Netflix announces new adult animated comedy series, Chicago Party Aunt, from creators/executive producers Chris Witaske, Jon Barinholtz and Katie Rich. The streamer has unveiled the voice cast for the half-hour comedy, which follows Diane Dunbrowski — a.k.a. the Chicago Party Aunt — as she follows her mantra, “If life gives you lemons, turn that shit into Mike’s Hard Lemonade.”
Titmouse (Big Mouth, Human Resources) has been tapped to animate the 16-episode series, which will arrive in two 8 x 30′ batches. Emmy-nominated writer/producer Matt Craig (New Looney Tunes, LEGO City Adventures, Saturday Night Live) serves as showrunner. Executive producers are Ike Barinholtz and Dave Stassen (for 23/34), Will Gluck and Richie Schwartz (Olive Bridge Entertainment), and Chris Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina (Titmouse).
Voice cast:
- Lauren Ash as Diane Dunbrowski. Diane has always been and always will be the life of the party, even when the party has long since been over. Her complete lack of adulting is perfectly balanced by her heart of gold and desire to help others. A die-hard Chicago sports fan and general fan of Italian beef to be washed down with plenty of Malort and beer, Diane would do anything for her city and continues to live every day like it’s a 1980s Styx tour bus.
- Rory O’Malley as Daniel. Daniel shocks his family when he opts to forego Stanford for a “gap year” living in the city with his beloved Aunt Diane to find his own path and figure out what he wants to do with his life. Daniel is gay and Diane is determined to be his working class fairy godmother who helps bring him out of his shell while he takes on helping her navigate the waters of the increasingly socially complex world around her.
- RuPaul Charles as Gideon. Gideon interrupts Diane’s easy-going work life by transforming their local barbershop into a bougie, New York style salon called Borough. Gideon is a fish out of water in Chicago but with an attitude. He’s the new boss in town and not even Diane can get in his way of striving for the top of the business world, although she sure knows how to make his life more difficult.
- Jill Talley as Bonnie. A buttoned-up, type-A control freak, Bonnie enjoys the finer things in life having deserted the blue-collar neighborhood on the south side of Chicago where she and her older, carefree sister Diane were raised. As the mother to her precious Daniel, she struggles to loosen the reins while Daniel goes against the grain in his gap year, but make no mistake, there is nothing she would not do for her family.
- Ike Barinholtz as Mark. The milquetoast husband to the stern and uppity Bonnie, Mark is the sweetest, dorkiest, most unadventurous suburban white male who thinks living on the edge would be staying up past ten or maybe drinking a pop before bed.
- Jon Barinholtz as Mikey. The son of Diane and Kurt, Mikey is the most gentle giant on the block. His stature could best be representative of the size of his heart. Caring and sweet, thoughtful although not the brightest bulb, Mikey cares so much for both of his parents who may never get their acts together.
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Tina. Tina spends her days working alongside Zuzana, Gideon and Diane, when Diane actually comes to work. Tina brings the perfect amount of attitude to keep Diane in check. Responsible and smart, Tina is driven to keep her client list long and her side hustles booming.
- Katie Rich as Zuzana. Straight off the boat from Poland, Zuzana has been working alongside Diane and Tina for a long time at the salon, offering some comic relief while injecting her very unique Polish spin on modern-Chicagoan scenarios. Her comparisons are unlike any other and while so different from Tina and Diane, somehow they all work well together.
- Chris Witaske as Kurt. A hard-working TSA agent, Diane’s second time ex-husband has had it with Diane and finally moved out and ended things supposedly for good. Kurt will always have a soft spot for his ex-wife.
Witaske is an actor (The Wrong Missy, What Men Want, Love) and alumni of Chicago’s Second City Theatre. Jon Barinholtz (brother of Ike Barinholtz) was a writer for MADtv and has acted in live-action (Superstore, The Mindy Project) and animation (Solar Opposites, It’s Pony). Rich is a four-time Emmy-nominated and two-time WGA Award-winning writer for SNL; she also performed multiple voice roles for Our Cartoon President.
