Martin Starr on His Failed Barista Career, Orgies and the Future of Party Down

Like the characters of Party Down -- actors, comedians and writers catering their way toward impossible dreams -- Rob Thomas' premium cable comedy, now in its sophomore season, can never quite catch a break. Although the show is beloved by its fans, the Starz sleeper has been leaking cast members ever since Jane Lynch departed the premium cabler for Glee. And even though Party Down's ratings more than doubled this season, the show is still watched by less than 300,000 people. In hopes that tonight's episode, "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday," could be the installment that reverses Party Down's fortune, Martin Starr phoned Movieline to discuss just how the Cocoon actor was cast, Party Down's tragic undertone and how little Starr actually relates to his character.

There's a different dynamic to the show this season now that Jane Lynch is gone and Megan Mullally is a regular. Was that a difficult transition for the cast?

No, Megan is such a sweetheart. It was pretty seamless -- it was kind of amazing. I didn't know what to expect because you never know what some people are really like. Some people you like in this business and then you find out they are not as fantastic as you think they are but Megan is the opposite.

How about Steve Guttenberg?

Oh yeah. He is super sweet. Everyone, literally everyone on the show -- starting with Megan -- are the most fantastic people. I went out to New York, maybe in late January, and saw Steve. He is really sweet.

He has an entire episode centered around him tonight. How did he come about being on the show?

I think Rob Thomas had a relationship with Steve Guttenberg and that's how that happened. I'm pretty sure Steve sent Rob an e-mail saying that he loved the show and it perfectly coincided with the idea they were having for a new episode.

As an actor, how much do you relate to the characters on the show? Did you have a period of time when you were working a job you hated while taking auditions?

No, I actually didn't really. I just started acting. Well, I worked one day as a barista but I never actually had what I would consider a job I really hated before acting.

Why only one day? You just were not into it?

I actually wanted to do it. I still want to do work that involves customer service. I feel like you get to meet so many people even if they are complete assholes every once in awhile. I generally enjoy people though. The manager hired me for one day on a trial basis, just to see if I could do the job. I left with $2 from the tip jar and the manager said he was going to call me but he never did.

Ouch.

Yeah, it was like a date where afterward you think, "That went really great, we are totally going to hang out again." And then you never get the call.

That's a high-pressure situation though, especially when you're just learning. People want their coffee a very specific way and they want it fast.

I think I was doing a pretty good job though. I was mostly supporting other people. The coffee shop really just needed one person so all I ever did was steam milk and pour coffee here and there. I didn't know how to do any of the little things like foaming milk. I had seen it before and it all made sense to me, so it was easy to pick up on. But I had never been paid to do such things.

There is a fairly tragic undertone to Party Down -- about people aspiring to be something and then never quite getting there. Do you think the majority of your viewers are watching because they relate to that kind of disappointment?

I hope not! If that disappointment is what people are relating to, then there are a lot of sad people watching our show.

What do you think is then?

That could well be it, but I hope that people are generally less spiteful and bitter about their lives than the characters that we all portray. I feel like it's a comedy and it was really fortunate that we could gather such a talented group of people -- especially considering that we were doing great the first season and then Jane obviously couldn't do the second season because of Glee. We were so fortunate and lucky to get Megan, and from then on we just get lucky every single episode with our guest stars. So I think that is kind of what brings people in.

Do you think that any of the Party Down characters will ever "make it," whether that means landing a huge film role or selling the script they've been working on--

Whoa, whoa. Hold on. You're asking big Lost-type questions here.

Too soon?

You are trying to break into the fourth season while we are only in the second season.

Fair enough. Let's talk about Adam Scott signing on to do Parks and Recreation, Lizzie signed onto a CBS pilot, Ryan was cast in an NBC pilot and Jane left for Glee. Did you or any of the other cast members feel a sense of betrayal?

I never really felt betrayal. I mean, I can understand Adam leaving because we don't really know where we are standing with the network, and Parks and Recreation is a great show. Ryan had the opportunity to star on a show and Lizzie is definitely coming back. She just signed on to do the pilot and I don't think she signed on to do any more than that.

My favorite interactions on the show are always between your character and Ryan Hansen's character. Whenever Kyle loses all hope in his acting career, he goes to Roman for confirmation, but Roman has a difficult time telling Kyle what he wants to hear because Roman really doesn't believe that Kyle is anything special. Do you have conversations like that?

No. I just remember when we were shooting that, and I just loved that moment also. It really screamed out to me when I was reading that episode. It's so the antithesis of what Ryan's character is. The writing on that show is so fantastic because you set up these characters as being one thing, and the writing allows you to explore new areas so they are not one-dimensional characters. Roman isn't always an asshole. Kyle isn't always an idiot. It's really fun to find that stuff in the episodes.

I know there is a lot of improvisation that goes into the scripts. Is there one line that you are particularly proud of that either made it into the final cut or didn't?

I suppose there are a lot that I enjoyed having pop out of my brain, but generally there isn't that much improvisation that makes it into the final cut. We tend to stick pretty well to the scripts and honestly, I haven't even seen any of the episodes this season yet so I don't know what gets used.

There is an episode this season where the Party Down crew caters an orgy and I know you are doing a movie called A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. That, right there, means that you have two more orgy-related line items on your resume than most actors who are not in the porn industry.

[Laughs] What can I say? I love the 70s. And speaking from experience, orgies are a lot of fun.