During her seven seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, Rachel Dratch made us laugh out loud with her various unique characters, but there's one in particular that has stood the test of time and reached icon status. She's in an elite league of SNL alums with signature original characters that even the most casual fans of the late-night sketch series know and love.
Of course, we're talking about none other than Debbie Downer, the lovably pessimistic character played to perfection by Dratch. The recurring Debbie Downer sketches have been some of the most-watched and most beloved in the show's 50-year history, due in part to the cast barely being able to hold it together during Dratch's deadpan line readings of Debbie's biggest downers.
Making her first official appearance on SNL co-star and friend Amy Poehler's podcast Good Hang, Dratch shared the unbelievably funny and just downright unbelievable story of how she created Debbie Downer. Although she's told the story before, Dratch shared a certain detail for the first time that makes the origin story of Debbie all the more funny and fitting.
Rachel Dratch was inspired to create Debbie Downer during a solo trip to Costa Rica
As she shared told Poehler for the first time, Dratch was recommended by a therapist to go on a vacation by herself, without any friends. She traveled to Costa Rica but didn't head to a resort, instead opting for a remote location in the jungle. Even though she didn't travel with any friends, Dratch was still in close contact with other travelers that were also at the same place.
She spoke with a pair of women who were older than her and learned about The Secret, the popular self-help book that entails believing positive thoughts attract positive outcomes. As an aside, she revealed another woman on her trip openly stated she wanted to bring a bird feather back home for her daughter, and shortly after, a bird feather fell from the sky and landed at her feet.
Dratch used that aside to further set up the real inspiration for Debbie Downer, which happened during a communal dinner during the trip. When someone asked her where she was from and she said New York, the person followed up with, "Oh, were you there for 9/11?" She explained that the trip was taking place about three years after the terrorist attack.
Amy Poehler appeared in the first-ever Debbie Downer sketch
The abrupt tonal shift in the conversation with that person's response planted the seed for Dratch to later come up with the character while watching a band play back at home in New York. Some might have assumed Dratch and the SNL writers simply came up with Debbie Downer on the spot or during one of their storied late-night writing sessions, but there's a larger lore for the character.
After coming up with the idea, Dratch brought the concept to SNL writer Paula Pell and they first attempted to write Debbie Downer in an office setting, but it wasn't working. They came up with the idea to put her in a happier environment, and the unforgettable Disney World sketch was born. The character made her debut in May 2004 with guest host Lindsay Lohan.
Aside from Dratch and Lohan, the first Debbie Downer sketch also starred Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Kenan Thompson, Fred Armisen, and Horatio Sanz. The sketch currently has 21 million views on YouTube and has been a constant source of laughter simply by watching the group try not to break during the sketch. Thankfully, Dratch went on that solo trip or Debbie wouldn't exist.