Sarah Palin’s Ridiculously Lame SNL Appearance
After being impersonated by Tina Fey in three prior sketches, the McCain camp apparently agreed that it would be good PR for Sarah Palin to appear on SNL herself, in an attempt to make her appear good natured and less fringe. First, let’s address the overall quality of last night’s show. Terrible. With the exception of a handful of predictable “MacGruber” skits that made light of the current financial crisis, the broadcast was painfully unfunny.
Next up, Palin’s performance. I’ll preface by saying that Palin’s appearance seems to have been governed by the same rules that applied during her previous interviews with the major networks. The McCain camp still has Palin on a tight leash when it comes to speaking with the media, and last night was no exception. The first sketch kicked off with Tina Fey running a faux press conference in her role as the Alaska governor. Meanwhile, on a remote monitor, the real Sarah Palin criticizes the press conference as being unrealistic, while standing beside producer Lorne Michaels. Alec Baldwin walks up and, thinking Palin is Fey, begins criticizing Michaels for allowing Fey to go on stage with “that horrible woman”. He repeats the line a couple times, because things are funnier when you say them over and over. Baldwin gets Palin to admit that people have nicknamed her ‘Caribou Barbie’. Eventually Michaels corrects Baldwin’s mistake, whereupon he tells Palin that she’s “Way hotter in person”. Palin walks onto the press conference stage and states that she won’t be taking any questions. Still not funny.
The last Palin bit was better, but not because of anything Palin did. She shows up at the weekend update desk, but decides that the sketch is too risque for her tastes. Amy Poehler then assumes the role of the governor and a pretty decent Palin-themed hiphop routine is performed, featuring eskimo backup dancers, a faux Todd Palin, and a moose that gets shot up. Poehler makes reference to the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, Bill Ayers, McCain’s creepy smile, and Palin’s foreign policy inexperience, including the now infamous ‘Russia’ remark.
One of two things happened here, the McCain camp either requested that Palin’s participation be restricted to being a mere pretty face, or NBC opted to limit Palin’s lines so that they could take jabs at her. I’d prefer to think it was the former. Either way, Palin’s limited participation gave the cast free reign to make fun of her. There was one fleeting moment, when Poehler mentioned the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ that Palin’s face went from “I’m having a pretty good time” to “Was this a good idea?”. It was just priceless.
Watch the clips here:
