Tag: Pat

Pat was an androgynous fictional character created and performed by Julia Sweeney for the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and later featured in the film It’s Pat. The central aspect of sketches featuring Pat was the inability of others to determine the character’s gender.
Pat (whose full name was revealed on an episode of Saturday Night Live as Pat O’Neil Riley) was a somewhat overweight character with short, curly black hair who wore glasses and a blue western-style shirt with tan slacks. The character spoke in a nasal voice that sometimes squeaked. Pat apparently suffered from very sweaty palms, and constantly wiped them on his or her clothing while making a strange whimpering sound, further adding to the character’s unappealing quality. Sweeney wore no face makeup but colored her lips beige and overdid her eyebrows to hide any gender identity clues. Sweeney has said that Pat originated when she tried to play a male character in a sketch but looked unconvincing.
The…