This week’s Saturday Night Live brought us three new political skits, a sharp increase from one in both the previous episode. First off, we have Tina Fey reprising here highly praised role as vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin a.k.a. Seeruh Peelin in a skit spoofing her interview with Katie Couric:

Of course, I, like most of the world loved the skit. Sarah Palin is like a caricature of this ridiculous (yet increasingly important) election and I will continue to laugh at her until she becomes Vice President. Then things can, and will, get serious.

The best part about this weeks skit is that it lifted lines directly from her disastrous interview with Katie Couric and they were spot on. Here is a side by side comparison of these being giggled at by Wolf Blitzer:

This Thursday’s vice presidential debate is going to load the cannon for Fey, no matter how hard the McCain team tries to revamp her after her past screw-ups. Usually I catch these clips online on Sunday mornings, but this Saturday, I may stay in.

Next up is a skit on the presidential debate featuring former cast member, Chris Parnell as Jim Lehrer:

Okay so I will start with the good.

I really liked Parnell’s line “Also, throughout the debate, I will urge you both to look at each other up to and beyond the point it gets uncomfortable.” After watching the debate, I had a few criticisms to make about Lehrer’s moderating, especially about the awkward moment in the beginning where he asked them to look at eachother. Is this a debate or a modeling shoot, Lehrer? I think he just secretly wanted them to kiss. Aside from this line, even as a Parnell fan, I did not really see a reason for bringing him back for such a bit part. He is capable of so much more.

I really thought Obama’s line about “playign the race card,” was funny because it skewers ignorant critics who are always ready to point fingers at “playing the race card.”

And finally, I thought Hillary’s short appearance was spectacular, partially because of Poehler’s hillarious Hillary expressions and her general aura of patheticness.

So what didn’t I like, or more specifically what did I hate?

Fred Armisen as Obama was so annoying it made my skin crawl. And I realize this could be because it’s never great to see someone make fun of somebody you’re fond of, but I really thought this was an awful impression. He latched on to Obama’s concise, somewhat staccato linguistic style to the point of overkill. We get it. Aside from the race thing, Obama did not have one funny line. The writing wasn’t even good for most of the skit anyways.

The pie thing and the getting naked thing (shout out to Hartford), were just stupid. And, as I said before, I love stupid humor. Maybe I was expecting more after the excellent Palin skits and the relatively funny McCain one, but I was hoping for the return of the golden age of SNL (at least my golden age of SNL). Instead the only thing I am getting is an indication of how funny Tina Fey’s 30 Rock is.

And finally, Bill Clinton made a stop by Weekend Update:

I found this skit to be pretty funny, but without many real political weight. It adressed his steering around Obama’s name, jsut like Chris Rock did, but it is also a good example of a solid impression. This is Darrell Hammond’s best, aside from maybe his Sean Connery.

Overall I grade Tina Fey an A+, and Saturday Night Live a C.