Inside Late Night with Mark Malkoff - Rachel Dratch

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Rachel Dratch joins Mark to discuss her Saturday Night Live auditions, her Conan debut in 2000, sketch show Dratch & Fey, Chicago days at Second City, Lorne Michaels, and her fabulous podcast Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch.  Presented by LateNighter.com Check out Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch Watch Irene Bremis’ “Sweetie” produced by Rachel Dratch Follow Rachel on Instagram @raedratch. Let’s get her to 100k! Follow Mark on Instagram @markmalkoff Follow Mark on X @mmalkoff Please subscribe, rate, and leave a review. For more episodes go to LateNighter.com/podcasts  

I was like, I'm just going to try this to know that I gave it a shot. I don't want to go through life wondering what if. So I'm going to try this and it probably won't work. And then I'll go back and be a therapist, which I'm also equally interested. Hi, I am Mark Malkup and welcome to Inside Late Night, presented by Late Nighter.com. Today's guest, you know from so many things, including her seven seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, Rachel Dratch. She has been a guest on late-night talk shows for over two decades. Rachel and I Talks Saturday Night Live, her late-night talk show appearances and her fabulous podcast, Woo-W with Rachel Dratch.

A few quick corrections. One, Abby Elliott was 21 when she was hired at SNL, not 19, which I say in the episode. Also, just to be clear, I say in the episode Rachel Dratch was hired for the SNL cast in 1999, which is true. then I say Tina Hafei was hired the following year what I meant she was hired the following year for the cast to anchor weekend update Tina had already been there as a writer she was hired back in 1997

now it's time to go inside late night Rachel Dresch thanks for talking with us hi hello your life and because I've gone through pretty much everything you've grown up in Lexington Massachusetts it's up until present day your life. But I found it, and I don't know if anyone has ever asked you this, but I found it so interesting that your very first Saturday night live experience

going into 8H with an audience. And this is September 26th, the 1999. Normally with the first person the cast member, they are hired, they go in. Maybe it's like one famous person the host, maybe some people backstage at the taping here and there. But your very first experience was what? My very first experience was the 20th anniversary show, which, so, and now we're coming up on the 50th anniversary show, which is like, yeah. There's that great photo of you and Steve Martin.

Oh, my God, I know. My point is, is the like Gilbert Godfrey told me because he was at the last one, it's just celebrity overload. I mean, for your first experience in that in 8H, at the 25, it's like everybody's there. Oh, yeah. So, first of all, I wasn't, you know, I hadn't been on the show yet because it was just this anniversary. So I was sitting in the audience and they whisked me off to hair, makeup, wardrobe. Like, I didn't even know. I just thought I was just sitting in the audience.

Like, then I'm like Cinderella with, you know, cartoon birds flying me around here and there. And then I, and then in the makeup room, while I'm sitting there is Lily Tomlin, Dan Aykroyd, and Elvis Costello. And I was just like, what is happening? I mean, three total idols of mine. And, like, it wasn't just, oh, there's maybe. It's like three people that I, you know, would fan out to the high habits. Anyway, and then, like, of course, the audience and there's, you know, every musical guest that's ever been on. You know, so it was just like a total pinch me dream that first day.

And then it went on from there. I mean, it continues, yeah. I can't imagine because you do your nine years in Chicago. And then you moved to L.A. for eight months. nothing is happening, and then all of the sudden you're thrust into this world. That season, you weren't in the very first two episodes feature. Were you there just hanging out? It was Seinfeld David Bowie was the first episode of that season.

Yeah. Oh, my God. I love it how much research you've done. First of all, I'll throw in another pinch me moment is that when I was doing my photo for SNL for the opening credits, like they bring you out onto the studio stage. And then the next stage over, like right there, you know, when you see this on TV, was David Bowie rehearsing, singing Rebel Rebel with his band. As I'm getting my photo taken to be on this dream job.

And like David Bowie is right there singing Rebel Rebel. So whatever I hear Rebel Rebel, it always, I mean, it chills every time I think about it. So that was amazing. But then, yes, then reality hits. And then it's the very first show. And no, I was like, I was supposed to be in it. But then, you know, my scene got cut, which happens, as you learn when you get there, happens, like, all the time.

So then the second week, same thing happens. My scene gets cut. And so I had like a sort of gradual entry into, and then the third show is when I finally got it. But it's just that thing of like, you know, all your friends are like, I'm going to be a entire life. You don't even know really the system because there's no guidebook that gets handed to you. There's no, like, you know, your scenes might get cut every week.

