WE ARE PAT | Official Trailer | Tribeca Films

Why It Matters

The documentary shows how a comedic sketch can influence decades‑long conversations about gender, offering brands and creators a template for leveraging nostalgia to address contemporary identity issues.

Key Takeaways

• Creator revisits 1990s SNL character Pat after 30 years.
• Pat's gender ambiguity sparked decades‑long cultural fascination in media.
• Documentary explores personal identity through Pat’s enduring legacy.
• Shows how comedy mirrors evolving conversations about gender.
• Trailer promises humor, nostalgia, and a self‑discovery narrative.

Summary

The official trailer introduces "We Are Pat," a documentary that follows a filmmaker’s three‑decade‑long fascination with the baffling Saturday Night Live sketch character Pat. The film promises to blend archival clips, personal anecdotes, and contemporary reflections to examine why a gender‑ambiguous figure captured public imagination from the early 1990s onward. The narrator recounts how Pat’s indecipherable gender—highlighted by jokes about Pepto Bismol and ambiguous pronouns—became a cultural touchstone, even inspiring a feature film with a draft by Quentin Tarantino. The documentary frames Pat as a mirror for evolving attitudes toward gender fluidity, using humor to trace the character’s rise, fall, and lingering relevance. Memorable lines from the sketch—"I love to stroke your pussy cat" and the infamous party invitation—are cited to illustrate the absurdity that made Pat both iconic and controversial. The filmmaker describes a personal epiphany while re‑watching the movie, seeing his own gender journey reflected in Pat’s ambiguous persona. By revisiting Pat through a modern lens, the film underscores how comedy can surface deeper societal questions. It also taps into nostalgia marketing, positioning Pat as a conduit for discussions about identity, representation, and the power of viral characters to shape cultural dialogue.

Original Description

WE ARE PAT

Directed by Rowan Haber

WE ARE PAT explores the evolution of gender identity 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. Coming soon from Tribeca Films.

AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS STARTING JUNE 23, 2026

PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW:

Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/we-are-pat/umc.cmc.r1bwmj036xbfplmc6oi5qynm

Fandango At Home: https://athome.fandango.com/content/browse/details/We-Are-Pat/4952114

Amazon: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0F9KP4X75Y97ZG7EF7PS09T3DN/ref=atv_sr_fle_c_sr62ef6f_1_1_1?sr=1-1&pageTypeIdSource=ASIN&pageTypeId=B0GYZW3D78&qid=1779815109743

Starring: Rowan Haber, Julia Sweeney, Abby McEnany, Ally Beardsley, April Clark, Brontez Purnell, Esther Fallick,Ever Mainhard, Grace Freud, Hayden Johnson, Honey Pluton, Janaya Future Kahn, James Tom, JD Samson, Joey Soloway, Jules Gill-Peterson, Karam Ahn, Kevin Nealon, Linden Crawford, Molly Kearney, Murray Hill, Nori Reed, Nico Carney, Pink Foxx, River Butcher, River Gallo, Robin Tran, Roz Hernandez, Sabrina Wu, and Shadi Petosky.