"Saturday Night Live": Tina Fey Rocks as Sarah Palin, But Amy Poehler Rules the Night

 

As expected, Tina Fey returned to her old stomping grounds at Saturday Night Live this weekend to take on the role of look-alike Sarah Palin. But while her take on the VP candidate's Fargo-style accent and assertive know-nothingness was spot-on hilarious, somehow Liz Lemon's nerdy hotness didn't quite match the glamour of a former beauty queen. On the other hand, Amy Poehler proved once again what a pro she is at conveying Hillary Clinton's intelligence and fierce ambition -- and the two of them together may have turned into the current era's best comedy team. (Watch the video above to see what we're talking about.)

As for the rest of SNL's season premiere? Eh. It may have been too much to ask that the world's greatest swimmer be good at sketch comedy too, and Michael Phelps mumbled and stumbled his way through his line readings like, well, the proverbial fish out of water. (He seemed like a good sport, though, and we'll happily leave him to his future life of cornflakes endorsements and sleeping with groupies.)

What did we like? "Weekend Update," the fake "Fav 5" ad (what the heck's with that ad, anyway?), and the funny-weird digital short about a future "Space Olympics." We didn't much care for "Quiz Bowl" (another game show parody?), the boring "Locker Room," "The Michael Phelps Diet" (sorry, Michael) or, especially, the return of the "ugly kids" sketch (how long are they going to run that one into the ground?). So we'll give 'em 5 points out of 10 -- which, for SNL as opposed to the Olympics, isn't bad at all.

Click through for more video highlights:

The "Jar Glove" ad:

The "T-Mobile Fav 5" ad:

Digital Short:  "Space Olympics":

Previously:
Will Tina Fey Play You-Know-Who?
Two More Republican-Ticket TV Tie-Ins