It's tough. You walk in. You're the only person hired that season. You're a featured player. And your very first show that you're credited on. This is October 23 of 99 is such a unique week to be featured because Norm McDonald is hosting the show. And he brings in all his own writers. And there was this whole divide between Norm and his crew versus the SNL writers. And Norm saying the show, you know, I haven't gotten any funny or the show and it was really bad. And there was all this. I mean, I've talked to people that were there, tension between everything. Did you observe that?

Did you feel any of that? Well, the good news is, no. I was brand new. I wasn't noticing any of that. I didn't have any clue about what's happening behind the scenes, which often, which stuck with me for seven years. You don't really know what's happening behind the scenes.

So I guess if I had known, if I was more in and knew the right. I would have heard the scuttle butt. But no, I had no idea. This is the first time hearing of it, actually. Nobody went up to Norm in the Good Nights, and it seemed very calculated. I mean, not for you, because if you're featured, you know, you stay in the back, but it's, it was definitely, it was observing the Good Nights. There was something going on, but that was your very first show. And you get Callista Flockhart on, which is, I mean, you kill with that. Your very first late night appearances on Conan you do that and it just absolutely kills you in your audition but that had to

have been big to get huge laughs right away um well yeah i mean i guess you know from what i hear Lauren wants your first appearance to be a hit so that's why like the first two things i did when i wasn't on those first two weeks weren't on i guess because he wants you to have you know an auspicious beginning so that was a scene that it was like i wasn't even in a whole scene i was in like one little cutaway thing. And I think Tina had written it. I kind of figured that was probably Tina because she knew your sensibility or Adam McKay.

But I think McKay, was he still there? Yeah, he was there. So they do that. And then your third show you get on, I mean, the Boston teens with Jimmy. With Jimmy, yeah. And it's like for the featured players, because I've talked to some of these people, they can go an entire year with barely getting anything memorable. on and you have all this momentum. Did you feel that momentum?

No. A lot of the stuff you're saying, this is the first time hearing of it. No, you don't feel momentum. No. I mean, I don't know. I had like, you know, people have totally different rides there. And like the ride you have there can be so disparate from what someone else experiences. So I would say I had like the middle ticket. I don't want to say anything. You know what's so funny whenever I do one of these i don't want to say anything then then gets pull quoted out and like that is all over the internet so like i feel like like like new york magazine and like 2000 whatever it was new york times new york times they did they did one of those on me which we can get to in a moment but anyway no like so i'm always like so cautious of what i'm saying because i get it people pull

people pull out the s and l quotes but i guess i would say no i definitely was not confident whatsoever did not feel like I had like at a second city by the time I had been on the main stage for four years then yes then I I felt confident um going up in front of a crowd every single night almost and like improvising every night like you feel really strong and then you get to it's like your big fish is thrown into the giant ocean you know so um no I didn't feel like I'm killing it here yeah you know there are plenty of shows that first year that I was not in at all and even the next year too, which I don't know if that happens to a lot of people. I guess it does here and there, but at the time...

It still happens to people, but a year or so later, this was 2002. Tina Fey was at the Television Critics Association Press Conference, and she said that she'd be walking down the street with you, and she had been on the show for two years at this point, and everybody would recognize you, and she would not get recognized at all, and she would just, yeah, just kind of be amused. I mean, it might have been because she wasn't wearing the glasses, and that's what she was associated with. Oh, yeah, I think she said that once. I think, well, back when she was first on Weekend Update, she got recognized a lot more when she had her glasses on.

Yeah. Yeah, but she was saying that she would just be walking around with you, and you'd always be the person. You know more about me than I do. This is hilarious. So when you get the show, growing up in Lexington, Massachusetts, your dad's, if I have this right, as a radiologist, and your mother is, is it a director of van service for disabled people? Well, she's, no, she's been retired for years and years and years, but that's what she used to do, yes.

When you got the call that you got the show and you called them, and they're not from an entertainment background, did it register with them? Did they get it? Oh, yes. Oh, my God, yes, yes. I mean, we've been watching us and out. Like, my parents are, well, my dad since passed away,

but my parents are, and we're, like, very culturally savvy, I would say. So, and my dad was very, very funny, and he would, he was a comedy. I mean, he was a fan of all. He was kind of a Renaissance man guy, like, interested in everything. He knew, like, he could tell you, like, the B-List movie actor from this movie from 1952, whatever. He was that kind of mind, but that also, like, very appreciative of comedy. So we always had comedy and other things on going, you know, so like, whatever.

