Party Down's Most Memorable Cameos, Ranked

The Starz original series "Party Down" only aired for two seasons, but it amassed a loyal following in that short time. The series stars Ken Marino as Ronald "Ron" Donald, a catering company team leader who struggles to keep his subordinates under control. While Ron sees Party Down catering as a serious enterprise, his crew members see it as a way to make ends meet while they chase Hollywood stardom. "Party Down" officially went off the air in 2010 but remains a popular streaming choice, retaining enough popularity to earn an upcoming revival season. 

 According to Rick Porter for The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming six-episode "Party Down" revival will feature most of the original cast, including Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, and "Parks And Recreation" star Adam Scott. "Alias" star Jennifer Garner and "Brockmire" alum Tyrel Jackson Williams, and several more new cast members will also appear in the revival. Although the core cast is essential to the success of "Party Down," surprise cameos make each episode truly shine. 

Throughout the two original seasons, actors from various television and movie genres appear as party hosts, guests, and even fellow employees. The most memorable guest stars bring their unique brand of comedy to the already hilarious series and leave a lasting impression on viewers. Here's a look back at some of "Party Down's" standout cameos. 

Retired NBA star Rick Fox has maintained an active film and television career since the 1990s, taking on roles that span multiple genres. In Season 1 of "Party Down," Rick Fox took on a small comedic part in the episode "Brandix Corporate Retreat." Fox stars as himself, acting as a special guest speaker at the event. Naturally, everyone who sees him instantly fawns over him, but he takes their adoration in stride. Fox meets Ron Donald's reluctant team of caterers while waiting to give a keynote address to the attendees. He especially bonds with Casey Klein (Lizzy Caplan), an aspiring comedian-turned-server who offers to help Fox work on his event speech.

As much as Casey enjoys Fox's company, two of her fellow staff members, Henry Pollard (Adam Scott) and Roman DeBeers (Martin Starr), become unreasonably jealous of the former basketball player. However, an oblivious Fox remains charming and poised as he invites Casey to visit his hotel room and discuss her career. Although Casey's speech ideas are obviously terrible, Fox trusts her judgment and later attempts to get a laugh out of the audience with a cringe-worthy opening joke. Fox's delivery makes the poorly written speech amusingly awkward, and the audience's complete silence after the punchline is a memorably funny moment for fans.

Joey Lauren Adams is famous for her roles in multiple Kevin Smith movies, including "Chasing Amy" and "Mallrats." Her characters are typically quirky and endearing, but she plays a very different kind of role in Season 1 of "Party Down." In the star-studded episode, "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen," Adams plays Diandra Stiltskon, the wife of a prominent movie producer who throws their daughter, Taylor (Allison Scagliotti), an epic party. However, opportunistic Diandra is interested in something other than the birthday festivities. Instead, she's on the hunt for a younger man to serve as her new boy toy.

Diandra sets her sights on Kyle Bradway (Ryan Hansen), an amateur actor who works for "Party Down" while awaiting his big break. She offers Kyle a significant role in her husband's new film project, and Kyle is naturally thrilled. However, Diandra stipulates that he has to sleep with her to earn the part. Kyle tries to go through with it but loses his nerve at the very last minute. Joey Lauren Adams turns this voracious, philandering housewife into a cringeworthy but believable character, right down to her flippant attitude about her marriage. Furthermore, her awkward encounter with Kyle is a major highlight of this episode. 

Multitalented performer Kevin Hart is no stranger to playing funny characters, so his Season 1 cameo is a perfect fit. Kevin appears in the episode "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen" as a rapper named Dro Grizzle. Dro is supposed to provide entertainment for the birthday party attendees, but the episode's title character won't come out of her hotel room to join the festivities. While the party is at a standstill and Taylor's father scrambles to get things back on track, Dro Grizzle and his entourage make themselves comfortable in an upstairs suite. When too much time passes with no guest of honor in sight, Dro threatens to leave.

