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Dubek Family
Brooke
Brooke Dubek
Played by: Heléne Yorke
The oldest Dubek sibling. She is a former professional dancer trying to find her life path, and is hired as part of her brother and mother's team.
- Affectionate Nickname: Lance calls Brooke "B." Pat calls her "Brookie."
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Brooke is flighty and irresponsible — more likely to show up hours late than not, if she even shows up at all — but she eventually develops legitimately great managerial instincts, shown in how she handles Chase's new girlfriend in season 3. Even her impulsive decision to take the fall for Chase's and Pat's respective cancellations in the finale nets her the attention of a slew of A-listers who want a manager willing to make themselves look bad for their client's benefit.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Invoked. Brooke gets brown hair after quitting her industry job because she thinks her blonde hair is too "braggy" and she wants to be more of a down-to-earth do-gooder. A few episodes later, she reverts back to her blonde hair as she gets invested in Chase's industry drama like the old days, revealing her new hair was just a brown wig to trick Lance into thinking she hasn't regressed.
- Everyone Has Standards: For all of the shady actions Brooke takes to avoid backlash during her "Night of Undeniable Good," including wanting to chloroform Ben Platt before his performance to avoid homophobic backlash, she at least turns down Melanie's half-sane suggestion to kill Ben Platt.
- Girlboss Feminist: Brooke tries to act like a feminist High-Powered Career Woman, but her activism is clearly superficial as she easily leans into the sexist conventions of Horrible Hollywood, such as trying to send Chase's amicable ex-girlfriend to the woods or cover up for a sexual predator at her charity event.
- Psychological Projection: Prior to season 3, Lance became a nurse, causing Brooke to become incredibly insecure that her job isn't as important as his. She spends several episodes trying to do something important because she's convinced Lance is judging her, but it's clear he supports her no matter what and she's just projecting her insecurity onto him, something he calls out in "Cary & Brooke Go to an AIDS Play."
- Soapbox Sadie: In season 3 she becomes obsessed with the idea of "doing good" and working for a worthy cause...mostly for the clout and to feel good about herself, especially since she resents Lance and his circle of hardworking nurses. She doesn't actually want to put in the effort, and returns to her industry job after a brief and hated stint with a tree-planting organization.
- Taking the Heat: After a season of selfishness, the finale sees Brooke go on the news and take blame for Chase and Pat's controversial tweets, despite having no role in them. She even claims Chase told her not to use mental health awareness to promote his album, despite it really being the opposite.
Cary
Cary Dubek
Played by: Drew Tarver
The middle Dubek sibling. Cary is an openly gay aspiring actor frustrated with his lack of opportunities.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: During "Chase Gets Baptized," Cary hooks up with a guy on Grindr, getting particularly flustered over how well-endowed he is. Even better for him, that same hookup commends Cary on the size of his penis (since it looks bigger than the one Cary used in his profile picture — Lance's penis, that is). In "Cary Pays Off His Student Loans," Cary jogging in sweats (at Shuli's suggestion) gets him enough attention to immediately secure a lead role in a sexually-charged Oscar Bait movie.Shuli: Don't thank me, thank that big ol' pee pee!
- Heel Realization: Double subverted. After driving nearly his entire social circle away with his self-centeredness in season 3, he attends his high school reunion. Though he basks in the attention from his high school classmates, a phone call from them afterwards inviting him to hang makes him come very close to realizing that he needs genuine friendships in his life...only for him to think it means he needs an Oscar. He then nearly gives himself a mental breakdown in pursuit of this, only to finally wisen up after he shows up at his agent Mackenzie's house and realizing that she has her own personal problems even as she works hard to help him. He then resolves to take a break from acting and reconnect with his loved ones.
- It's All About Me: After some tangible career moves in season 3 he becomes very self-obsessed and prone to humblebragging (or just plain bragging) about his achievements, to the annoyance of everyone else.
- Straight Gay: Cary is not a particularly flamboyant gay man and is occasionally contrasted with gay men who do speak in vocal fry/have effeminate mannerisms/dress skimpily like the Instagays.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Once he finally gets a substantial acting gig, he becomes incredibly self-centered and ignores his own friends and family so he can further his career during season three. This ruins his friendship with Curtis, which helps push him to finally change for the better, eventually taking a break from acting.
- Waiting for a Break: Cary waits tables while taking any acting job he can get, and he has mixed feelings about being recognized as Chase's brother.
Chase
Chase Dubek / ChaseDreams
Played by: Case Walker
The youngest Dubek sibling by over a decade. Chase skyrockets to teen stardom as the singer "ChaseDreams" and brings his family along for the ride.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Chase is the only child in his family, very innocent and naive, and the dynamic remains even as he eclipses his siblings in fame and wealth.
- Demoted to Extra: With the other members of his family becoming famous in their own right, Chase becomes less prominent in Season 2 until the finale, which makes a point out of Chase wanting more autonomy in his career. By Season 3, he appears even less consistently onscreen, with Streeter and Shuli becoming more prominent representatives of his role in the industry, before finally getting more of a story in episode five.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Invoked when Streeter makes Chase look like an unlikeable "bad boy" by choosing a ton of terrible fake tattoos, including the word "piss" across his chest and Winnie the Pooh characters (and the date of his dad's death!) with giant boobs.
- Dreadful Musician: It becomes apparent in the season 1 finale that despite becoming famous for singing, Chase is a terrible live singer. Throughout season 2 his team tries to keep him famous while doing as little singing as possible.
