One morning, on the darkened stage of the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles, Noah talked with Julia Sweeney about her one-woman play, entitled "GOD SAID HA!" Sweeney is best known for her four years as a Saturday Night Live cast member, and as the creator of the androgynous character "Pat." After she left SNL she starred in a Disney film, "IT'S PAT!" On the weekend the movie opened to terrible reviews, Sweeney learned that her brother Mike had collapsed; he had lymphatic cancer. Mike moved in with Julia, and their parents came from Spokane, Washington...all to live in Julia's small West Hollywood house, to help Mike with chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Near Mike's death nine months later, Julia learned she had cervical cancer. Throughout this time, Julia was performing improvisational comedy on Sunday nights, talking about what was happening in her life. She's now collected this material as part of "GOD SAID HA!" The play opened in San Francisco, and is soon expected to go to Off-Broadway. Julia explained the process of using comedy to deal with difficult situations, and we'll hear several excerpts from the play.
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