By the time the police arrive (an ironic twist given the guest of honor’s filmography), the Party Down team is back in their vests, cleaning up the mess. The party is over, the connection is severed, and they are just the help again. It’s heartbreaking, it’s hilarious, and it’s why we still talk about this show over a decade later.

In this episode, the Party Down catering team is hired to work at Steve Guttenberg's home for his birthday. However, when the "surprise" party turns out to be a bust because Guttenberg already knew about it, the actor decides to pivot. After overhearing Roman (Martin Starr) and his writing partner Kent (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) discussing their "hard sci-fi" script, Guttenberg transforms the evening into an impromptu writing workshop. Bryan Gordon Writers: John Enbom and Dan Etheridge Original Air Date: May 21, 2010 Key Plot Points

The crew is hired to cater the birthday party of actor Steve Guttenberg (playing a fictionalized version of himself). For the uninitiated, Guttenberg is the star of Police Academy , Cocoon , and Three Men and a Baby —a man who was once a massive box office draw but has settled into a comfortable, perhaps slightly existential, middle-age.