Media Scribbler

It’s hard to overestimate the pressure that was on Tina Fey tonight as she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” again to impersonate vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The closest counterpart to the anticipation possibly would be Palin herself, when she made her speech at the Republican National Convention just over a week ago. But Fey pulled it off and managed to look exactly like the governor of Alaska.

Spoilers for the skit below (as it will be a couple of hours before the West Coast sees it) and now a clip for the Americans on Hulu.

Fey appeared in SNL’s opening sequence before the titles with Amy Poehler, who was of course playing Hillary Clinton. Poehler should also get credit for doing an excellent HRC impression and holding her own with Fey.

As the two delivered a “bipartisan address”, Poehler’s Hillary showed barely restrained bitterness and rage as Fey’s Palin continuously appeared to be speaking from a script from the planet Dimwit.

“I was so excited when I was told that I would be addressing you tonight,” said an exuberent Fey/Palin.

“I was told I would be addressing you alone,” said Poehler/Clinton.

Later…

“Tonight we are crossing party lines to address the very now ugly role that sexism has played in the campaign,” said Fey/Palin.

“An issue which I am frankly very surprised to hear that people suddenly care about,” said Poehler/Clinton.

Then, possibly the best exchange…

“I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy” said Poehler/Clinton.

“And I can see Russia from my house!” said Fey/Palin.

As the sketch went on, Fey and Poehler told the public to stop doing sexist things, like talking about Hillary’s cankles and Palin being a MILF (the word that Poehler said people were using about her was “Flurge”, which I had never heard of but is defined by the helpful Urban Dictionary, which should be having a banner pageviews night between those words and “boner-shrinker.) Fey retold the “lipstick on a pitbull” joke as Poehler kept answering it before she finished.

Then as Poehler/Clinton began to unravel, saying “Mine!” about a woman being in the White House then ranted about the seeming unfairness of it all, Fey/Palin cheerily mimick-waved at the audience and cocked an invisible rifle. And as Fey asked the media to continue to be vigilant for sexist behavior, Poehler added that it’s not sexist for the media to question female politicians’ credentials.

“In conclusion, I invite the media to grow a pair,” she said. “And if you can’t, I’ll lend you mine.”

Since Chevy Chase played a huge role in the public imaging of President Gerald Ford as a clumsy buffoon during SNL’s first season, the show has had possibly more of an impact on national politics than any other comedy, and it’s right up there with “The West Wing” for the all-time title. However, since Darrell Hammond and Will Ferrell hung up their suits from their roles as Al Gore and George Bush, the presidential parody has been lacking.

But Fey and Poehler debuted the new season of SNL tonight, they brought the tradition back. And no matter how the public feels about the real Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, one can’t help but feel a little bit more empathy for them on some level after their portrayers brought out some attributes that would hard for either woman to deny.

Edit: NBCU is getting every clip yanked as fast as they can on YouTube, so here’s the Hulu video.

(NBC Photo: Dana Edelson)

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