Rachel Dratch reveals shocking comment that inspired Debbie Downer on “SNL”
- - Rachel Dratch reveals shocking comment that inspired Debbie Downer on “SNL”
Daysia TolentinoDecember 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer at a Birthday Party on 'Saturday Night Live'
Rachel Dratch encountered her very own Debbie Downer while on vacation in Costa Rica in the early aughts.
Dratch shared on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast that the iconic Saturday Night Live character was inspired by true events after the Wine Country star took a solo trip to the jungle and met fellow travelers there.
The comedian met a cast of quirky characters while on the trip, including a pair of ladies touting the law of attraction. But it was an encounter with one man that planted the seed for the character that would eventually become Debbie Downer.
Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer at Disney World alongside Amy Poehler
"Someone said like, 'Where are you from?' and I said, 'New York,'" she recalled. "And then they said like, 'Oh were you there for 9/11?' And it was like 3 years after 9/11. It wasn't like it just happened."
Dratch said that it felt like a question that came out of nowhere. She had to steer the conversation back to the lighthearted vacation fodder that everyone expected for the circumstances. That exchange inspired her to work on the Debbie Downer character with SNL writer Paula Pell the following week.
The duo decided that it would be funny to put a pessimist like Debbie in a undeniably happy setting like Disney World. The sketch killed at the read-through, which made Dratch hopeful that the character would be a hit with audiences.
It debuted on the live show on May 1, 2004, in a sketch also starring host Lindsay Lohan, Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Fred Armisen, Horatio Sanz, and first-season featured player Kenan Thompson.
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While Dratch said she "flubbed" a line, the sketch stuck. Debbie Downer became a recurring character, appearing six more times during Dratch's tenure on the show, appearing with hosts Ben Affleck, Luke Wilson, Hilary Swank, Steve Carell, Jack Black, and, coming full circle, Lohan for a final time. The character returned in a 2020 episode with Daniel Craig and made an appearance at SNL50 earlier this year.
The Just Go With It actress said that it was rare to come up with a character that resonated with viewers.
Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer
"Thinking of really original characters that kind of hit on something, it's not something you can steer the ship on," Dratch said.
Listen to the full episode of Good Hang with Rachel Dratch below.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
