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SNL’s Post-Election Blues

By Hilary Dickinson | November 19, 2008

“Saturday Night Live” had the presidential election to thank for garnering its highest ratings in years - even hitting 14 million viewers, the highest amount since 1994, when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared. Plus, it’s hard to say if the 33-year-old comedy show made a bigger star out of Palin or if the election made a bigger star out of her uncanny impersonator, Tina Fey.

But now that the election is over and the great Amy Poehler has left the show, will “Saturday Night Live” fizzle out or will it manage to stay in the spotlight as Palin has?

“Role Models” star Paul Rudd hosted Saturday’s first post-election episode and delivered a mediocre performance. Although he said what we all were thinking in his monologue when he joked about how much of a bummer it is to host “SNL” after the election is over similar to how the technical awards at the Oscars are a letdown compared to the big acting awards.

He turned out to be kind of right about the show being a letdown. The show was alright but not as funny as recent episodes. Americans voted for Barack Obama, but the show would have been better off if McCain won because Fey’s Palin impression is much funnier than Jason Sudeikis’ Joe Biden. The absence of Poehler was also well-noticed, and Abby Elliot and Michaela Watkins looked more like extras than the two newly hired comediennes.

Just as Palin overshadowed Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Justin Timberlake outshined Rudd when he popped up in a few scene-stealing moments. He did a two-minute, one-man version of how he would host the show complete with his Barry Gibb impersonation and his um… male anatomy music video with Andy Samberg, and he also danced in a leotard and high heels in a skit as musical guest Beyoncé’s back-up dancer.

The latter skit was just one of “SNL’s” many gay skits (think the French kissing family, Rudd and Samberg painting each other in the nude, Snagglepuss and two New Jersey guys proclaiming their love for each other) in perhaps a commentary on California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage thereby proving that even though the election is over, “SNL” is still the go-to-place for political satire and commentary.

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