I grew up on, they would be watching Laughan or Carol Burnett or whatever. and that SNL later. So they totally got the, you know, the bigness of SNL. And even when I went at Chicago, like, you know, they were supportive. They weren't like, I can't say like they get it. Like, yes, you've got to be on showbiz. But they were totally like, you know, be sort of whatever makes you happy, kind of try it. Even I was when I was moving to Chicago, I was like, I'm just going to try this to know that I gave it a shot.

I don't want to go through life wondering what if. So I'm going to try this, and it probably won't work, and then I'll go back and be a therapist, which I'm also equally interested. So, you know, I wasn't full tilt, like, ba-da-da-da-da-da-pap. Like, Mom, where are my character shoes? I wasn't that person. So they kind of were following my tentative lead on that, too. Yeah.

I got to see maybe a year after you were hired at Saturday Night Live, somebody showed me your audition tape, and it was a tape of everyone who, I remember Andy Daly auditioned as Hunter as Thompson. I remember Allie Faranakian at the end of his audition said, I need this job under his breath. I watched your audition and I was like, it's not on YouTube or anything, but it was it was absolutely perfect,

kind of like Fallon's audition that's up there. I remember you're doing Callista Flockhart, Drew Barrymore, and your Kosovo, pop star, which I don't even think you did on SNL, but you did it on your stage show, which I saw.

But in 99, this was 1999, the second time you're auditioning, did you feel that confidence radiated? Because when I watched it, I was like, she's ready. Like, I mean, this is. Well, you know, so as you said, I auditioned two times, two years in a row. And the first year, the first year, I felt much better about the audition. Because you just don't know how it's going to go. And they have you wait a really long time. So they'll say, like, be there at three o'clock. And you're so naive. You think, like, I guess I'm going on at 3.15. You know, you don't know.

But actually, then you go on at like 6 o'clock, whatever. You're waiting, waiting, waiting. And your mind is doing all sorts of tricks. Like, this could be it. Oh, my God. And you're like, oh, I'm never going to get. You know, you're going on waves. And so I happened to be the last one of the day.

And I was going over my bit, you know, like a thousand times in the dressing room. And then finally, when I got out there, it just so happened that I was feeling like I was on the good wave when I got to finally audition. There was a guy in the back, you know, they tell you, don't expect anyone to laugh. Well, there was a guy in the back who worked in the office, he became a really good friend of mine named Ryan Shiraki, and he was laughing so hard. It's like, he was like the laugh for it that I heard. So that probably helped too.

But that was my first audition. And then I felt like I did the best I could do, like whether or not I get the, because sometimes you leave auditions, like, oh, I messed that up. And this wasn't that. I felt like, and it was, I had this sort of piece around it, because I was like, that was the best I could do. There's nothing I could have changed, so I get it right. Well, then I don't get it. And then I was, then I moved out to L.A. There's a good reason you didn't get it. They told you. And this, the show is very much about type. And they, they told you that they were only going for men that year. And they hired Fallon, Horatio Sands, and Chris Parnell. And then the following year, they only hired you. So it had no reflection. on you and they even told you maybe maybe next year which is right but just to clarify again so

I don't have another pull quote from New York Times because I this is the thing I was talking about I said this few times but I didn't mean when I said they said I was like Tina said that to me I think it was Tina oh you know they're not hiring women this year but I don't think that was like a decree from on high like only men this year and I think that's what I don't think so either I I don't. But I always say that because that's, like, when that was in an interview about, like, your audition for SNL, and then it got, like, linked to a thing when you clicked on. It was to my horror.

It got, like, put as a single, like, quotas and females and comedy. It would, like, and when took off on this whole thing. So, no, like, they didn't tell me that. I think Tina told me that probably, you know, to whatever, ease the pain or whatever. Like, I don't know. It just, you know, you never know who they're going for because often they're going for a type or, like, you know we need the big guy we need whatever no it's very very true with the type so you move to LA you don't get SNL you move to LA for eight months and literally nothing is happening correct I mean you go

from being a rock star in Chicago and I want to mention getting the main stage at second city is the equivalent in Chicago of getting Saturday Night Live I mean I mean I don't know if you agree with that but I mean it's like everybody's trying to get this thing and you get this thing and you're a rock star and then you moved to L.A. And is it eight months of just, is that really tough on your confidence? I think it was eight months of clinical depression. No, I mean, there was other stuff going on too, but yeah, it was tough on my confidence because I think I thought Second City was going to open all these doors in L.A., but it really didn't for me. Maybe it does for some people. The thing about Second City is people put it on their, well, back then we had resumes. You had a headshot and a

resume in hard copy form. They go like hand out to people and things have changed now. But anyway, I think like everyone put Second City on, whether they took classes there or, you know, you were like, kind of a dime a dozen. No, so nothing happened for me there. And then I thought of maybe trying to do, Tina was writing on us in and I knew she was missing performing and I thought, well, maybe we could do a sketch show just us too. And so we ended up doing this show, Dratcham Bay, in Chicago.

