Career
Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Revue for the two revues in which she performed: Paradigm Lost and Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers. At The Second City, she performed alongside future Saturday Night Live head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey, as well as future 30 Rock performer Scott Adsit. The first incarnation of her SNL "Wicked" sketch was performed in The Second City's Paradigm Lost.
In addition to acting, Dratch also played the cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of Dratch & Fey (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey), which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, where it was dubbed "the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage" by Time Out New York.
Dratch has appeared in several films, including Martin & Orloff, The Hebrew Hammer, Down with Love, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Click, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Spring Breakdown, My Life in Ruins, Hurricane Bianca, and Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate. She also has joined fellow SNL cast members on A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv, which aired September 7, 2005, on the Bravo channel.
Dratch also made television appearances on NBC's Third Watch and in a recurring role on The King of Queens (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Patton Oswalt's character Spence Olchin, who worked in a bowling alley). Her other television appearances include Portlandia, Monk, Frasier, Wizards of Waverly Place, 30 Rock, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Inside Amy Schumer, Ugly Betty, and The Middle in season five.
She also appeared online with comedian Billy Eichner in a spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind", titled "Forest Hills State of Mind."
Dratch was originally cast in the role of Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock as Jenna DeCarlo, and the original pilot episode features her in the role. After feedback from test audiences, the role was ultimately recast with Jane Krakowski. She went on to play a variety of small guest roles in several episodes of the first season, including Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Taylor, cat trainer Greta Johansen, custodian Jadwiga, a blue monster, and Dr. Beauvoir.
Dratch's memoir, Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle, was published on March 19, 2012. In it, Dratch recounts her experiences after being recast in the 30 Rock pilot, including the birth of her child.
Dratch hosted the program Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack on truTV in 2016. The sketch comedy program featured Dratch playing a waitress who does not talk in wraparound segments. Dratch also appeared in sketches and the show ran for two seasons.
