Palin Opens Cold in a Cold Open

SNL hasn’t reported higher ratings in 14 years than when Palin appeared on Saturday night. I'm not sure why, she was probably the least interesting person I've seen on SNL... ever. Maybe her presence legitimized her as a target of their jokes, or made it "okay" to tease her. Even though SNL was way tame in comparison to the previous three cold opens featuring Tina Fey as Palin.

Not that I didn't enjoy her appearance. My two favorite parts: 1) when Alec Baldwin mistakes Palin for Tina Fey and ends up trash talking her, then Palin responds and says Stephen Baldwin is her favorite Baldwin (he’s a conservative Chrisitian) and 2) the Palin rap.

But why would Palin agree to do an appearance on a show that has mocked her three times already during this election season? It worked for former President Clinton, who showed up on MTV and played his saxophone on TV. Palin is the relatable candidate, and by appearing on SNL, she’s appealing to a more diverse audience than the usual conservative Republican base that she already controls. It’s comforting to see a candidate with an easy-going side, rather than a negative attacker of the opposing ticket. She even danced to the Palin rap, which included “All the mavericks in the house, put your hands up! All the plumbers in the house, pull your pants up!” (in reference to the now famous Joe the Plumber of the final Presidential debate).

While some people think Palin’s appearance helped the Republican ticket, not everyone agrees. An ABC News article quotes Bob Thompson, a professor at SUNY, as saying, "I think the work she needs to do is not the kind on a comedy show. It would be great if she could go on a snobby serious discussion show and blow everybody away. You ultimately want to distance her from Tina Fey, not point out how similar they are." Will the jokes backfire? In some sense, they already have. Fey’s impersonations have created a caricature of Palin has become increasingly popular and influential. But then again, maybe Palin will start to gain sympathizers who feel she’s getting picked on.

 

Either way, if it was a politically savvy or if it was foolish, it still made me chuckle.