- Former Child Star: Chase's agents try to invoke this for controversy once he turns 18, immediately pushing out sexualized photos of him and getting mad that he won't do cocaine. Chase's actual angst about his newfound adulthood is that he wants to act like a normal person, and resents that his agents keep pushing him into publicity stunts.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Chase is obviously based on the likes of Justin Bieber and Jacob Sartorius
, in terms of a young boy shooting to instant viral fame by posting videos on the internet of them singing. - Publicity Stunt Relationship: Teen Idol Chase's record label will occasionally try to stunt-date him with famous women to help his branding.
- In season 1 he has a "relationship" with a well-known teenage influencer to help his social media which lasts all of a day.
- When he turns 18 in season 3 they try to marry him to Kiernan Shipka so he can be seen as a grown man, but he wants to pursue a relationship with a non-famous girl. Shipka, as an entrenched member of what Shuli calls "the Hollywood elite", doesn't seem to bat an eye at the prospect of being engaged to a stranger.
- Teen Idol: A teen singer who draws hordes of screaming girls.
Pat
Pat Dubek
Played by: Molly Shannon
The Dubek siblings' overly supportive mother. She becomes a successful daytime talk show host in season 2.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Despite her good attitude, when she gets upset, she really gets upset, sometimes to the point of mental breakdowns and threatening people.
- Hopeless with Tech: A Running Gag is that she doesn't know how to use social media, such as taking all day to post on Instagram and tweeting things she meant to text privately. This tendency to accidentally reveal private information online serves as a Chekhov's Gag in a couple of cases.
- Minnesota Nice: Pat is a stereotypical Midwestern woman — extremely sweet and supportive to the point of corniness. When she returns to her hometown in Season 3, however, she secretly gets very annoyed with everybody else there, showing she's better suited for Hollywood after all.
- Parents as People: The recently widowed Pat genuinely enjoys the perks of her son Chase's fame, writing a children's book, appearing on talk shows and even taking molly at a party.
- Stepford Smiler: Pat always puts on a smile and tries not to complain or inconvenience others, but as she becomes more and more famous in Season 2, she starts to crumble under the stress. The climax of the Season 2 finale shows her finally fainting onstage due to exhaustion and dehydration because she took on too many gigs and can never get a moment to herself.
Chase's Team
Streeter
Streeter Peter Peters
'Played by: Ken Marino
Chase's bumbling manager who is always seeking validation from the Dubek family.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Pat mentions lovingly that Streeter has a "big, fat dick."
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Streeter is based on Scooter Braun, who famously discovered Justin Bieber and became something of a celebrity unto himself because of it.
- Rhyming Names: Brooke dismayedly lampshades that his name is Streeter Peter Peters.
Shuli
Shuli Rockefeller Kucerac
Played by: Wanda Sykes
A record executive at Chase's label.
- Been There, Shaped History: Season 3 reveals that Shuli is single-handedly responsible for radicalizing QAnon and causing the January 6th, 2021 insurrection, all so people wouldn't listen to Chase's terrible new album.
- Everybody Has Standards:
- Shuli, in "Pat Gets an Offer to Host “Tic Tac Toe”". Dean Brennan, a famous actor who likes to play coy about his sexuality to the press, has asked Cary out and is using their relationship to drum up publicity for both of them. Shuli's usually laser-focused on publicity, to the exclusion of ethical or emotional considerations, but sees that Cary's going to get his heart broken and tells Cary that Dean's straight to protect Cary.
- Shuli also advises against Brooke obsessively researching Lance in "Cary Pays Off His Student Loans" despite her going to similar extremes for business purposes.
- Single Tear: In "Brooke Hosts a Night of Undeniable Good," a single twinkling tear falls onto Shuli's cheek when she realizes she has a client "struggling with mental health" that she can exploit financially. The same thing happens to Brooke when she realizes she can "finally do good," but Shuli calls her out.
- Slave to PR: Shuli represents the Hollywood industry's laser focus on public image and will jump on any chance to improve the Dubeks' PR.
Other Characters
Lance
Lance Arroyo
Played by: Josh Segarra
Brooke's on-off boyfriend. He begins the show as an aspiring shoe designer.
- Brainless Beauty: Brooke breaks up with him the first time because he's extremely hot, but is unambitious and still stuck on unviable shoe designs.
- Hidden Depths: Despite seeming like just a sweet dumb hunk, he turns out to be a very competent nurse.
- Hospital Hottie: Already considered a looker in-universe, he becomes even more beloved in Season 3 when he becomes a nurse, even getting on a magazine cover celebrating the sexiest nurses.
- Nice Guy: Lance is a big golden retriever of a man, kind and supportive even to his ex-girlfriend's friends and family. He even pivots to nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic because he wanted to help people.
- Not So Above It All: Brooke resents Lance's apparent saintliness and how he tirelessly does good with no tangible benefit, especially in comparison to her own media industry job, which she views as shallow and dumb even as she enjoys the status the comes with it. She is vindicated when she learns that he did hire a publicist to get him named People's Sexiest Man.
Curtis
Curtis Paltrow
Played by: Brandon Scott Jones
Cary's closest friend, who, like him, is an aspiring actor and openly gay.
- Camp Gay: He's a much more flamboyant and snarky gay guy than Cary, and usually takes roles that are more stereotypical.
- Waiting for a Break: Like Cary, he's working retail and service jobs while trying to get gigs booked.
