Rachel Dratch: From ‘Debbie Downer’ to Broadway Star

Rachel Dratch has gained renewed recognition with her thriving mystical podcast, a Broadway comeback in “The Rocky Horror Show,” and a second Tony nomination. Known to many for her “Debbie Downer” character on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Dratch has steadily expanded her creative repertoire.

While Dratch clarifies she has no personal psychic, her weekly podcast, “Woo Woo,” delves into topics like ghosts and astral projection. She has mentioned that while the podcast might make her seem engrossed in peculiar interests, she’s not overly concerned with how she’s perceived.

Her 2012 memoir, “Girl Walks Into a Bar …,” touched on these themes, including an uncanny prediction by a channeler named Kendra on Dratch’s 43rd birthday that she would become a mother. The prophecy was realized the following year with the birth of her son Eli.

Now 60, Dratch has continued to fulfill her aspirations. Her desire to be cast in a Broadway comedy, expressed in her memoir, came true when she starred as Stephanie in “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive.” She returned to Broadway in late March to play the Narrator in the revival of Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show” at Studio 54. Both roles have garnered her Tony nominations, surpassing her own expectations.

Dratch acknowledges that some were surprised by her return to the theater, but she views it as a return to her roots, having started her career on stage.