Debbie Downer

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Debbie Downer is a name of a fictional Saturday Night Live character who is played by Rachel Dratch. The character debuted in 2004 on a skit and soon became popular.

The character's name is connected to slang phrase which refers to someone who persistently adds bad news or negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them.

Dratch's cynical character would interrupt social gatherings to voice negative opinions and pronouncements, making her one of the top favorite sketches of all time.

[edit] First appearance in 2003–2004 season

The first appearance of Debbie Downer was on May 1, 2004 with guest host Lindsay Lohan. (In that episode, her real last name was revealed to be Matusik.) Debbie and five of her family members are eating breakfast at a very happy Walt Disney World restaurant. When the family is making small talk, Debbie (who is wearing a brown shirt compared to the bright colors worn by her family) makes negative comments on current events followed by a knowing look at the camera and a "wah-wah" sound made by a muted trombone.

The first sketch became an instant fan favorite because none of the actors could stifle their laughter after Debbie made one of her many negative announcements. Two factors have been rumored as contributing to the cast nearly being unable to finish the sketch. The first is that Lohan was already in a giggly state of mind, unable to fully keep her composure in various sketches earlier in the show. The second reason rumored is that during rehearsal, the skit was practiced without the orchestra, and the cast was not expecting the wah-wah sound. Indeed, upon reviewing the footage, the actors start to break up after the trombone player (apparently by mistake) plays the "wah-wah" sound effect in the middle of one of Debbie's lines. Further missed camera cues, orchestra cues, and Dratch's flubbed lines only added to the nature of the sketch.

Two days later, David Binaculli in an article written in the New York Daily News compared the sketch to when Harvey Korman and Tim Conway tried to one-up each other on The Carol Burnett Show or when Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis went off script to the delight of their fans on the Colgate Comedy Hour.

The sketch was named as part of TV Land's "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History".

[edit] 2004–2005 season

Debbie Downer appeared in a skit in the 2004-05 season opener with Ben Affleck as the guest host. The cast members who appeared in this skit were more composed and did not laugh out loud at Debbie's pronouncements. This trend continued throughout the rest of the season.

In future airings of the Affleck episode, the live Debbie Downer sketch was replaced by the dress rehearsal version, along with an opening title card explaining that the dress rehearsal "worked better." In dress, the cast all cracks up just as they did in the Lindsay Lohan episode.

The character appeared two more times in that season; once at Thanksgiving dinner (with Luke Wilson as host), and another at the Oscars with Hilary Swank (Swank played herself). The latter sketch revealed that Debbie babysat Swank when Swank was a child. Will Forte appeared in the sketch as Hilary's then-husband, Chad Lowe.

[edit] 2005–2006 season

In 2005, the season premiere of Saturday Night Live featured a Debbie Downer skit at the end of the episode. Host Steve Carell's character, Bob Bummer, is just as negative, and Debbie and he fall in love. The December 17, 2005 episode hosted by Jack Black included a Christmas-themed sketch showing Debbie in her childhood during a visit from Santa Claus. This episode retcons her debut sketch as here she refers to her last name being "Downer".

On April 15, 2006, Debbie returned for her final appearance before Rachel Dratch departed the show, this time at a bachelorette party at a strip club in Las Vegas for her sister, played once again by host Lohan. As with the very first sketch, there is one point when the orchestra mistakenly began playing the "wah-wah" sound effect at the wrong time. This led to speculation that the accident was actually purposeful, in effect an attempt to recapture the mood of Lohan's earlier appearance with the character. However, the cast does not seem to lose as much composure as the first skit

[edit] Theme song

Every sketch opened with a prologue, then the theme song (and corresponding video) plays, followed by the body of the sketch. The sketch would ultimately close with the last line of the song played again (and one more negative fact from Debbie). The song ends with an extreme close-up of Debbie's pained expression.

The Christmas sketch began with a new, probably one-time, theme song. It featured an animated Debbie, looking much like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and a tune similar to the Grinch's song. Steve Carell's Bob Bummer also had his own theme song.

[edit] SNL episodes featuring Debbie Downer

[edit] See also

• Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New York Daily News: Cracking up 'Live on air by David Bianculli
• The original Debbie Downer sketch from SNL, set at Walt Disney World; aired May 1, 2004.