Pat (Saturday Night Live) - Pat's Gender

Pat's Gender

Sweeney admitted that Pat is probably a woman. This admission stems from a sketch with Harvey Keitel in which their two characters, both of dubious sexual provenance, share a kiss. Sweeney reflexively tilted her head to receive the kiss in the stereotypically feminine fashion, a move that was not noticed at the time but was brought to her attention a couple of years later. Sweeney says she normally paid close attention to such details in her performances as Pat and was disappointed that she had made this mistake. Although a slip of acting does not necessarily define Pat's gender, Sweeney nevertheless accepted that she has defined Pat as a woman.

In the SNL episode starring Linda Hamilton, 16 November 1991, a few people are able to learn the truth about Pat's gender. In a sketch set at a gymnasium, the showers there are separated by gender, forcing Pat to choose one or the other; when Pat does, Hamilton and the other characters in the sketch learn Pat's gender. However, the audience is still left wondering, because while the characters in the sketch were learning the truth, SNL cut to Kevin Nealon, from the Weekend Update desk, for a Special Report announcing that families with small children get five times as many colds as single adults. In the final Pat sketch to air on television, Keitel asks Pat directly what Pat's gender is. Just as Pat is about to reveal the truth, an audience member (played by Adam Sandler) suddenly stands up and screams at Pat not to tell, declaring that NBC will be bereft of comedy if Pat told, as the hit programs Cheers was ending its run and David Letterman was leaving the network. Pat reluctantly agrees to this, and the question goes unanswered. The sketch was parodied on the animated show The Critic when the main character watches "Yesterday Night Live" and the Australian host comes out and says, "She's a girl mate, I saw her backstage," and pulls her wig off with her saying, "You ruined my career!"