The party is starting, baby, and I cannot wait! The full trailer for Party Down season 3 dropped yesterday and no one’s life seems to be going great ten-plus years later, but no one has it worse than Ron Donald—Ken Marino, an underappreciated MVP of 2010s comedy—who is living in the Party Down Catering van and still hustling waiter gigs. The trailer suggests some people have moved on from catering, though no one seems to have made it in the industry, so I wonder what brings everyone back together? It’s going to be something equally ridiculous and depressing, I bet.

 

Also, this is how I found out James Marsden is in this. Here’s my theory on James Marsden, please hear me out and give this your utmost consideration, because I know this to be true:

If James Marsden’s name was “Chris”, he would be an A-list star.  

I would actually love Duana to weigh in, because I have a Unified Chris Theory of celebrity names, which is that there is something about the name Chris, specifically, that appeals to people, which is why there are so many famous Chrises. 

The female version of this is “Jennifer”, and the glut of famous Jennifers. Of course, Chris and Jennifer are perennially popular names (though they have both fallen off in the 2000s, as all the adult Chrises and Jennifers seek more unique names for their kids, they are still charting), so the odds are better there would be multiple famous Chrises than, say, multiple famous Simons. But there’s something in that particular name that I can’t articulate, but I KNOW if James Marsden was Chris Marsden, he would be THE Hollywood Chris—and Party Down knows it because Marsden is playing a superhero actor in the show, and superhero movies are the final home of all Hollywood Chrises. Also, the Unified Chris Theory applies to Glen Powell, who undoubtedly has more character for being a Glen, but would have been famous faster as a Chris.

 

Speaking of famous Jennifers, though, this trailer is also how I found out Jennifer Garner is in season 3. Party Down was never a popular hit, it is the epitome of cult darling, but the people involved in behind the scenes are some deeply connected folks, including Paul Rudd and Rob Thomas, so the guest star list has always been disproportionate to the popularity of the show. No one does Party Down because it’s a career move, they do it because they’re friends with someone involved. I know Jennifer Garner’s brand of upper crust suburban mom isn’t for everyone, but she has comedy friends, always has had. She’s cooler than we think she is.

 

Attached: James Marsden attends Champagne Collet & OBC Wines' celebration of The 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on January 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.