To a 28-year-oldRachel Dratch, improv was everything.

The Chicago improv scene was her teacher, muse, and place of worship.

You know the whole 10,000 hours thing?

The collage shows two pictures of Rachel Dratch, one from a 2022 event where she posed in a black dr…

People are like, How can you learn improv?

You’re making it all up on the spot.

Thats sort of how I imagine being 28 [practicing] improvising.

Young Rachel Dratch smiles at the camera, wearing a draped black t-shirt with a deep V-neck.

Your very first classes are kind of scary for anybody, she recalls.

Everyone has their own thing, says Dratch, whos now starring inPOTUSon Broadway.

You pick up on everyones talents and you cant fake it.

it’s possible for you to just be like, What’s my vibe?

What’s my style?

Then it all seeps in and somehow you get better.

Take me back to 1994, when you were 28.

I was living in Chicago and I was in theSecond City touring company.

I was just around a lot of really talented people and we lived for improv.

It was this community where everyone kind of rose up together.

It was my artistic life and social life all rolled into one.

What did a typical Friday night out look like for you?

If I had a show or something, everyone would go out afterwards from their various shows.

There were two bars right near Second City.

There was a bar called The Last Act across the street.

I’m sure it was highly unhealthy.

That bar closed at two.

Then this one lady everyone called Yoyo would be like, “Last call!”

Then we’d even go to a diner after that.

It was really late nights.

Were you developing any characters at the time?

WasSaturday Night Liveyour dream in those days?

Then you see, “Oh wait, there’s a hundred people.

We’re not all getting onSNL.”

I was like, “I’m not going to ever make it on that.

Maybe I’m not good enough to do this.”

All that stuff that can go through your head.

Then, eventually, I had been on the main stage for almost four years andSNLcame back to scout.

By then I had a lot more experience and I had all these characters.

So that’s when I got seen.

Has there been a moment in your career where you felt like you made it?

I didn’t get it the first year I auditioned.

If only I’d done that."

Then the next year I feltkind ofokay with the audition.

I thought it wasnt going to happen.

But then I got a call two weeks later, Lorne [Michaels] wants to meet with you.

So you go meet with Lorne and it’s just kind of a quick meeting.

Then they told me, “We’ll let you know within a week.”

I was like, “Does this mean I have the job?”

And he’s like, “Yes.”

Then I called my parents.

It’s just this crazy dream call.

Looking back, do you have any regrets?

But the graph [of life] isn’t a straight line.

It’s a zigzaggy kind of line.

The graph might dip, but it’ll go back up again.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

This article was originally published onJune 21, 2022