RACHEL DRATCH – THE INTERVIEW

Rachel Dratch was late. We agreed to meet at Manny’s Breakfast Restaurant on Sheffield and she was 15 minutes late. I saw her pull up in a car that was definitely suited for her; small, but fast and agile. She came in, slightly wet from that morning’s downpour and apologized for her tardiness. We sat down and ordered breakfast (it was 1:30pm, by this time). I ordered the Big Three and she asked for the House Special. We both had orange juice.
Rachel and I met about three years ago during the run of Piñata Full of Bees at the Second City. She was, of course, on the Mainstage and I was in the souvenir shop. Recently, I was the Assistant to the Director (Jeff Richmond, now director of the upcoming Second City etc show)  for the Mainstage creation of Promisekeepers, Losers, Weepers.
So, here is the first part of my lengthy interview with Rachel Dratch. I watched the creation (the improv sets) of Piñata and was always interested in hearing her point of view on many of the topics we cover.

JRC: Did you go to college for theater?
RACHEL: I went to Dartmouth. I didn’t know I wanted to… I did some acting in high school, I knew I really liked it, but I wasn’t like “I’m going to college to train to be an actor.” But I majored in Drama, modified with Psychology. I started doing improv my sophomore year. Actually, I didn’t like Dartmouth very much, but the whole theater scene I really liked. When I started with the improv team that’s when I felt like I was part of something that I wanted to be a part of.
JRC: What was the name of the Dartmouth improv group?
RACHEL: It was called “Said and Done.” We didn’t have a teacher or anything; someone had read, I think, Keith Johnstone’s book, we knew the “yes and…”- thing and “don’t deny” and “don’t ask questions” so we just kind of went for it. When I look back it was kinda fun; we were just flying by the seat of our pants. I thought we did some good stuff for people who had no idea what we were doing. Then, we all went to a workshop at Yale that was like a big improv gathering..
JRC: Like a fest nowadays.
RACHEL: Yeah. The Yale group was doing the Harold. So by our senior year we were trying to do the Harold. Again, we had no idea what we were doing. We had one guy in the group who was pretty experimental; he would kind of push us to do weird things. It was really fun, a great experience.
JRC: So, how did you end up in Chicago?
RACHEL: Actually, with that group, one of the guys was from Chicago, so during the summer we all came out here for a week and we went to see ImprovOlympic, which at the time was at CrossCurrents. I didn’t even know what I was seeing and Del was there and David Pasquasi was playing. We also went to see Second City, which I remember even less than ImprovOlympic. I just remember thinking “Hey, maybe some day I could work here… wow, this could really be cool.” So, then, after college I did a children’s theater tour for six months, but then I came out here. Just to try to do the whole Second City thing.
I’ve told this story a hundred thousand times, but I’ll just say one more time that I did not get into the (Second City) Training Center. I moved out here with a girl from my group and she got in and I didn’t. It was two weeks after we moved here and I was like, “Oh my god, what am I doing… I should go back.” But then, I took classes with (Michael) Gellman (teacher / director for Second City) at Victory Gardens, then I got in, then I did ImprovOlympic.
JRC: At the time, where was ImprovOlympic?
RACHEL: It was at Papa Milanos; it’s had many homes. Yeah, it was at Papa Milano’s when I first started taking classes and I would go watch (ImprovOlympic team) Blue Velveeta every weekend. I was in awe of them. It really helped to watch them a lot. You wouldn’t think that, but watching them time after time…. It really starts to sink in..
Then they (ImprovOlympic) moved to the Wrigleyside and I got put onto a house team which was The Victim’s Family. All stars, all the people that are now stars… I was on that team for just about two years, maybe a year and a half.
JRC: Did you enjoy that?
RACHEL: That was really cool too, because everyone on the team was so good. There were two women on the team at the beginning and then there was just me. Those guys –
(Our food arrives. I ask Rachel if she wants to talk and eat or wait. She says that she can talk and eat.)
JRC: Okay, so we’ll experiment with talking and eating.
RACHEL: Ohmigosh. I love these pancakes. (speaking directly to the tape recorder) I’m just saying that so that you know that there’s really pancakes here. Mmmm. I haven’t been here for so long.
JRC: That’ll all be on the website… “Click Here To Hear Rachel Eat Pancakes.”
Rachel laughs her unmistakable laugh. Like a high-pitched machine gun her laugh penetrates and makes itself known, but never seems fake or forced. She laughs quite a bit and when she does her smile envelopes her face.
RACHEL: Noooo… what was I saying… oh yeah, all these heavy-hitter guys.. it was Adam McCay (head writer of Saturday Night Live), Miles (Stroh, teacher/performer at IO and touring with The Male Intellect), and it changed over the years, but by the end it was Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade), Ian Roberts (also with Upright Citizens Brigade), and Neil Flynn (a cop in almost every movie shot in Chicago) a little bit. Those guys were so good and so strong… to get out there as this short, little girl…
JRC: Yeah, just physically, all really big guys.
