Has Hollywood Punished Rachel Dratch for Her Looks?

One blogger thinks her brand of humor is to blame instead
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2012 1:58 PM CDT
Has Hollywood Punished Rachel Dratch for Her Looks?
Rachel Dratch arrives at the New York premiere of the film 'Hairspray', Monday, July, 16, 2007.   (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

In her new book, Girl Walks Into a Bar, Rachel Dratch says her looks have cursed her career. "By Hollywood standards, I’m a troll, ogre, woodland creature, or manly lesbian," she writes, and that's prevented her from getting the roles she wants—NBC replaced her as a 30 Rock lead, for instance. Jezebel generally agrees with Dratch ("if she were a dude, she'd have her own show"), but at Slate, Torie Bosch isn't so sure. "What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom?"

Bosch wonders if she's "betraying feminism" by not loving Dratch—but "as much as I strive to support smart, funny women on TV and in the movies, Dratch’s work doesn’t appeal to me." It's not like Dratch is the only actor to struggle after Saturday Night Live. But she is beloved by the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph. "Maybe Dratch’s brand of humor is one that most appeals to other comedy insiders—not a general audience," Bosch writes. Click for Bosch's full column. (More Torie Bosch stories.)

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