Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch open up about the sketch they loved the best from their time on 'SNL.'
For Amy Poehler's directorial debut, Wine Country, the celebrated comic actor turned to some of her close friends and former co-stars to fill out her cast, and served as one of the biggest Saturday Night Live reunions on the big screen in years.
Starring Poehler and her longtime friend and collaborator Tina Fey, as well as former SNL stars Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph and Ana Gasteyer, it's no surprise that the comedians would often find themselves referencing and reminiscing about their favorite memories and sketches from their time on the iconic show.
ET's Lauren Zima recently sat down with the stars of the upcoming comedy in Napa, California, and they opened up about which SNL sketches they always seemed to call back to.
"Something will always sort of come up from a sketch, every once in a while," recalled Dratch.
"But usually they are much more obscure [references]," Fey added.
"It's usually a sketch that got cut [at dress rehearsal]," Gastyer chimed in.
But that doesn't mean there isn't a clear stand-out for the former sketch cohorts. When asked for their unanimously favorite sketch -- that is also one of the most beloved among fans -- all three comics agreed without hesitation.
"Debbie Downer," Fey said, without missing a beat.
"I would say so, pretty universally," Gastyer added.
For those who've never had the pleasure of seeing Dratch's iconic Debbie Downer character, the sketch was always pretty straight-forward and hilariously successful. A group of friends would be enjoying a nice dinner or a party, and then the conversation would turn to Debbie, and she'd always have some soul-crushingly yet tangentially related tidbit that would ruin the mood.
Needless to say, the actresses agreed that Debbie wouldn't be a great person to take along on a Wine Country tour.
"Oh god, she'd be such a drag," Dratch said, with a laugh.
Speaking of real downers, one aspect of their new comedy also deals with the emotional perils and physical challenges of growing older, and the comedy icons all admitted that it's a real problem they seem to deal in their personal lives.
"I was just saying to them that I threw my neck out puzzling," Gastyer explained. "It was a 1008-piece zodiac-themed [jigsaw puzzle] I did last summer, and it was a b**ch!"
In the film, it's Dratch's character who ends up throwing her back out, which makes her realize the reality of getting older, and according to Poehler that moment was based on real events.
"That was cannibalized from a real moment at SNL, when Johnny Knoxville was the host, and Rachel threw her back out," Poehler recalled. "It was at a table read, and she laid down next to the table and did all of her lines from the floor."
"She was under the table and she still killed. It was fantastic," added co-star Paula Pell, who served as a writer on SNL for years and also worked with Fey on 30 Rock. "We were waiting for a doctor and we just kept going and it was one of the funniest things. But we felt for her, too."
Poehler's directorial debut, Wine Country, premieres on Netflix on May 10.
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