SEATTLE — When we first met Julia Sweeney in 1994, the Spokane native and UW graduate was at the peak of showbiz success.
Her gender-ambiguous SNL character, Pat, was wildly popular. There was even a movie in the works.
She appeared on our show a couple years later, after that movie, 'It's Pat,' had been released and flopped.
Sweeney told us, "Some people like it, just not more than ten."
Sweeney had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Not long after that, her brother died from the disease.
"I cry about him all the time," she said.
Sweeney turned her struggles into a surprisingly funny Broadway hit, 'God said, "Ha!"' After a couple more highly acclaimed live shows, she disappeared.
We met up with her a third time just days ago, and she told us why she took a several-year break from performing.
"I kept thinking I'm an aging woman in show business. Everybody knows that's terrible. Maybe I'm played out."
Sweeney and her husband retired to a Chicago suburb to raise their young daughter. After a decade of domestic bliss, Sweeney is back to work in a big way.
"Threw myself back in the game."
She's starring in three television shows, including Showtime's 'Work In Progress,' where the gender-nonconforming lead actor takes Julia to task for her most famous character, Pat.
It's a criticism she's heard over the years as conversations about gender identity and acceptance have evolved.
"I'm actually totally happy I did Pat, and I'm not apologetic about having done it. I wasn't trying to make fun of non-gender-conforming people," Sweeney says. "I was trying to have fun with the people who are uncomfortable around someone they couldn't identify which sex they were."
And, now, Julia is back on stage.
"I went to Second City and I got one of their small 50-seat theaters. And on Sunday nights I just started working on this show. And actually my husband and daughter helped contribute jokes. And it was a hit."
'Julia Sweeney: Older and Wider' is an unvarnished look at aging and her life away from Hollywood.
"I don't want to conform to the stereotype of the sweet, older woman. But, yet, I am a sweet, older woman," she says with a laugh. "What's a sweet, older woman to do?"
'Julia Sweeney: Older and Wider' comes to Seattle's Neptune Theatre February 1.
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