and then I got to audition again and then Tina got weekend update. I don't know the timeline here, but something like that. The timeline was you did in Chicago, 99, and then you were hired and Tina was hired the following year because I remember seeing Dratch and Fay five times in New York for $5 each. And I remember, I still have the program, which is two inches by two inches. It's something ridiculously small. And I apologize for my nerdyness.

ahead of time. But it was this phenomenon here in New York. And I remember it was how big it was when I saw Lauren Michaels leave a black box theater that used to be a strip club. I mean, that show was still my favorite sketch show I've ever seen before. And I've seen a lot. Do you think in Chicago, when you were doing that, that that helped your case for them hiring you at all?

Did they see that sketch show? You know, I don't remember. I think they did see it, but I'm not positive. But I'm sure it helped. I'm sure it helped because we got a lot of good press around that. The reviews were phenomenal. And then you do this in New York. And that's when that summer and that's when Tina was hired.

Oh, right. You're right. There was a year between. Yeah. Then we did it in New York and then Tina got hired. Okay. You have to, for younger people or anybody that's in sketch comedy or improv, how do you and Tina possibly write that, put,

the whole thing together and rehearsed it in two weeks. How? Well, that's a great question. I mean, if I had to do it now, I couldn't back then. I think I was so, I don't know what, like it's so hard for me to write sketches now. I think back then I was just in sketch brain, you know, like you're at Second City or you're thinking in comedy terms all the time. So whether you're walking on the street or you're talking about some little funny thing pops up and then you think of how you could spin that into a sketch. But I just don't think like that anymore. Like, if I had to, I don't, I don't know if I could come up with anything. That is my nightmare. Two weeks in my head, I still am like, you know, a dream where I have to go on stage in an hour to do stand up or something. I'm not

prepared. Or like the sketch show, because I used to be in sketch groups, is opening and we're not prepared. But two weeks, even if I had the dream in it was two weeks, I would still be freaking out. Yeah. Well, I think what we did was, first of all, we gave ourselves this open. night like so we're like okay imagine if it's almost like that thing I say well I can write a screenplay if I put myself in a prison cell for a month yes I would write a screenplay it doesn't seem to be happening because I'm not forcing and this is what it was like that deadline of you're going on in two weeks so then we're like okay now we did some scenes were done through improv actually my favorite ones in that show were done through improv in rehearsal and then some were scenes that

Tina had tried to get on S&L that didn't get on. I think we had like two or three of those. And then some were just like actually writing, you know, coming up with a premise. But my favorite ones were just out of improv. Adam McKay wrote the one sketch, which was the lottery, which I don't know if you did in Chicago.

You did it in New York. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a good point. I don't remember if we did in Chicago. Yeah. But, oh, man, there's some clips online from, I believe it would have been the New York run that it was interesting to me because you've mentioned this before how stuff in Chicago on stage might not translate to Saturday Night Live.

That whole Jane Austen thing that you, Mr. Witherby, every night, it would kill. I mean, it was so, so good the two of you. And then they put it on 10 to 1 with Scarlett Johansson host the show and the audience. Energy by then is completely gone. I mean, I think this is before they were filling it with 80 standbys to make sure sketches don't bomb. Was that hard for you? I mean, I'm glad it got on the show, but is that hard for something you know that

is just so it kills and then to have that kind of like, I don't want to say it bombed, but it just definitely the audience, the enthusiasm wasn't what I was hoping it for. Yeah, I think, I don't really remember feeling like, oh, that bombed. I think I just remember like, you know, your mindset's so different there. You're just like, my scene got on. Like, you're not thinking like, oh, and how did it do? Because like, you're just, oh, you're looking at that board like, oh, I'm only in one thing or I'm in whatever, I'm not in it all, whatever it is.

So like, or you're like, oh, this scene could be cut for time, but it got on. So you're not thinking, like, quality. I mean, you are. I'm so sorry that I insulted the sketch. Really? Okay. I was going to back you up. I was going to say something like, like, yeah, on stage.

that killed and like there's something about the energy like I mean I put I did oh I did a scene on on SNL that I done at second city the scene it was called beppy and it was I think it was with julius styles on SNL but we um I played this cleaning lady it was like a refugee from Bosnia or something so like that one again like killed on stage and then like at SNL like it did fine like but it just it's kind of this thing of like when you get to SNL you have to shift and then write for TV instead of for stage, which is this weird learning curve that is I didn't expect or even know about. And then, you know, I put stuff up at the table at SNL that was like that killed at Second City and it couldn't even get on the show. So I don't know.

