Ken Marino Never Thought ‘Party Down’ Would Come Back

“Give up all hope. Stop dreaming, and maybe it’ll come true.” 

That’s Ken Marino’s best advice. Hey, it worked for Party Down: The show was canceled by Starz in 2010, when its finale garnered a 0.0 viewership rating from Nielsen among 18- to 49-year-olds. Thirteen years later, Marino and his castmates—including Adam Scott, Megan Mullally, Jane Lynch, and Martin Starr—are back for another round. 

“For many years, a lot of people would ask me in interviews, ‘I heard a Party Down reunion might be happening,’ and I kept going, ‘I think it’s around the corner,’ and ‘Don’t worry, fingers crossed. I don’t want to jinx it.’ After about seven, eight years, I stopped,” Marino says. “I gave up. I quit. I lost all hope. And then soon after that, we got it together.”

Marino returns as Ron Donald, the leader of the Party Down catering crew—Michael Scott in a pink bow tie, basically, simultaneously cringey and lovable. We learn in the opening episode that he’s lost both his sense of smell (he had COVID four times) and his relationship (non-COVID related, one assumes), as well as pretty much any financial security he may have had. The actor’s all in commitment to physical comedy—“I’m willing to fall on my face, both literally and figuratively,” he says—serves him exceedingly well when in this role. In the first episode of this season, Ron breaks his finger so severely that it seems to be hanging by a thread. Then he goes for an important handshake anyway. “He’s made peace with his failures and his pain,” Marino says of Ron’s ability to take a hit. 

Marino also took a turn in the director’s chair this season, following the last Party Down episode he helmed: number 210, which ended up being the series finale. “I blame myself,” he jokes. He employs an unusual directorial approach: openly using a timer on set to keep himself and the cast on schedule. It’s a style that cast newcomer Zoë Chao described to VF as “athletic,” perhaps a fitting counterpart to his extremely physical acting style. 

“He doesn’t like there to be any space or time where people are waiting in the crew or cast,” Chao says fondly. “It feels like you need a CamelBak when you’re acting in one of his episodes.” 

Season three also sees the reunion of one of the greatest onscreen couples of all time: Ron and Henry (Scott). In a separate interview with VF,  Scott called Henry and Ron “weirdly soulmates, in a way,” Henry is the straight man; Ron is the shrill basket case. “He just always wants to take care of Ron, and make sure he’s all right…and help Ron get his ass saved.”

Of course, it’s not just the writing that Scott loves. 

“Being around Ken, one of the funniest people alive, and getting to work with him again—we just kind of couldn’t stop hugging each other,” Scott tells VF. 

“Well, I don’t like Adam,” Marino begins, “but what I do have is a big crush on Adam. I love Adam. So I couldn’t wait to get back and just hang out with him…. To get to spend time with him is a real win for me.” 

In fact, that goes for the whole cast. “They cast really wonderful people on the show, myself excluded,” he says.

So, will the party go on? So far, there hasn’t been news of more episodes, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be—even if it takes another 13 or so years.

“I think I’m not spoiling anything when I say not everybody passes away in the final episode, so there’s a possibility that these characters can live on,” Marino says. “I would like it to happen, because I love Ron. I love Party Down. I love all the people who work on it. I love being in front of the camera, behind the camera. To be able to do more of them would be a gift. But if this is it, I’m happy and at peace with that.”

He sounds a bit like Ron, who once dreamed of owning a Soup ’R Crackers franchise. “I don’t even know if Soup ’R Crackers are around anymore,” he says. “Again, the dream dies. Just give up on your dreams.”