Saturday Night Live has always had cringeworthy characters and none moreso than Pat Riley, the androgynous, uncomfortable, and very funny creation of Julia Sweeney, this week's legend. With deep improv roots, Julia was on SNL for four years in the early 1990s, but after life dealt her a bad hand with a cancer diagnosis, she pivoted to one-woman shows, including God Said Ha! (about her medical journey) which later had a movie version produced by Quentin Tarantino. Since then, Julia has continued with one-woman shows and juicy supporting roles including as Andy Bryant's micromanaging mother. As always find extra clips below and thanks for sharing our shows.
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Julia's most famous character was the androgynous and cringe inducing Pat Riley who she created at the Groundlings Improv Company, then took to Saturday Night Live and the big screen. Here Pat interacts with another legend -- the great Catherine O'Hara -- and the results are comedy perfection. https://youtu.be/Y6PcTOKSP0A?si=5FABnp5ebnNCJBpi
Julia turned her greatest challenge -- a cancer diagnosis -- into her greatest triumph, the one-woman show God Said Ha! It's an intimate, tender, emotional, and very funny look at an often taboo topic. This snippet will give you a flavor, but the whole film is well worth your time.https://youtu.be/NcxWc6bpA-w?si=yvpfM5nKX7j7k9iG






In recent years Julia has continued with one-woman shows, but she has also taken some great character roles such as that of Aidy Bryant's nagging mom in the Hulu Original series Shrill.https://www.metacritic.com/.../season-1/episode-2-date/