I still haven't cracked the code like what works. But I did learn early on like, well, I didn't learn it enough to do it. But I learned from Tina who had been there like at Second City, you could put up a scene that sort of had a slow build or took its time because you're in a theater and like you could have that scene that it's still funny but takes a little bit of time to get there but at us all you can't do that you have to have jokes like right away otherwise you lose them like they could turn the channel or at the read-through table you know it's all about the jokes kind of so it'd be hard to get a scene on that sort of has a slow build at us and all every once in a while you could but so that was another learning curve

Was there ever a time with Debbie Downer that you did not want to do it? And the host has so much sway. And I know this happened with the cheerleaders where they just did it so many times. I know that Will, at least, Beryl, did not want to do it. And you'd have these hosts that would come in that are like, I want to do the cheerleaders. And Will's like, okay. But was there ever a time with Debbie Downer that you just thought we just did it? Or I'd like to have a break that a host wanted to do it.

Did you ever feel that? I honestly don't really remember feeling that. I know Molly had the same thing with Mary Catherine Gallagher at the same. But they, you know what? Those sketches, they did the cheerleaders probably 18 times. And you didn't do Debbie Downer, even close. Yeah. I guess I don't really have a good answer for that one.

But yeah. Who are some hosts that sent you either letters afterwards, handwritten notes, gifts after doing working with you? People are getting gifts. Nobody has sent me any letters or gifts. Really? They do that now. I think it's a new thing. I think it's a completely different thing now. Maybe that's a new time or I wasn't getting the gift. But no, I've never gotten a letter or a gift from any host. And I want my gifts. Things have changed. I remember doing the standby line when I was in college at NYU and they just, they didn't even acknowledge them. And now, or at some point they were, everyone was getting soup and Fallon was hosting, sending down pizza. I'm like, we. Oh, I mean, sorry. Well, no, we. We. probably got like some sort of group something oh yes i'm sorry i thought you meant like an individual

dear rachel it was oh yeah i was wondering if you did that but not that dinner no uh i'm sure yeah i'm sure they sent the sort of group things honestly this was so long ago it was you are remembering far more than i am i mean yeah i mean this was just your life every every week your first time you were on late night and i could be off on this but i believe it was conan in june of two thousand and i watched it. It just couldn't have gone better. I don't know how nervous you were for your first ever appearance. I can tell you what you did on the show. All I remember is I played the cello. You did and you started playing it regularly and then you go into the Led Zeppelin a whole lot of love. Did you ever do that bit before? Yeah, that was, we did that at Second City. I was wondering,

I never saw it at Second City, but it was to me, it was just it killed so hard. I'm like, I wonder if Rachel tried this out previously. Yes, I used to do that every night. And so I trotted it out for Conan. Oh, man. And for your first appearance, because he started having you on, I mean, you did 10 Conan's, 10 Seth Myers, eight Fallons, Colbert's, Ferguson's, John Oliver. I mean, in terms of going on these shows, and you make it look effortless, is it effortless? Do you think some of it is just going out there?

Do you have to put a lot of time into it? Well, I always get pretty nervous for those because, but, you know, But then, like, I mean, Seth is easy because I know Seth. So, Seth, it's just like, we're just chatting and I feel comfortable because you, like, whatever, you give your little talking points or whatever. But the conversation can kind of go anywhere and he's just a relaxing person to be around. And then Conan, like, I was younger and I didn't know Conan as well. But I don't know.

Like, again, it's like hard to think back that far. But in terms of like how I was feeling at the time, because. But I know some people go on these shows and they come up with these big bits. And I never really did that, except for the cello thing. I would never come on. Like, I love it when people take the time to think of a bit. Like Will Ferrell is always going to come on with a bit. And I so admire that, but it's just not really my wheelhouse.

You didn't need it to get last. And I mean, not that Will needed it and stuff. But Conan was all about self-deprecation. And your first time you were on, you did Allie McBeal, which killed. And then you were talking about, you opened up. piece of paper that was message boards that people were talking about you oh god yes you know i wouldn't have done that today because i learned that was like a young person's bit i mean actually though then it became a thing on jimmy kim like it was like mean tweets almost right but i just like i think that's

sort of like trying to get ahead of the haters kind of thing and i sort of learned like don't do that don't give them more you know i don't know i guess i guess i guess i guess I guess I was on to something with the mean tweets, but I forgot that I did that. I can't believe, like the funniest people like yourself, Dana Carvin, Hater, Bill Hader, and Mike Myers were always like, I don't know if I'm going to get renewed. And to me, it's just, it's hard to people that are so talented and funny that that show does that to everybody, even the people that are getting stuff on all the time. Yeah, you're just, I guess, focused on the work the whole time.

