How did two comedians who honed their art in Chicago meet? A comedy club? Maybe Second City? Nope. A pediatrician’s office.
It’s been more than two decades since “Saturday Night Live” alum Rachel Dratch was a receptionist for Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a noted pediatric sleep specialist and founder of Northwestern Children’s Practice. At the same time Stephen Colbert was making his mark at the city’s famed improv venue the Second City.
The comedic duo reminisced about the old days on a recent “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“You were on the main stage (of Second City), but I was in the touring company,” Dratch told Colbert. “So you were one of those people that I idolized.”
“But that’s not really how I know you,” Colbert said. “You were the receptionist for my pediatrician, for our children’s pediatrician, Dr. Weissbluth, in Chicago.”
“Yes, Dr. Marc Weissbluth,” Dratch replied. “Now this is funny because I didn’t know that.”
“You don’t remember me coming in? I would always say, ‘Hi, Rachel,’ and you would say, ‘Hi, Stephen,’ as if you knew who I was,” Colbert said.
Turns out doctors act as connectors, even for celebrities. While Weissbluth, who retired in 2013, remembered that Dratch temped for him during the ’90s, he didn’t recall that Colbert’s daughter was a patient but was delighted to hear it. “I can’t imagine why (Colbert) remembered me because he’s had other doctors for his kids over many, many visits,” Weissbluth told the Chicago Tribune. “It was a very pleasant surprise.”