Determined to save the day, team leader Ron Donald visits the rapper and tries to convince him to wait a little longer. Despite having good intentions, Ron only adds to the list of problems with the party by abandoning his usual attempts at professionalism. Dro and his entourage allow Ron to stay in their suite, smoke marijuana with him, and even give some helpful business advice about running his own Soup 'R Crackers franchise. Although Kevin Hart's role is relatively small, his character's sage advice is compelling enough to make Ron feel comfortable leaving his wayward employees unattended. 

"Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell makes two cameos in "Party Down" as rival catering team leader Uda Bengt. Her company, Valhalla Catering, is far more professional and organized than the Party Down operation, and she ensures that Ron and his team know it every step of the way. In the Season 1 finale, "Stennheiser-Pong Wedding Reception," she takes command of both groups while Ron is incapacitated by alcohol and self-pity. Although Uda is a very no-nonsense leader, she assures Henry that she also has a soft side. Her awkward, stiff attempt at hitting on Henry is both cringeworthy and memorably funny.

Ironically, her efforts pay off in Season 2 when she and Henry temporarily become a couple. She makes her second cameo in the episode "Party Down Company Picnic" while running a catering event for her biggest competitor. She not only leads Valhalla Catering to victory in a catering contest at the event but also wipes the floor with the Party Down crew in a kickball game. Uda's insatiable drive to succeed makes her a formidable opponent, but she does lose one thing: her relationship with Henry. Nevertheless, she quickly establishes herself as a superior team leader in the catering world.

Longtime "Law & Order" cast member J.K. Simmons has an impressively long show business resume, making him an excellent choice to play successful film producer Leonard Stiltskin. Simmons first appears as Leonard Stiltskin in a Season 1 cameo for the episode "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen." In this episode, Stiltskin throws a lavish birthday for his teenage daughter, Taylor, but she initially refuses to participate in the party. Hot-tempered Stiltskin spends half of his time yelling at party staff, and the other half making obscene but hysterical threats to anyone who calls his cell phone. Henry hopes to convince Stiltskin to let him read for a movie role, but the producer is too busy being angry to give him the time of day.

The often crude film mogul appears a second time in the Season 2 episode "Precious Lights Preschool Auction," along with his wife Diandra. As expected, Leonard Stiltskin's behavior is consistently inappropriate and hilarious throughout the event. He goes to great lengths to keep anyone else from winning a valuable auction item: a lunch date with Tom Hanks. His rude one-liners and ongoing outbursts are the funniest highlights of the episode and make an otherwise tame event into something far more entertaining.

The Season 1 episode "Celebrate Ricky Sargulesh" is arguably one of the funniest in the series. The Russian mob hosts this over-the-top party to honor their colleague, Ricky Sargulesh, for avoiding a guilty verdict in a murder trial. "Chicago Med" star Steven Weber has a cameo as the episode's guest of honor, a violent man who also considers himself a screenwriter. From his outlandish fake accent to a convincing tough-guy attitude, Steven Weber's performance makes Sargulesh a surprisingly likable character. He and his guests recognize some of the Party Down catering crew from their roles in obscure B-movies, which leaves Ron trying to run the event solo.

One of the most significant highlights of Weber's cameo is an ongoing bit involving a screenplay his character wrote. Sargulesh gives the script to Roman for proofreading, but it's so terribly written that Roman initially can't take it seriously. However, as he continues to read, Roman becomes convinced that the violent script is actually a murder confession. Naturally, Ricky Sargulesh is only interested in whether or not Roman thinks the script has merit and laughs off his accusations. Roman is too scared to tell Ricky how bad the script is, so the mobster leaves the party feeling satisfied with his writing abilities.

Fran Kranz has been around for a while but has not yet reached the level of success you might expect from a funny Joss Whedon favorite. To be fair, Whedon's reputation in Hollywood isn't what it used to be, and Kranz doesn't seem to have worked with the "Avengers" director since 2012's "Much Ado About Nothing." Still, Kranz's performance is a major highlight of Whedon's short-lived sci-fi series "Dollhouse," and Kranz's turn as Marty the stoner in 2011's "A Cabin in the Woods" is pretty legendary. Kranz has had plenty of other parts in projects like "Ballers" and "The Dark Tower" over the years since, but nothing especially notable.

