with a mix of earnestness and total delusion. Her character, Constance, believes she is connecting with the youth, but she is actually just confusing and annoying them—a staple of the Party Down experience. But this isn't pizza and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey

Meanwhile, Ron (Ken Marino) is dealing with his own personal hell. His boss, Alan Duk, has shown up to "inspect" the team, but he brings along a "friend" who is obviously a drug dealer.

By the end of “Party Down Company Picnic,” the AIFF product is destroyed, the picnic is a disaster, and the characters are exactly where they started — unemployed actors, failed writers, middle-aged strivers. The episode’s use of (both as company name and conceptual frame) teaches us: