Popular Vote: Sarah Palin's Saturday Night Live Visit Delivers Best Ratings in 14 Years
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live this week, and though her parts were small, she proved to have a great sense of humor about herself. The show's overnight ratings, meanwhile, were serious business, giving SNL its largest audience since March 12, 1994 (when Nancy Kerrigan hosted with musical guest Aretha Franklin). Compared to SNL's previous fresh outing, the Josh Brolin-hosted entry was up 46 percent; season-to-date, the program is up 76 percent versus last year's first three outings.
Palin first showed up in the opening portion of the show, standing behind-the-scenes with Lorne Michaels as they watched Tina Fey play the Republican vice-presidential candidate in a press conference sketch. After all the ribbing she's taken on the show, Palin did get one little dig in at Fey, if indirectly. Palin asked Michaels why they couldn't do a 30 Rock sketch, and Michaels said, "Not enough people know the show."
Her second appearance was in the Weekend Update portion of the show, where she danced along (while seated) to Amy Poehler rapping about being vice president – the funniest part being the two Eskimo backup rappers and Jason Sudeikis dressed in a race suit as Palin's husband, Todd.
Palin wasn't the only guest star to appear in this week's episode: Mark Wahlberg settled his score with Andy Samberg, Alec Baldwin got to meet Palin (after thinking she was Tina), calling her "hotter in person," while Oliver Stone plugged his movie, W., about the current commander in chief.
What did you think of Sarah Palin's performance? Did she win you over? Read our in-depth recap and weigh in now!
Watch Sarah Palin's cold open on Saturday Night Live
Watch Amy Poehler's Weekend Update Palin Rap