I feel like every season there's maybe four cast members who aren't thinking that, and then everyone else is. It's really tough to detach. Bill Murray always talks about if you can detach from all of that, but it's awfully, awfully hard when you're going through that. When you had your sit down with Lauren, was that on your second audition when you got the show in 99 when you sat down with him? Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to mention this person's name, very funny woman. I met her in Chicago. she's a Chicago performer. And she had a really awkward interview with Lorne. You know, Tina Faye wrote in the book,

she would complete Lauren's sentences. Very, very funny woman, but she tells people that she just, it was just awkward and she had a tough time being comfortable. Did you take that in account? Did you know that going in with Lauren? And did you take that in account? I didn't know that.

I didn't really know much about Lord, other than, you know, seeing him on TV and that he's this, icon, but I didn't know anything about it. I'm like, okay, when you go into the meeting, da-da-da-da-da. You know, I didn't have anything like that. I didn't really know what the meeting was. I was like, does this mean I have this job or is this like a, is this a second audition? Like, what is this meeting. And then I guess what I hear is like Lauren likes to meet with the person to make sure that you're someone that you don't mind bumping in a minute three

in the morning in the hallway. Like that how, it's like a how crazy are you chest kind of thing. So I guess I passed, but I definitely did not feel like I, I don't. feel like I wowed him like I I'm always a little awkward around him anyway so I'm like a shy person obviously you got hired so it went well this is so bizarre to think about but at the time I mean Molly Shannon got hired at 30 and apparently that one of the producers was like she's 30 she's too old Jan Hook's 27 and they were debating if she was too old Kristen Wigg was 33 or 32 you were 33 when you got hired but at the time it really didn't happen much and they if they if they had issues with 27 and 30 did you think that that might have a factor on on you not getting hired or were you did that

not come up in your head um at the time you're not thinking you don't know that you're ignorant of that but then like yeah then like after i was on you know you realize oh like they don't hire a lot of people i don't i don't even know how it is now it's probably different than and now so it's hard for me to like know what it's like now because maybe that whole quote rule has eased up a lot but I know like at the beginning he liked to have people in their early 20s I think even for the most part you know can you imagine being Abby Elliott at 19 handling that pressure versus Kristen wig at 33 or Molly at 30 I I don't Eddie Murphy certainly handled it at 19 but I just can't imagine being thrust into that being that young it's a gift I think that you're

you were able to get that, having so much experience, life experience and stuff. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you're hired that young, you must have something that I, I wouldn't have had that at 19. I mean, I wouldn't have known how to create a sketch or a character that young, but like more power to the people that find that that young, you know? The year that you auditioned that you didn't get it, that's summer, this is August 23rd, 98 in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This was a writer that flew to Chicago and was doing Chicago things.

They went to Second City and saw promise keepers, losers, loser weepers. And this is their quote, every generation of second city performers and residents seem to produce a new star of natural, of national stature. The next one may very well be the diminutive, hugely talented Rachel Dratch, remember the name. And you're hired a year later. What? I never heard that. Oh, I can send you the copy. I've gone through everything I could possibly find.

That's so nice. And it was one of those things where I guess maybe on the outside, but stuff like that, you certainly didn't feel that way. Well, I mean, there were nice reviews in Chicago. There were. So that's what I mean. Like, I felt pretty good at Second City. But no, I've never heard that review.

I got to remember stuff like that when I wake up in the morning. I used to be the demean, Dominion of Star was going to take the world by storm. Remember, it was in the Pittsburgh

Gazette. I'm going to be standing on the street corner and say, hey, anyone read Pittsburgh Gazette,

1998? Anyone said I was going to be a take the world by storm? That's going to be me later afternoon.

I wanted to ask you, you were asked this once, but I want to ask it kind of a different way. When, if Lauren Michaels

leaves, who do you think the people are that would be capable of running the creative side because network side is a whole different ball game. But I would think Tina Faye, Steve Higgins, Seth Myers, Robert Smygle on the creative side, yes, I don't, again, with these people, I don't know the network side, but is there anyone else I'm leaving out that you think could possibly do this?

Ooh, that's a great question. I don't feel like I'm on the cutting edge of like, like there's probably a lot of names that aren't of my generation that were at SNL that would also be good at. I mean, they could do what you think. Obviously, all those people would be amazing. I don't know that they would want such a burden. I know.

