She gained fame as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1994.

[5] She graduated with a double major in economics and European history from the University of Washington,[5] where she was student body vice president[8] and became a member of Delta Gamma sorority.

sketches on Saturday Night Live, and a later feature film of the same name,[7] which was a critical commercial failure, costing $8 million[12] to make but grossing only $60,822[13] at the box office.

After leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live, Sweeney returned to Los Angeles where, shortly afterwards, her career was put on hold by a series of personal traumas.

The show was directed by Broadway stage director Mark Brokaw, before migrating to the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles.

In it, she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it; as well as her becoming an atheist.

Sweeney begins by sharing the account of when her mother told her that her birthday was really October 10 instead of September 10, and how traumatic it was to discover she was not a winsome Virgo but really a Libra.

[citation needed] After taking some years out of the limelight to be a suburban Chicago housewife and mother, Sweeney returned with a fourth monologue in which she riffs on contemporary politics and religion, among other topics.

The performance was so popular that it sold out its original six-day run at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, as well as a one-week extension.

[22] Sweeney appeared at the 2019 CSICon put on by the Center for Inquiry (CFI), where she presented about half of the monologue for the conference attendees.

[23] In a segment for This American Life in 1999, Sweeney describes one of her first jobs as a bartender's assistant, and how she began embezzling funds from her employer, and the consequences thereof.

[24] In 1992, Sweeney worked with the rock band Ugly Kid Joe, performing in the music video for their hit "Neighbor" and contributing introductory audio for two tracks, "Goddamn Devil" and "Everything About You".