Events

Don’t be a Debbie Downer, go smell the world’s stinkiest sock with Rachel Dratch at Fenway

The "Saturday Night Live" star and Lexington native will brave the odor Wednesday afternoon.

Rachel Dratch (right) will be smelling a sock at Fenway Wednesday, Sept. 14. Mary Ellen Matthews / File

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It’s not every day you have the opportunity to meet a former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and smell the “World’s Stinkiest Sock,” all at the same time. This probably comes as no news to you.

But what may come as a surprise is that you’ll have that very opportunity on Wednesday, when Lexington native Rachel Dratch — creator of the legendary “Debbie Downer” and a slew of other ‘SNL’ favorites — comes to Fenway Park (of all places) to smell, in public in front of everybody, what the folks at Lysol are billing as the worst-smelling sock in the world. (They do not specify whether they’re talking about currently, or of all time — although if it’s the latter, the socks of the Middle Ages may have something to say about that.)

The event is being held in honor of Lysol becoming “the official laundry sanitizer of the Boston Red Sox,” which is an actual thing. And they’re not phoning it in, either — according to a release, “Lysol scientists worked tirelessly to create what they believe to be the World’s Stinkiest Sock.” These are presumably people with actual advanced degrees, who once had dreams.

Regardless, the scientists apparently used a blend of acids to develop a synthetic formula that represents “the worst foot stink,” and after Rachel Dratch gets a whiff, the general populace will get their shot. It’s all in support of the #LysolLaundryChallenge, whereby if consumers who use Lysol Laundry Sanitizer are not satisfied with the subsequent lack of odor, they can get their money back.

Dratch and her Lysol compatriots will be outside Fenway Park (behind the Red Sox team store at the intersection of Jersey and Van Ness Street) from 4-8 p.m. on Wednesday. The sock will be available for smelling the entire time, but you should get there early if you want to meet Rachel, since there’s every likelihood that after she smells it she will faint dead away and be carried off by one of those carts they use to move injured outfielders.