You know what I mean? I know. It's a life. I mean, like for example, Tina, who I have not talked about this with, by the way, you hear that New York Times? I have no knowledge of this, but I feel like Tina would be amazing at this,

okay but would she want to be there every night sometimes still two in the morning would she want to like i don't know like she's a you know she likes her evenings in you know so i don't know it's like it's a whole life thing i'm sure like anyone that's been in that it would have to be someone from within though i think it couldn't be someone from outside lord for him to hire somebody without isn't going to happen i mean that's but i will say like because people don't know this like Lauren is extremely involved and hands on with the show like he you know sometimes I think people might get this idea that he hires people and then goes home but no he's there he's making all the decisions he's making all the choices he's the tastemaker of the whole thing. Tim Meadow said

that Lauren can still write sketches because I know he hasn't really like put his name on just one piece that I know of in the last whatever bunches of years since the 70s but like maybe they wrote something together or something, but talking to people, Lauren can still absolutely sit down and write that stuff if he wanted to. I mean, I wouldn't know that, but all I know is he's there at 2 a.m. I want to talk about your podcast. So first of all, everybody subscribe to Rachel's podcast. And also, I think you're 8,000 away from Instagram of having 100,000. So everybody go on Instagram and you'll be. be entertained with Rachel's, uh, Instagram feed. So, I'm not all that entertaining, but I'm not

too, I don't post like, I'm like, okay, my favorite Instagram is Amy Sedaris. It's just very, very fun. I know you, you know her and she's been on your show. Yeah. I mean, I'm just going to turn, turn the business. I'm going to turn the business over to Amy Sidorris because she is amazing and she posts so many fun things. I don't do that. I just post like, here's what's happening. and then an occasional fun thing. But you're right, I am, wait, what am I 8,000 away? I'm 8,000. I hope my podcast can do something if we can get you there.

If you guys, if you can get me to 100K, by next week. Come on, guys, we can do this. I want to see what I can do. I have no life, so I can put some energy into that. Your podcast is so much fun. When I first heard the name Woo Woo, I thought Rachel Dratch has a lot of enthusiasm. I'm excited to hear her enthusiasm. And then you have this different take.

Woo-woo actually means what? Well, first of all, it's funny you're saying woo-woo because I say woo-woo. So that means when you put it like that, but actually there's a distinction because when you say woo-woo, it's like when you're telling a story about like I saw a ghost or my psychic told me this. And you always preface it was like, okay, I don't want to sound all woo-woo, but this crazy thing happens, you know, I don't want to sound a woo-woo, but I think that cardinal is my dad. Like all that crazy crap that people talk about. A lot of your friends and people that maybe aren't in the business, but I mean, you just had Seth Myers on this week. And then you get people like Will Ferrell, Tina Faye, Amy Sederas, Amy Polar. I mean, it keeps going.

Yeah, so it all kind of started during the strike. And I was like, oh, what can I do? Although, actually, that's not sure. I started before that. Because the reason is I love hearing these stories, like over the years. I've heard some crazy stories from friends that have kind of challenged my whole world view of like, it's all science and we know everything. Even though some of these stories do sound very woo-woo and like someone's talking about whatever,

a ghost and you're like, okay, that could have been any number of other things besides a ghost. I definitely have a healthy dose of skepticism. But I always love hearing these stories. And so then I was like, oh, it would be fun to just do some podcasts where I talk to funny friends. or people that have had amazing things happen to them in the form of this podcast. And that's how it all started. You yourself have some of these experiences. So it was definitely something because there's so many podcasts, let's face it.

And yours definitely stands out because, I mean, you talk about a lot of your S&L friends. You can talk about SNL, but they're talking about things they probably have never spoken to, at least publicly about. Yeah, I mean, it's sort of a combo of people that I know that aren't actors or anything. that have told me these insane stories over the years. And then it's also, then the other side of it is like, I'll ask Will Ferrell, like, hey, you know, what do you have, you ever had anything weird happen? And like some people like, Will and Seth, you know, they don't have some like,

oh my God, this big thing happened to me. But it's just like getting them on to talk about that sort of side of things, you know, and some people have no woo-woo whatsoever. And some people do. And then we often end up talking about comedy and writing and, you know, the unconscious and how that affects creativity. Like, you know, any number of ways. Woo-woo's a large umbrella.

