Lampoon skewers city with Palin

MAT-SU — Someone striking a stunning resemblance to Gov. Sarah Palin stood side-by-side with someone looking a lot like U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton in New York Saturday night.

No, the political rivals didn’t put aside partisan differences to throw a joint press conference. It was all in the name of late-night comedy as Alaska’s governor was lampooned to open NBC’s long-running “Saturday Night Live” program.

In the sketch, Tina Fey plays Palin while Amy Poehler portrays Clinton. The women are supposedly holding a press conference, presenting a united front to address sexism in the media. The ongoing punchline in the sketch is Clinton’s disdain for Palin, with Fey’s Palin seemingly clueless to Clinton’s hostility toward her.

While “Saturday Night Live” has a long history of poking fun at political candidates, the city of Wasilla didn’t escape being the butt of a joke during one of the fake-Palin’s lines about how far she’s come in her political career.

“Just two years ago, I was a small-town mayor of Alaska’s crystal meth capital,” fake-Palin said. “And now I am just one heartbeat away from being president of the United States.”

That part of the sketch rubbed Wasilla City Councilman Marty Metiva the wrong way. Also, Palin’s last term a mayor ended in 2002, not two years ago.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Metiva said Monday reacting to the jibe. “It’s like a slap in the face.”

Metiva said the city has a lot more to offer than its drug problem.

“I don’t think it’s funny, to tell you the truth,” he said.

Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard agrees, saying he wasn’t happy about the crystal meth reference. But overall, Menard said he thinks Fey did a good job of impersonating Palin, who he’s known since she was a child.

The sketch, which opened the show, lasted 5 1/2 minutes. It has also become a viral video after numerous Web sites began hosting the video shortly after it aired on television, including YouTube. The video has been posted by numerous users on the world’s largest online collection of video clips. Although posted multiple times on YouTube, as of Monday afternoon the most watched one had more than 400,000 views.

In Alaska, the skit has overall received a relatively positive response.

Local attorney Verne Rupright, who at times gave Palin advice when she was mayor of Wasilla, said Fey’s portrayal of the governor was spot on.

Rupright said he doesn’t think the skit was meant to degrade Palin.

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery,” he said.

Rex Shattuck, a legislative aide for Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, said Fey did the best impression of Palin he’s ever seen.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody do as good a job at portraying who they were trying to do,” Shattuck said.

He added that he didn’t think the skit painted Palin in a harsh light and was generally light-hearted.

“If we can’t laugh at ourselves ...” Shattuck said.

It’s unclear exactly what Palin thought of the skit. A message left with her spokesman, Bill McAllister, was not returned by press time. ABC News, however, reports on its Web site that the show did air on Palin’s campaign jet as it flew from Reno, Nev., to Denver. According to ABC News, the press corps seated in the back of the plane was howling with laughter during the skit.

There was silence, however, from the front of the plane where Palin was sitting, according to ABC. Flight attendants told reporters Palin and her team were watching the show, but Alaska’s governor made no indication as to her thoughts on the skit.

There’s no telling if Fey will be back to reprise her role as Palin during future Saturday Night Live broadcasts.

The Associated Press reports Fey is largely tied up with her NBC comedy “30 Rock,” and an SNL spokesman said the script for next week’s show isn’t written yet.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.