Netflix announced the upcoming adult animated series Chicago Party Aunt, based on Chris Witaske’s popular Twitter account of the same name. The show will follow the “adventures” of the Party Aunt, whose name will be revealed by Diane Dunbrowski.
Superstore alumna Lauren Ash and Rory O’Malley (The Book of Mormon) lead the voice cast, along with RuPaul Charles, Jill Talley, Ike Barinholtz, Jon Barinholtz, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Rich and Witaske.
Ash will play the titular “Party Aunt,” who is a die-hard Chicago sports fan with a heart of gold. O’Malley’s “Daniel” decides to spend his gap year living with his Aunt Diane in Chicago as he figures out his path in life. RuPaul will play fish out of water “Gideon,” who challenges Diane as he strives for success in the business world by transforming the local barbershop into an NYC-style salon called “Borough.”
“She’s always out partying and getting into trouble. And part of the show, too, though, is that the world is kind of changing around her. And she’s kind of a relic of the ’80s, when she was in her glory days, partying,” Witaske said. “A lot of the show is her having to deal with everything that’s changing around her. She’s still rocking the bedazzled jeans and the spiky haircut and smoking and drinking while people around her are drinking green juice and working out.”
Chicago Party Aunt is created by Witaske, Jon Barinholtz (Superstore), and Katie Rich (Saturday Night Live). All three also serve as executive producers along with Ike Barinholtz and Dave Stassen of 23/34, Will Gluck and Richie Schwartz of Olive Bridge Entertainment, and Chris Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, and Ben Kalina of Titmouse. Titmouse will also serve as the animation studio on the series, with the company currently producing the popular Netflix animated comedy Big Mouth. Matt Craig serves as showrunner and executive producer.
Chicago Party Aunt’s Twitter account got its start in April 2016 and is known for its raunchy, boozy parody of a middle-aged Chicago woman. The series is expected to follow Aunt’s life mantra, “If life gives you lemons, turn that shit into Mike’s Hard Lemonade.”
“Now, to see it become a TV show that’s gonna stream all over the world with an amazing team behind it, it’s like, it’s kind of unreal to me to think that I went from sitting on the couch in my boxer shorts to now it’s gonna be on Netflix,” added Witaske.
The show has received a 16-episode order from Netflix and is set to premiere in two parts, with the first half consisting of eight 30-minute episodes. It will start premiering on 17 September 2021.