You had two things that happened. One, you were living in L.A. in a hotel for like a few months, and there was some stuff that was going on. Apparently I saw some ghosts at this hotel. Yeah. I feel funny even saying that because then people immediately think you're crazy. But I, for whatever, maybe it was a dream, whatever, but I did see these two ghosts on multiple occasions.

and then the kicker to the story is so I do tell this story on my podcast it's the one under Rachel's own ghost story the thing that made me actually I think this is one of the events that drove me to do this podcast because okay at this hotel I saw these two dudes

these well-dressed gentlemen who I seem to be a couple on the down low and I know that makes me sound even crazier but anyway I would see these two dudes right when I was right like you know after I went to sleep they would kind of appear in the corner to the point where I was saying out loud like because you know a movie you have a really early call in the morning one one night I had a you know 5 am pickup or something that I actually said out loud like guys I'm a really early call tomorrow please I you know please don't

show up tonight because I really need my sleep like that's what it came to just so you know so and then then about like I don't know maybe six months months a year later, something like that. I had to stay in the same hotel. And I was like, oh my gosh, please don't get in room, whatever it was, 525 or something. And then I got in room 526 is what they put me in next door. Well, then that night, I awakened to feel, and I found out later this is like a trope. This is like a world trope. But I woke up to feel someone was like pressing down on me, which is a thing that people have. Maybe scientifically explained, you know, maybe you're having sleep apnea whatever i don't want to i want to be skeptical enough but then when

i when i woke i saw which i was putting quotes this like mean old lady round the bend out of and she was from the same time as those other two dudes she had like her hair was in like a golden girl's hairdo kind of thing anyway so that was that i google this hotel i don't find anything well then years and years and years later i was um doing press and the the hair hair guy for this press thing happened to mention that his friend was a concierge at this same hotel because he was telling me funny showbiz stories and he's like talking about this old broad that came in showbiz nightmare. I'll tell you it was afterwards. But anyways, and then he's like, yeah, she was in there and my friend's a concierge. I was like, text her right now and ask her

if it's haunted. So he texts her and she writes back right away, yes, it's definitely haunted. And then anyway eventually I actually talked to her and she's on the podcast and I said what did people report see no I didn't tell you but the guys that I saw they were dressed from another time they were like from sort of the I don't know late 40s early 50s they had like they looked like John Waters style which is what I tell people but they they were just like well dressed gents okay anyway I said what did people report seeing and she said they reported seeing a Natalie dressed gentleman and she said, and a mean old lady. And then that's what I was like, my mind was really blown. And I know that sounds nutty, but I like a nutty story. And that's my own nutty story. Yeah. I mean, you have, I don't want to give the other story away, but I mean, you went to a psychic

and within three or six months started, things happened that this person told you that were, that were totally in your mind like this, this is impossible. There's no way. And it did happen. Oh, yeah. She totally predicted a life path. Everybody listened to Rachel's podcast and let's get her to $100,000 on Instagram. And then you produced your co-host, Irene Bremas, her stand-up special, which is called Sweetie, which is available on Amazon, Apple Play and Google Play.

And really, she's really, really funny. I mean, she talks about being, I live in a Greek area of New York City. And she talks about that and being OCD and family challenges with her brother and social media and her husband firing. fighter living in Staten Island and yeah she's stuck on Staten Island well not stuck I mean whatever I know we have a lot of Staten Island but she jokes she jokes about that in her in her standout about her living in Staten Island she and she's yeah she's Greek and she actually started out in my town before I knew her and then she moved back to Astoria where her parents are from Greece Greek and then she came back to my town it's like very two opposite places

but she's hilarious and um we've been friends since high school and she co-hosts the podcast with me. Yeah, she's a lot of fun. I love that you have that connection. Last question is in December of 2009, the New York Daily News, their equivalent of page six, they said former SNL pals, Will Forte and Rachel Dratch chatting over blue cheese fondue at the Smith yesterday. Now, I didn't even know there was such a thing as blue cheese fondue. First of all, is this true and is it any good? So Will and I lived on the same block until he moved away. So we called it, well, I was going to say the name of our street.

The blank street gang is what we called us. But yes. And so I didn't know that I made the paper for eating. I don't remember blue cheese wadu. I know they have a little dip there. They have a little dip that you dipped potato juice. I love the smith. I had to Google to see if it was for real.

And it is for real. So, well, I'm really glad that we got to do this. I'm going to stop in a second. And then I want to hear who this woman was at the hotel, the actress. Okay. You can probably have a guest. So thank you for being a guest. Thank you.

Thanks for listening. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode. Rate it and leave a review. I would be grateful. Be sure to go to late-nighter.com for all your late-night TV news. And you can find my podcast at late-nighter.com forward slash podcasts. Have a wonderful week. I'll see you next Tuesday. I'm going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to I'm and the I'm going to and I'm

and I'm on. You know, I'm going to be. I'm going to be I'm

going to be I'm Thank you.