Kranz isn't easy to recognize when he arrives at Kyle's party. He has his hair styled like Billie Joe Armstrong with more of a side part, and he's wearing heavy high makeup, a black and gray ensemble, and a seemingly permanent scowl. Kranz plays Miles in the first episode of the returning Season 3 of "Party Down" ("Kyle Bradway Is Nitromancer"), a member of Kyle's former band, Karma Rocket.

Kranz easily slips into the role of Kyle's strange, disgruntled former bandmate, who blames the resident himbo of "Party Down" and his acting aspirations for the failure of their band. Kyle has often been hoisted by his own petard throughout "Party Down," and his association with dubious operators like Miles is exactly what loses him the biggest gig of his life so far.

Calum Worthy's recent television show, "Reboot," may have been prematurely canceled by Hulu, but he's still a young, up-and-coming Hollywood actor who hopefully has a long career ahead of him. Worthy broke into public recognition as a zany best friend named Dez on Disney Channel's original series "Austin & Ally." After he aged out of the Disney Channel, Worthy joined the cast of "Reboot" and gave an energetic performance as a former child star who never really grew up. 

In "Party Down," Season 3, Episode 3, "First Annual PI2A Symposium," Worthy steps outside of the lovability of his former roles to play an ambitious alt-right organizer named Stuart Gluberd. Stuart employs Party Down catering to manage his alt-right symposium, much to the chagrin of the entire Party Down staff (except for Ron, who is desperate for the gig). 

His bumbling attempts to temper the more boldly racist and hateful rhetoric of some of his comrades is particularly funny to watch, especially when he is ultimately forced to allow Nick Offerman's Dermott to openly praise Hitler in his keynote address after asking him to pay Ron and the Party Down staff. 

If you've ever seen the successful TV shows "Scrubs" or "Claws," you're certainly familiar with Judy Reyes. As Carla on eight seasons of "Scrubs," she played the vocal heart of the show, and as Quiet Ann on four seasons of "Claws," she played a more reserved, tortured character. 

Judy Reyes appears, with quite a bit of nonchalance, at the top of "Party Down" Season 3, Episode 4, "KSGY-95 Prizewinner's Luau." Her character, Sacker, initially seems like a particularly type-A event coordinator for a radio station, taking careful note of attendance and responding poorly to any attempts from the Party Down staff at levity. 

Partway through the episode it's revealed that Sacker is actually a police officer running a sting operation to track down deadbeat parents who have failed to pay their court-ordered child support. She brings her usual brand of cool, confident assertion to the role and provides a good foil to Marino's Ron, who is giddy to be involved in such an important deception.

Seth Morris is a name you may not recognize as easily as those of some of the other actors who've guest starred on "Party Down." But if you're a comedy fan, the odds are good that you've seen his face before. Morris has had featured roles on shows like "Superstore," "Veep," and "The Good Place," as well as some smaller parts in films like "The Dictator" and "Cedar Rapids." On "Party Down," Morris plays Ted Fine, one of the best talent agents in Hollywood.

At first, Fine presents a threat to one of the show's main characters, Lydia (Megan Mullally). Lydia becomes suspicious when she realizes that Fine has been in touch with her daughter Escapade (Liv Hewson), who has become a successful Hollywood starlet under the high-effort management of her mother. 

Because Lydia believes that Fine is trying to supplant her as Escapade's manager, she arranges for Sackson (Tyrel Jackson Williams) to spill wine onto Fine at Escapade's promo event (Season 3, Episode 5, "Once Upon a Time 'Proms Away' Prom-otional Event") before he can talk to her daughter. Later, Lydia finds out from Escapade that she wasn't considering leaving her for new management — instead, Escapade was attempting to set Ted Fine and her mother up on what folks in the biz call a "meet-cute."

Morris doesn't have a ton of great material to work with in this bit part, but he is, as always, a confident comedic performer and a fun face to see in another great show.