RACHEL: … to get your voice out there was really good training. If I had an idea I had to get it out there, I didn’t have time to think, “should I do this?” I had to get myself out there. They respected me and everything. It wasn’t like they ignored what I said. Just size-wise it was really good…. It made me much more assertive as an improviser.
JRC: Now, part of the myth (and a common complaint) is that everyone back then was so consumed/ obsessed with improv and that everyone only had one team, and that’s why “everything was much better in the old days.”
Do you think this is true?
RACHEL: I don’t know about the obsessed thing. I haven’t been over there (ImprovOlympic) for so long, but I know that now there’s a bunch of teams. Having one House team was cool, because when I wasn’t on a House team, they were, you know, they were it. They were the best. It’s like being at Second City during the set.. now that I’m not there anymore.. when you’re there, everyone there is so good, you know that everything you do is going to be supported. That’s what it was like watching a House Team, it was like watching the experts. I don’t know what it’s like now, I don’t know if there are people who aren’t as experienced… I don’t really know the scene. I don’t think I really answered your question.

JRC: That’s good enough, I guess. So, you took classes at ImprovOlympic and Second City at the same time?
RACHEL: Yeah. I’m not sure. That was such a long time ago, I don’t remember how it worked.
JRC: When you got hired for (the Second City) TourCo., how many years ago was that?
RACHEL: It was six years ago exactly. I was in the (SC) Training Center and then I was in level 5. I wrote a lot of stuff for Level 5… I didn’t realize this at the time, but (addressing the tape machine) all you people out there if you want to get on to TourCo write a lot of stuff for your Level 5.
JRC: Oh, great, you just ruined the Level 5s.
RACHEL: I did? Well, I’m sorry. Strike that. I didn’t know that; I just happened to write a lot for my Level 5. Norm (Holly) was my teacher, he got me an audition for TourCo, but I didn’t get in that time so forget what I just said. I didn’t get in the first time I auditioned. Once again! Scorned by the establishment! But I got in the following year.
JRC: How long were you in TourCo?
RACHEL: Two and a half years. (clank!) I dropped a fork.
JRC: Who’d you tour with?
RACHEL: Oh god, I had an odd TourCo. None of us had each other’s sense of humor.. we were more like six people…..
JRC: …in a van?
RACHEL: Exactly. We got along okay, but there was no , you know, it wasn’t Monty Python. Sometimes you’re put together with people with the same sensibilties, but we were more like just six people. We did good shows and stuff. It was me, Jon Glaser (writer and “Ira” on Conan O’Brien), Jeff Rogers, Joe Dempsey, Jennifer Bill, and Mark Dalbis. Then I switched to be with Ali (Faranakian, new on the SC ETC stage), Kevin (Dorff), Hamilton (Rachel) and Frances (Collier (?) current head of the SC Conservatory).
And I got to go to Alaska, and do Ski Tour.
JRC: One of my favorite stories is the concept behind the show “Gambrinus, King of Beers,” which you did with Kevin, and Noah Gregoropoulos.
RACHEL: ….and Leo Ford, Andy Ricter, Pat Finn, Brian Stack..
JRC: and there was a case of beer backstage…
RACHEL: Yeah. It wasn’t long-form, it was a lot of games. Talk about being in a bar… this was at At The Tracks, rarely did people come to see us. There were bands coming in every night and people would be just milling around. No one was really listening to us ever. So we just did games.
That was really good for me. Once again I was the only woman. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, I mean, I think it’s great that there are teams now that are half and half. It was very challenging, again, just about everyone in the show was over six feet tall. It really made me get out there, but that was more of a goof-off show.
JRC: I like the picture of all of you on the fake spiral staircase.
RACHEL: Yeah, yeah… I just saw that over there (the photo on the ImprovOlympic Wall.)
JRC: So, you were in TourCo for awhile, and then what? ETC or straight to Mainstage?
RACHEL: I went to Mainstage. I didn’t get ETC when, like, timewise I should of, but those kind of “rules” don’t apply anymore.
JRC: Yeah, things certainly have changed quite a bit.
RACHEL: Back then it was like how long you were there… Yeah, I got passed up and I started to get bitter at “The Man,” but it turned out to be a good lesson because then I got to go to Mainstage and do a great show, Pinata.
Look how hard it’s raining. I’ve had good shows there with good casts and directors, so it turned out to be a blessing. It’s a good lesson in disappointment… you never know what’s around the corner…so quit bellyaching.
JRC: Of all your Second City experiences, what were the best and worst ones?
