Tina Fey: Sarah Palin got ‘lost in a corn maze’

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On tonight’s ‘Late Show With David Letterman,’ Tina Fey talks about the challenges of playing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Per usual, the Emmy-winning ’30 Rock’ star-creator downplayed all the praise thrown her way since she first started impersonating the Alaska governor on ‘Saturday Night Live.’

‘Not since ‘Sling Blade’ has there been a voice that anybody could do. Anybody could take a swing at this voice.

‘It’s like a beautiful Alaskan wind song,’ she told Letterman.

Breaking it down further she said she threw in ‘a little bit of ‘Fargo’ and ‘a little bit of Reese Witherspoon in ‘Election’ .... Also a little bit of my friend Paula’s grandma.’

Fey told Letterman she did help research the Palin sketches, which have been written by ‘SNL’ cast member Seth Meyers. ‘I said to him, ‘Can you put in a lot of Rs in there?’ Because she really loves, like, ‘these terrorists’ and ‘William Ayers.’ She digs in those Rs.

‘She must think there’s oil in those Rs. She is digging deep.’

Letterman asked about the sketch she performed with Amy Poehler parodying Palin’s interview with Katie Couric. The host said he had heard they had used about ‘70% verbatim’ Palin’s words.

Fey acknowledged that the interview with Couric had so much potential fodder that she had to make sure she got it right. ‘I just wanted to write down this one crazy part where she got lost in a corn maze,’ she said. ‘She started to talk about taxes and she just, she just got lost in a corn maze.’

As for Fey’s critics — Republicans who say the impressions are sexist, she told Letterman — ‘it’s just crazy.’

‘Sarah Palin is a tough lady,’ Fey said. ‘She kills things. She kills animals that are bigger than you and me put together.’

-- Denise Martin