The woman who created Debbie Downer is a little down in real life. Seems Rachel Dratch hasn’t found much work since she left Saturday Night Live two years ago. In fact, when asked what she’d been up to last month, her response was telling: “I know you’re supposed to come up with fake stuff you’re doing. But honestly, I’m not doing much. [Downtime] is starting to get old. I’m starting to go crazy. I’m ready for a job.”
I’ve always thought Dratch was pretty great on SNL, mainly for her willingness to look crazy and do anything for a laugh. Besides Debbie Downer, she created such memorable characters as Boston teen Denise “Zazu” McDonough and the adorable love child of Angelina Jolie and her brother. See what I was saying about going for it?
I also loved how she could crack the cast up, particularly as Debbie Downer.
But last month Rachel hit a low point in her unemployment when the big “Who says women aren’t funny” Vanity Fair issue came out spotlighting today’s top female comics, but not her.
“Dude, that was a dark day,” she told New York. “I was like, Oh, there’s everyone I worked with.”
Looking back at the story, all of her former co-stars were on the list: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Kristin Wiig. That cover story also brought up some interesting observations about how hot today’s female comics are. Does Rachel’s dearth of job prospects corroborate the article’s assertion that you need to be pretty to be pretty funny?
All this comes after Rachel left SNL to join Tina’s then-new show 30 Rock, only to be replaced by the network by the more blond, more buxom Jane Krakowski before the pilot aired. Man, that’d make anyone a Debbie Downer.
As for Rachel, she’s casting a wide net. Possibly too wide: “I’d work in a black-box theater company at this point. I’d work with George W.”
Will someone please hire this woman before she’s reduced to explaining knock-knock jokes to W in the Oval Office?