RACHEL: Ohmigod. That’s a good question. Well, the best thing is getting to perform every night. When you first move to Chicago and you think, “Wow, if I get into Second City…” you never really think how much you’re going to learn there, how much you’re going to develop as a performer. You start learning and evolving without even knowing it.
One of the things (you learn from ) improvising every night is reading an audience. “You know, we’ve got to pick up the pace!” Sometimes understudies come in, and this isn’t their fault because they don’t know, but sometimes an understudy who comes in doesn’t know  that this part needs to fly right here, or “we’re losing them, listen to them rustling…” Stuff like that you just learn… it sticks in the back of your head. Another thing is working with the best people. Everyone is so talented and you kind of learn from each individual. Everyone has their own style and sometimes you go, “Oh! I didn’t think of doing it that way!” All these people I’ve gotten to work with. What else.? Oh, writing. It’s awesome being forced to write a show. If you’re sitting by yourself, for me at least, in your apartment, it’s hard to write. I need that structure. I’ve learned so much about writing; about creating characters. So, those are the best things.
The worst things… (long pause) I don’t know. Now that I’m gone, I can’t think of anything bad.
JRC: Two months ago you would have had a big list?
RACHEL: (laughing) yeah…. I guess one thing is that when you’re writing a new show it completely takes over your life, but I can’t really call that a complaint because you’re so lucky to have the job. It’s the job that you wanted for so long and everyone else wants it; it’s just part of the job. It’s like complaining that you had to do all that work to get the Noble Prize.  When you’re in it (the creation of a new SC show) it gets kind of crazy; everyone gets boiled down to their worst qualities.
What else is bad…? Hmmm, nothing’s springing to mind.
Here’s one bad thing, but it’s a TourCo thing. I think sometimes people get labeled there right away and people who get hired there don’t realize that’s going to happen.
JRC: What do you mean?
RACHEL: Let’s say that someone is coming in to understudy a TourCo show and they don’t know their lines; which is stupid, but I don’t think people realize that if you don’t know your lines you’re stuck for the rest of your time here. Almost. It takes a long time for that to go away. If (someone) sees you in a show and thinks “Hm. She wasn’t very good at this,” (they) won’t come back the following week to see it the next week. This is the bad thing about the Establishment I think. You get labeled really quick there. It happened to me when I was hired. I’ve seen people who I think are really good get labeled “she can’t improvise / she can’t act” whatever, when they actually can. It’s really hard to fight that.
On the flip side, there are some people I don’t even know they should even be hired there, but someone might say they’re the next big thing and then a year later they’re being let go. There’s a lot of upset people both ways, there’s a lot of branding people into categories.
That’s probably the worst. (laughing) I don’t have to deal with it anymore. Once you’re on a stage you don’t have to deal with all the politics.
JRC: Maybe that’s one of the perks of getting onto a stage.
RACHEL: Yeah.
JRC: Okay. Saturday Night Live. You flew out to New York this year for an audition. Was SNL ever a goal of yours?
RACHEL: Oh, yeah. Actually this is another one of those success stories. SNL (scouts) came out three years ago and they flew out so many people..this time they took three of us.
JRC: That was during Pinata?
RACHEL: Yeah, they took at least 10 people. Everyone but me and one guy from Mainstage, everyone but two from ETC, everyone but one from (Second City) Northwest. And then they took extra people; a couple of people from TourCo, ImprovOlympic, whatever …. they took everyone and their brother, everyone except me and I was so bummed. I mean, in that show I wasn’t really doing that many characters, so I kind of expected it , but you always hope, you think “Oh, they’ll see beyond this.”  So, I was really, really bummed out. I had always wanted to be on SNL, it’s not always great, but it’s this leftover childhood dream. So, I just thought it’s not going to be SNL, it’ll be something else, just let go of that. You never know what’s around the corner.
I thought I won’t be seen by them again because of the timing, they don’t need anyone. Then suddenly out of the blue; and I almost didn’t do the last show, I was going to go to LA last year, then out of the blue, they came again and I was like “I can’t believe I’m going to be seen by them again.”
Then to get picked to be flown out, it was “Wow, so I did get my shot.” Of course, I’m not on the show right now….(laughs)
Then for the auditions, I couldn’t think “I’m really going to get this. I’m really going to get this,”  because I have no control over that, I just didn’t want to tank it. I just wanted to have a really good audition. The audition went really, really well.
JRC: What did the audition consist of?
RACHEL: You had to do three characters and three impressions.
JRC: Still? They’ve been doing that for years.
RACHEL:  Actually, they did something different last time. I can’t remember what it was, but it was different.
JRC: So, will you tell me what you did?
RACHEL: I did Beppi (from Promisekeepers, Losers, Weepers) and Wicked (from Citizen Gates) and two characters you’ve never seen. Yeah, two characters you’ve never seen. Let’s leave it at that.
