Palin Laughs Last on SNL

Governor's guest spot lead to show's highest ratings in 14 years.

After watching "Saturday Night Live" make fun of her from afar, Sarah Palin witnessed it first hand this week as Tina Fey engaged in fiction by depicting her at the news conference the Republican vice presidential nominee has yet to hold.

var flashvars = {}; var params = {wmode:"transparent",allowFullScreen:"false",allowScripting:"always",allowScriptAccess:"always",allowNetworking:"all"}; var attributes = {}; attributes.id = "W4727a250e66f972348fad3cc9dce2f25"; swfobject.embedSWF("http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/48fad3cc9dce2f25/4741e3c5156499a7/38dca246/-cpid/5399077a13eda3a3", "altCont", "384", "283", "9.0.0", "", flashvars, params, attributes);

Get Adobe Flash player


Later, Palin came on stage during the Weekend Update mock news segment and bobbed to the beat as cast member Amy Poehler performed a rap song the Alaska governor decided was too hardcore for her to perform personally.

var flashvars = {}; var params = {wmode:"transparent",allowFullScreen:"false",allowScripting:"always",allowScriptAccess:"always",allowNetworking:"all"}; var attributes = {}; attributes.id = "W4727a250e66f972348fad4fa53cb5555"; swfobject.embedSWF("http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/48fad4fa53cb5555/4741e3c5156499a7/2c1f6df0/-cpid/56daa13120955d91", "altCont2", "384", "283", "9.0.0", "", flashvars, params, attributes);

Get Adobe Flash player


"I'm Jeremiah Wright 'cuz I'm the preacher; I got a bookish look and you're all hot for teacher," Poehler rapped as actors dressed as Eskimos, Palin's husband, Todd, and a caribou pranced across the stage.

Palin's guest shot, widely anticipated since Fey began imitating her a month ago, led "Saturday Night Live" to its highest mark in overnight Nielsen Media Research ratings since March 1994, when assaulted skater Nancy Kerrigan was guest host.

Although a complete audience estimate for the rest of the country won't be available until later in the week, it is likely to be around 14 million.

For the first half-hour, when Palin first came out, the audience was about 17 million. That's pretty impressive for a TV program around midnight. The week before, only two other shows in prime time had a bigger audience, Nielsen said.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain watched clips of the broadcast on Sunday.

"Did you catch Sarah Palin on 'SNL'?" he asked a crowd in Toledo, Ohio. "She did a great job."

In the show's opening, Fey's impersonation of Palin told a group of reporters, "First off, I just want to say how excited I am to be in front of both the liberal elite media as well as the liberal regular media. I am looking forward to a portion of your questions."

Moments later, the camera cut away to the real Palin watching a television monitor alongside the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels.

"You know, Lorne, I just don't think it's a realistic depiction of the way my press conferences would have gone," Palin said. She said she wished he would have let her do a sketch about "30 Rock," the NBC program in which Fey now stars. That prompted Michaels to deadpan: "Honestly not enough people know that show."

Palin then stood mute as Fey's "30 Rock" co-star, Alec Baldwin came onto the stage, mistook Palin for Fey and pleaded with Michaels not to let the actor go onstage with the governor.

"This is the most important election in our nation's history and you want her, our Tina, to go out there and stand with that horrible woman?" Baldwin said.

When Michaels broke down and introduced him to Palin, Baldwin feigned embarrassment and replied, "I see. Forgive me. I feel I must say this: You are way hotter in person."

Palin got even by saying, "Thank you, and I must say, your brother Stephen is my favorite Baldwin brother."

The camera soon cut back to Fey who answered a question about the polls.

"I don't worry about the polls. Polls are just a fancy way of systematically predicting what's going to happen. The only poll I care about is the North Pole, and that ... is ... melting. It's not great."

The real Palin then walked onto the news conference set, sending Fey fleeing.

"Thank you, thank you," the governor said to applause from the studio audience. "No, I'm not going to take any of your questions, but I do wanted to take this opportunity to say, 'Live from New York, it's Saturday Night.'"

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us