Time Out New York, July 13-20, 2000, P. 77

   Saturday Night Specials

   SNL's Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch have found a hilarious way to spend their summer vacations. 

   By Greg Emmanuel

   A woman sits alone onstage, her jaw clenched and slightly askew. She looks 
   like sheís in pain - and in fact, she reveals, sheís been mauled by a puma. 
   Thatís odd enough, but when a former Playboy centerfold bearing flowers 
   stops in for a visit, things get really strange - and extremely hilarious. 
   Welcome to the twisted comedic minds of Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey. The 
   puma-and-Playboy bit is part of their new sketch how, Dratch and Fey, by 
   far the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage this summer 
   (they will appear this week at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater Monday 
   17 and Wednesday 19).
   If comedy had a graduate school, it would be Chicagoís Second City. Dratch 
   and Fey met and performed together at the venerable institution that has 
   spawned the careers of talents from the likes of Mike Nichols and Chris 
   Farley. Fey left Chicago in 1997 to join the writing team at Saturday Night 
   Live, and last year, she was named the first female head writer on the 
   long-running show, known in the past as something of a boysí club. The two 
   have been working together again since last fall, when Dratch became a 
   featured performer on SNL. (You may have seen her impersonating Calista 
   Flockhart or playing one of the kids from Boston with Jimmy Fallon.)
   ìIíve always liked Tinaís sensibilities,î says Dratch. ìShe just surprises 
   me a lot onstage-in a good way. She has a little bit of an edge to her 
   whereas Iím a little bit more goofy.î This difference between the two is 
   highlighted in the opening of their fast-paced one-hour show: Dratch comes 
   onstage to announce that she will be performing a one-woman show about the 
   obscure historical Edwina Garth Burnham. Simultaneously, Fey takes the 
   stage to perform her one-woman show - of ìcunt poems.î
   Itís these incouragous moments that make Dratch and Fey so refreshing. 
   ìThe type of characters that I like to play are more world-weary and 
   bitter,î says Fey. ìRachel plays the more hopeful, wide-eyed type.î Both 
   are equally gifted in their ability to play a number of very different 
   characters with minimal props (although Scotch tape is used to great effect 
   in one skit mocking plastic surgery), relying instead on different voices 
   and body language.
   The show came together almost as quickly as one of their sketches unfolds. 
   when they decided last summer to do something as a pair (Dratch was bored 
   and Fey was on hiatus from SNL), they gave themselves just two weeks to 
   write before debuting in Chicago. The show is mostly made up of material 
   the two improvised in rehearsal, along with a couple of pieces that Fey 
   wrote for SNL that never aired and a couple that Dratch wrote herself. 
   Those rehearsals bore some sidesplitting fruit, such as a bit called ìMr. 
   Willoughby,î in which the two play Jane Austen-era women who are ìextollingî 
   the virtues of an eligible bachelor, Mr. Willoughby (really an ugly creep, 
   but they act like heís a real catch). ìHis eyebrows are most expressive,î 
   says Fey dreamily, in a refined English accent. ìEspecially the top one.î 
   Dratch later adds with a loverís glee: ìHe reeks of urine!î
   In ìThe Lotteryî - a sketch that was rescued from SNLís graveyard of 
   unaired bits - Fey plays a white-trash thug who has some grand plans for the 
   money heís won (ìIím gonna buy the rights to Coke, so I can change the name 
   to Ape Semen!î). ìIt actually belongs to NBC,î says Fey of the sketch. ìI 
   mentioned it to [executive producer] Lorne [Michaels]. I said, ëAre you 
   gonna come see our show? Because you own part of it.íî
   Since both Dratch and Fey have pretty prestigious day jobs, theyíre not 
   necessarily hungry for that ìbig break,î but they are anxious to see where 
   this show might lead them. They hope first to extend the current run at UCB 
   through the summer, and they will be performing in L.A. next week for 
   various industry types. ìThe fantasy might be to get some sort of TV 
   special,î says Dratch. ìBut I donít know how well it would translate.î She 
   adds: ìAt SNL, you donít have control over your show. So itís been fun to 
   just be able to do what you want.