‘That’s What They’ll Show When I Die’: A Definitive Guide to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

There have been many memorable political impressions on Saturday Night Live over the years—from Chevy Chase’s bumbling Gerald Ford to Darrell Hammond’s Al Gore to Maya Rudolph’s “funt” spin on Kamala Harris. But nothing captures the spirit of an SNL election year quite like Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin declaring “I can see Russia from my house!” while standing side-by-side with Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton.

“A Nonpartisan Message from Governor Sarah Palin & Senator Hillary Clinton” aired as the cold open sketch for SNL’s Season 34 premiere episode on September 13, 2008. Michael Phelps hosted the episode; Lil’ Wayne was the musical guest. Barack Obama—who was then running against Republican candidate John McCain in the 2008 presidential election—was actually scheduled to make his second SNL cameo that same night, but pulled out due to Hurricane Ike.

The sketch, which was conceived by (then-head writer) Seth Meyers and written in collaboration with Fey and Poehler, saw their characters attempt to put aside party lines and ideological differences to address the “ugly role” that sexism plays in political campaigns.

“You know, Hillary and I don’t agree on everything,” Fey began, before Poehler quickly chimed in, “On anything! I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.” That’s when Fey uttered the now-infamous line: “And I can see Russia from my house!”

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While the real-life Palin never actually said those exact words (though, to be fair, what she did say wasn’t too far off), a good chunk of the American public apparently still believe it’s a direct quote from the former vice presidential candidate—to the point where it warrants a Snopes article debunking it.

According to a 2014 interview Poehler did with Vulture, it was SNL producer Mike Shoemaker (now a producer on Late Night with Seth Meyers) who wrote the “legendary” line.

In her 2011 memoir Bossypants, Fey—who departed SNL in 2006—revealed that, although everyone from fans to her cousins and old classmates were “obsessed” with the idea of her playing McCain’s running mate, she was reluctant to take on the role. Lorne Michaels was on the fence about it, too; despite Fey’s resemblance to Palin, both she and Michaels thought Kristen Wiig might be a better fit.

“Lorne called to say that Seth Meyers had written a piece and I should come over late Friday evening and rehearse it with Amy and if it didn’t feel right, someone else would do it,” Fey wrote. “I felt that whatever I appeared in, people would assume that I wrote it and that it was expressing my personal opinions… I didn’t want to be a stock character that any writer on the staff could make use of.”

Nevertheless, Fey found writing the sketch with Meyers and Poehler (her former “Weekend Update” co-anchor and longtime friend) to be a very “pleasant and collaborative and easy” endeavor overall. 

“Because Seth and I had written for real impressionists like Darrell Hammond over the years, we knew there were certain tricks we could employ,” Fey explained in Bossypants. “Whatever sounds are helpful to the impression, you use as many of them as possible in the writing. For Palin it was a lot of ‘hard R’s.’ Words like ‘reporters and commentators.’ Words you can’t say, you avoid. For example, I’ve never been able to figure out how she says ‘Todd.’”

“A Nonpartisan Message” quickly went viral. At the time, it was NBC.com’s most-watched video, amassing 5.7 million views by the following week. The sketch also received positive reviews from critics.

“Ms. Fey had the glasses and hair thing going already when she appeared last night, a dead ringer for the Alaska governor,” The New York Times reporter Katharine Q. Seelye wrote. “She added a pitch-perfect flat prairie accent to complete the package.”

Both Fey and Poehler were pleased with how the sketch ultimately turned out. “The sketch easily could have been a dumb catfight between two female candidates,” Fey reflected in Bossypants. “What Seth and Amy wrote, however, was two women speaking out together against sexism in the campaign. In real life, these women experienced different sides of the same sexism coin.”

“The sketch that night dealt with Hillary Clinton coming to terms with the possibility of a Vice President Sarah Palin,” Poehler told Vulture. “It dealt with fierce competitiveness in politics. It dealt with power and entitlement. It dealt with the way society forces women to define themselves and compete against each other. It tackled old theories about Madonna vs. whore and slut vs. shrew. But most importantly, it was really funny.”

Of course, “A Nonpartisan Message” would be far from the last time SNL poked fun at Palin. In total, Fey portrayed the one-time VP candidate eight times; her most recent appearance as Palin was in May 2018. As for Poehler, she played Clinton 17 times between 2003 and 2012. 

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On October 18, 2008, SNL history was made when the real Sarah Palin appeared on the show during “Weekend Update”—which also famously featured an eight-months-pregnant Poehler rapping her heart out.

In a 2019 interview with IndieWire, Fey revealed that she objected to having Palin on the show, but Michaels ultimately made the call. “I didn’t want [Lorne] to have [Palin] on and I didn’t want to be in a two-shot with her, because I thought, ‘Well, that’s what they’ll show when I die,’” Fey explained.

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As for whether her impression of Palin impacted the election, Fey doesn’t think so. “I don’t think [SNL] can really sway people,” she told IndieWire. “I think you can shine a light. You can help them articulate something they’re already feeling about a given person.”

However, some critics disagree. For instance, NPR’s TV Critic Eric Deggans (who is also a LateNighter contributor) is “convinced SNL has had a profound impact on how America views politics.” 

“When Saturday Night Live nails an impression of a politician, it manages a unique alchemy—elevating the thing about that person that is so funny it can pretty much define them in the public’s mind,” Deggans wrote for NPR. “Often, it is something people already suspected about the politician, crystallizing how the public feels about their policies or candidacies. When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, Tina Fey produced a devastating take on the vice-presidential candidate as a superficial dimwit given to folksy-sounding word salads in speeches and interviews.”

Dana Edelson / © NBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Ultimately, “A Nonpartisan Message” remains one of the most impactful political skits in SNL‘s half-century history—even 16 years later. “You all watched a sketch about feminism and you didn’t even realize it because of all the jokes,” Fey wrote in Bossypants.

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