Has Sarah Palin helped Saturday Night Live return to its former glory?

“Three things happened Saturday night: Tina Fey met her career maker on “Saturday Night Live,” Sarah Palin showed she could laugh along with the joke and the space-time continuum remained intact. At least for now.”

SNL used to be one of the most watched comedy shows on TV, but in recent years was quite easily trumped by such shows as the Daily Show, Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour has 22 minutes and The Colbert Report. However, SNL had still maintained its reputation as something of a must for political candidates hoping to prove they have a normal, human, comedic side to them. Barack Obama, John McCain and now Sarah Palin have appeared on the show. Only Joe Biden remains to make an appearance.

But something seems to have changed with Tina Fey’s spot-on imitations of Sarah Palin. The Katie Couric interview, the Hillary Clinton Press Conference, the vice-presidential debate (chaired by none other than the hilarious Queen Latifah)  and, as of last week-end, the mock Alec Balwin insults, all these skits have put SNL back on the map, and no one is happier than I.

“Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin put in a widely anticipated appearance on Saturday Night Live, sharing the stage with a host of top stars including Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and of course Tina Fey, the former SNL star whose impression of Palin has garnered almost as much attention as the Alaska governor herself.”

Amy Poehler performed a lovely Sarah Palin rap on Week-end Update, which went a little something like this (thank you TKBB!):

one two three

my name is sarah palin you all know me
vice president nominee of the gop
gonna need your vote in the next election
can i get a ‘what what’ from the senior section
mccain got experience, mccain got style
but don’t let him freak you out when he tries to smile
cause that smile be creepy
but when i be vp
all the leaders in the world gonna finally meet me

how’s it go eskimo
(eskimos)
tell me what you know eskimo
(eskimos)
how you feel eskimo
(ice cold)
tell me tell me what you feel eskimo
(super cold)

i’m jeremiah wright cause tonight i’m the preacha
i got a bookish look and you’re all hot for teacha
todd lookin fine on his snow machine
so hot boy gonna need a go between
in wasilla we just chill baby chilla
but when i see oil lets drill baby drill

my country tis a thee
from my porch i can see
russia and such

all the mavericks in the house put your hands up
all the mavericks in the house put your hands up
all the plumbers in the house pull your pants up
all the plumbers in the house pull your pants up

when i say ‘obama’ you say ‘ayers’
obama. (ayers) obama (ayers)
i built me a bridge – it ain’t goin’ nowhere.
(ohhh)

mccain, palin, gonna put the nail in the coffin
of the media elite
(she likes red meat)
shoot a mother-humpin moose, eight days of the week

[three gunshots]
now ya dead, now ya dead,
cause i’m an animal, and i’m bigger than you
holdin a shotgun walk in the pub
everybody party, we’re goin on a hunt
la la la la la la la la
[six gunshots]

yo i’m palin, i’m out!

While SNL’s last show might have made 14 million viewers laugh, it didn’t please everyone and Alec Baldwin, who also appeared on the special, felt compelled to defend the show in the following terms:

“Saturday Night Live is a comedy show. It’s not Meet the Press. It doesn’t “ask the tough questions” or “set the agenda.” It attempts, with varying degrees of success, to make people laugh. That’s it. Whether they skewer and savage people in order to do so, they don’t care. When you come on a show like that, you are prepared in advance to get worked over. Palin knew that. Palin came on to be a good sport. And she was. She was polite, gracious. (More so than some of the famous actors who come through there, believe me.)”