For my impressions I did Christina (unintelligible), a newscaster, Ally McBeal and Madeline Albright.
By the way, when you go in there, you’re on the stage.
JRC: The actual SNL stage?
RACHEL: yeah, I didn’t even realize it until they told me afterwards. Lorne Micheals and some other people are seated there and you just walk in and they don’t even say “Hello, you must be Rachel…”, you just walk in and you begin and I was the last one of the day. You don’t even say your name or hi…. There are no pleasantries exchanged. When it was over I was so happy I was skipping down the street because it went well and for two weeks I was like a nutball, questioning every choice.
And then of course they didn’t hire any women. Then I heard that they hired three guys and that pissed me off. I had heard that they might not be hiring women and that was okay, but then they hired three guys and I was like “C’mon, Second City has stepped up to the plate…” I would never expect SNL to have equal numbers, but I think right now it has 9 guys and three women. I think that’s a lame-o ratio.
I was out in L.A. having some meetings and I would tell people I auditioned and they would be like, “Well, they have a lot of strong women right now.” And you can only have three? It was weird because a bunch of people said that, people “in the business,” “Well, they’ve got their women,” instead of thinking here’s another funny person, not that that’s me.. but…
JRC: As if there’s a cap on strong women where you would never say, “Well, we’ve got three strong guys, that’s enough.”
RACHEL: Right, right…. Adam said maybe next year or next season, but I’m not counting on it.
JRC: If you look at your history; you auditioned twice to get into the Training Center, you got passed over for ETC, but you eventually got what you wanted.
RACHEL: Yes, I did! (doing a very good supervillain impression directly into the mike) And I always do, hahahaha. (laughs)
Well, I’m hoping that if not SNL something else will come up.



JRC: Do you have any idols or role models for your work?
RACHEL: Do you mean celebrities?
JRC: Whatever.
RACHEL: Gilda Radner, Lily Tomlin and a little Carol Burnett thrown in there as well. I remember watching Gilda Radner when I was a kid and everyone thought she was so funny and no one ever said that she was a funny woman, she was just funny. That’s before you get brainwashed. Before I moved here I thought women were funny, I mean, all my friends were.  And then you get here and they’re like, no, you’re going to have to really prove yourself. I mean, that’s changed a lot since I moved here 9 years ago.
Lily Tomlin from Laugh-In and Carol Burnett from her show…. Mainly Gilda though….
JRC: You’re moving to L.A. What’s the plan?
RACHEL: I don’t have a plan! Do you have one for me? I don’t know! I haven’t packed anything, I haven’t made any arrangements…

JRC: For all the multitude of improvisers moving to Chicago and doing shows elsewhere, do you have any advice or Words of Wisdom?
RACHEL: It’s good to watch the good people. Watch people your level and people better than yourself, if you think there are any. The sets, ImprovOlympic, go watch that. Performing as much as you can. That’s where you learn so much, having to get out there. I guess one of the little breakthoughs I made at ImprovOlympic was instead of having an idea in the backline and thinking “Should I do it? I don’t know…”, I got out there and did it and I think I jumped levels then. If you have an impulse, not if you’re going to ruin someone elses’ scene, if you have an impulse of a funny little add-on or taking something in a weird direction, try it.  (long pause)
Always walk with a spring in your step and a twinkle in your eye! (laughs) I don’t know…. It was such a good question and such a bad answer….
JRC: It was a fine answer.
RACHEL: What would your answer be? Let me turn the tables.
JRC: Watch everything. Watch the good and the bad and then figure out why you think something is good or bad. Learn why something appeals to you. It’s not enough to just dislike something you should know why.
RACHEL: Yeah, that’s good. I like your answer better.
JRC: Jay Sandrich told me that. He directed The Cosby Show, Mary Tyler Moore show, The Odd Couple, tons of sit-coms. He told to not go to school for directing, but to watch everything…if you want to direct TV watch all TV shows, same with movies.
RACHEL: Staying with “don’t go to school.” I tried out for grad school and didn’t get in and I’m so glad. Being out here you can take all the classes you want and still perform.
JRC: Let’s have your official parting words to Chicago.
RACHEL: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I can say anything without sounding corny. I guess I would say “Thank you.” When I came here I knew like two people and now I know hundreds of people. I never dreamed I would make so many friends here. I never thought I would be part of the improv community here., to be part of the “family.” It’s weird to go back to the theater (SC) now. I look at the stage and I’m not up there and I was for so long.
That’s it, then. I’ll be back.

Actually, Rachel will be back soon enough to attend the Jeff Awards. She won last year, let’s hope for two in a row! Ratchel was kind enough to give me a lift home too. That was nice. She’s swell.