Universe to Rachel Dratch: We Love You

-- Dorothy Snarker from AfterEllen.com

Ask and ye shall receive. Or, in Rachel Dratch's case, beg a little and ye shall be gainfully employed again. After she told New York magazine earlier this month that she was "not doing much" and "ready for a job," the out-of-work Saturday Night Live alum got an emphatic answer from the universe.

Dratch has just been cast in the comedic play Scramble! at the Westport County Playhouse, a historic Connecticut theater revived by Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward. She will appear in the production in July. Earlier this week she flew to Los Angeles to shoot a pilot for a new, as yet unnamed, TV series.

 

When New York magazine caught back up with Dratch at the opening night of the new musical A Catered Affair over the weekend, she confessed a little post-press remorse.

"What I actually said was, 'I'm not doing anything, like, right now.' But then when I saw the big word 'UNEMPLOYED,' I was, like, 'Oh, s---.' What I actually said wasn't as dire as the story. But after that came out — you know, you don't want to have the stank of unemployment connected to you."

Still, the pint-sized funnywoman was greatly touched by the response she got from her plaintive plea to the public. As she told New York:

"The cute thing is, three people on the street that day…" she paused, visibly moved by the citywide intervention. "Someone out yelled out of a cab, 'I read New York Magazine, and I think you're great!' Another guy came up to me, like, 'I'm rooting for ya!'"

Besides the Westport play and TV pilot, she also got a call from the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson asking if she wanted to come back on the program.

So score one for the little gal. Sometimes, when you smile at the universe, it smiles right back.