Which Surprising Star Played Jenna on ’30 Rock’s Unaired Pilot?
When Rachel Dratch left Saturday Night Live in 2006 after seven seasons, she assumed the next chapter of her career would fall neatly into place. Like many before her, she expected the late-night sketch series to be a launchpad into movies and television.
At first, it seemed like that was exactly what was happening. Her longtime friend and fellow SNL alum Tina Fey had written a role just for her in a brand-new sitcom called 30 Rock. Dratch was set to play Jenna Maroney, a self-absorbed actress and star of the fictional show, The Girlie Show.
Dratch filmed the original pilot as Jenna, only to get a call shortly after that she was being replaced. Jane Krakowski stepped in, and the rest is sitcom history.
“I didn’t really understand what a big deal it was,” Dratch admitted years later in an interview with ABC News. “I was like, oh, Tina’s writing some show and I’m in it, I guess. And then I got a call that I was being replaced.” For Dratch, the sting was not just about losing a role, it was about how public it all felt. “When you think about planning your SNL exit, you don’t think, ‘I know, I’ll leave and then have a big public face-plant.’”
In 2012, she channeled her frustrations and misadventures into a memoir, Girl Walks Into a Bar…, which mixed her professional challenges with personal revelations. “The first part of my book sat around for almost a year because I didn’t know where it could go or what my point was,” she recalled. “And then came the crazy life plot twist.” That twist arrived when she quite literally walked into a bar and met John, the man who would become the father of her son. “That’s why the book is called Girl Walks Into a Bar. It’s a setup for a joke, but it’s also what happened to me.”
Six months later, Dratch discovered she was pregnant at 43. “I thought I was over the hill, but I wasn’t, because then I was pregnant,” she said with a laugh. She now calls her son Eli her “midlife miracle.” While she didn’t stay with John, they remain friends, coparents and even neighbors.
Can you see Dratch as Jenna in 30 Rock or do you prefer Krakowski?
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Classic Comedy Duos
March 2021
Chuckle at television & films funniest comic duos.
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