Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl, tina fey

SNL: Tina Fey Discusses the Impact of Her Sarah Palin Sketches

Tina Fey reflects on her time at SNL when she was doing an impression of Sarah Palin, and the impact of politics in sketch comedy.

Published Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:37:09 -0500

by Gavin Sheehan

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Article Summary

Tina Fey reflects on her iconic Sarah Palin impersonation during the 2008 election on SNL.
She discusses how SNL's political sketches walk a line between humor and real-world impact.
Fey emphasizes that sketches only work if they're rooted in truth, not satire for its own sake.
SNL never tries to control the political narrative; genuine comedy must be based on reality.

When you look at the pantheon of content SNL has produced over the years, it's hard to tell sometimes whether the joke lands or is forgotten over time. Sometimes you'll watch an episode from the archives or see a clip come up in rotation on YouTube, and you see Norm Macdonald doing an impression of Bob Dole, and some of it still works, but a lot of it is lost to time because of the way both politics and sketch comedy work. Which brings us to a recent discussion Tina Fey had about the impact of her impression of Sarah Palin during the 2008 Presidential Election.

: Tina Fey in "Lorne" (2026) Image courtesy of Focus Features

: Credit: NBC

Fey recently spoke at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for History Talks, where she was part of a large presentation including Nicole Kidman, Ted Danson, Kate McKinnon, Colin Jost, and others. During her talk, she commented on how politics intertwine with the show over the years, saying, "The show's relationship to current events became a thinner and thinner veil. They said something, we said something back. They'd come over and go, 'We want to be on [the show] too.' It's thrilling, and almost a scary thing, that something you say will be heard by the person in charge."

Fey also recalled a time when she, Amy Poehler, and Seth Meyers were all talking about writing 6 weeks' worth of jokes about Palin and the election. She commented, "It is fascinating to know that what you say will be taken seriously. We always worked really hard to make sure they were what we call a 'fair hit.' It only felt like it would work if it was based in something that was true. Sometimes people will ask me, 'Does SNL try to control the narrative of politics?' And they really do not. You really can't because if it's not true, it will not be funny. […] I've made jokes, but also, I was pretty dumb and not much better now, but there's jokes that I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I was on the wrong side of that.'"

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