We Are Pat
Rowan Haber, Director. WE ARE PAT explores the evolution of gender identity and comedy from the ’90s to the present day through the lens of the iconic “Saturday Night Live” sketch, It’s Pat. The film examines Pat’s origins as a joke rooted in the cultural anxiety of the ’90s around gender while drawing striking parallels to today’s culture wars around transness and queerness. Trans and non-binary comedians and culture-makers reimagine and rewrite the original Pat sketches, using camp and humor to reclaim and re-envision an iconic character in American comedy.
The film explores humor as both a tool of oppression and a radical force for change. Beyond comedy, WE ARE PAT raises complex questions: How does art age? What responsibility does a creator have as cultural values evolve? Can we reclaim narratives that once mocked us, transforming pain into laughter, visibility, and ultimately, our own creations? 88 Min. CC
“SNL’s Pat gets reclaimed as trans/nonbinary icon with support from Julia Sweeney in new doc: ‘Pat is sexy’” – Jillian Sederholm, Entertainment Weekly