About (Late) Last Night: Tina Fey brings back Sarah Palin [video]

Tina Fey's commentary on Tuesday's midterm elections didn't have anything to do with a candidate. "I didn't really follow the election because I've been working," Fey admitted to David Letterman on the "Late Show" on Wednesday. "Well, last night they sent America a message," Letterman deadpanned. But it was Fey who really channeled the Right.

"How 'bout that, um, Sarah Palin? How's that thing working out for you?" Letterman asked. "Oh boy, there'll be no living with her now," Fey joked, far from character. But she could smell it, and so she was teasing the audience.

"I don't really look like her, but I wish I did," Fey said. The crowd giggled. "Maybe you think I do," she said. "She's got a better face." And she inched closer.

You could see Fey entering a zone. She shook her head with attitude and clenched her jaw. "She's extra sassy these days," said Fey, stepping into the Palin zone. Fey's cadence raised and letters started dropping. "'Cause all her Mama Grizzlies are winnin' and they're bustin' through that glass ceilin'. And the Mama Grizzlies are goin' to Washington." (It was almost "Warshington.") "And they're gonna flip your picnic table, Dave. And they are gonna go through that garbage. You're gonna have to tie your food to a tree." Far from rusty, she nailed it.

"I just ... I don't ... I wish I knew, but I don't know ... I just can't figure out quite," Letterman stuttered. "You know what I mean?"

But Fey wasn't done. On Fox News, she noticed, "they address her as Gov. Palin, which is like calling me 'Dairy Queen employee.' I was once, but I quit," she said. And it wasn't so much a tired rehashing as an inspired revitalization. Palin, for better or worse, has staying power.

-- Joe Coscarelli

Comments

[iheartcdf]

This really is all Tina Fey has, isn't it? I'm beginning to think she'll spend the rest of her life basking in the glow of 2008.

[wickers]

Actually, Palin's mama grizzlies aren't all winning after all (O'Donnell, Fiorina), awwwwww.

And to the previous poster (obviously a palin groupie), this definitely isn't all Fey has, not by a long shot. In addition to being a successful SNL player, she is also on a very successful program and has been for some years. Any comic who would pass on such an opportunity to satirize an ongoing train wreck would really be missing a very obvious bus. You go Tina!

[iheartcdf]

Wickers: I'm well aware of 30 Rock (a show that ceased to be funny after the 2nd season, yet coincidentally started winning a boatload of Emmys after the 2008 election) - and, was a fan of hers on SNL when she was an actual writer and cast member (as opposed to a former writer and cast member that returned solely for the purpose of swaying public opinion on the Republican VP nominee, a goal she obviously accomplished and continues to milk to this day), but thanks anyway for the pop culture lesson.