SNL Live Blog for 9/13/08

Check back here at 11:25 p.m. EST for a Saturday Night Live live-blog, where I'll be joined by Paste publisher Nick Purdy. Will Michael Phelps be funny? Will Lil Wayne meet FCC standards? Will Barack get an SNL bounce? And will Tina Fey come back to play her doppelgänger, Sarah Palin? (She looks more like Palin than Laura Roslin). We're just glad SNL doesn't suck these days.

11:25pm:  Well, Barack's not going to be a part of the show - Hurricane Ike making it in appropriate according to his spokesman....still thinking TIna Fey will do Palin but we'll have to wait and see.  Also got to figure Phelps & Lil Wayne should do something together given their whole Olympic connection.—Nick

11:30pm: There's Tina as Sarah!  Nailing the accent right off with Poehler as Hillary.—Nick

11:35pm:  That's just downright spooky. Already this is better than the USC-Ohio St. game. Tina Fey obviously has an advantage over anyone else who's done an impersonation of a president, but damn was she spot on. Nice nod to the "Tina Fey" glasses too. Tim are you with us?—Josh

11:37pm: Wow. Amy Poehler with the quick wardrobe change. Already gone from Hilary to Michael Phelps' mom. And there's Shatner! Looks like a game show coming up.—Josh

11:46pm:  Unless Tina Fey plans to do this all Fall, I think they should have had Kristen Wiig do the Sarah Palin bit.  The bit was decent but the jokes were a bit mailed in to me.--Nick

11:47pm:  1st skit post-monologue was a particularly uninspiring quiz show apropos of nothing - but did include new cast member Bobby Moynihan who clearly is attempting to fill the Belushi-Farley role.  Kind of eerie actually.--Nick

11:52pm:  What the hell is this retarded swimming locker room skit?  Did they seriously just have Will Forte just dance around in front of most of the cast for nearly a whole minute?  The huge, long trailer for  Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist has been more entertaining than the skits.  Yikes.--Nick

11:56pm: Totally disagree about Fey as Palin. I thought she was brilliant. It's been downhill from there.—Josh

12:02am:  Phelps, sad to say, seems so wooden I can't help but wonder if they ended up writing around him.  Josh - Fey was great, it's the writing that was almost predictable on that one good sketch.  But who does it next week?  Surely they are going to go heavy political all Fall.--Nick

12:04am:  14 people in my living room, all gathered for SNL.  The exciting election season has brought more excitement for SNL since I was high school.  Fey was great as Palin.  I thought the opening, through William Shatner, was the best 10 minutes of SNL in a long time.  It's been downhill since, but I don't expect much from SNL, especially post-Fey.  Sad there's no Obama.--Tim

12:07am: OK, so I take it back about SNL not sucking. At least Lil Wayne has injected some energy into the show. I'm surprised that they didn't make any connection between Phelps and Lil Wayne after Phelps trained to Lil Wayne.

12:11am: And why don't indie rockers introduce their proteges right in the middle of national TV performances like these savvy hip hop dudes?—Nick

12:12am: Palin 6 points ahead of McCain. Hah. I wish Tina Fey would have guested on Update.—Tim

12:15am: Alaska Pete is like the 3rd Palin reference (and least funny). And quickly a 4th funny one with Brady's untested backup.—Josh

12:20am: Bring back Fey! Fey + Baldwin funnier then entire SNL cast on their best day.—Tim

12:21am: I'm just looking forward to Thursday nights on NBC. And hoping that Kath & Kim is as good as the Australian version.—Josh

12:24am: Weekend Update over. 90% of audience goes to bed. Ah, Burn After Reading. So sad to read the mediocre reviews—Nick

12:27am: holding out hope for the barkley skit—Tim

12:28am: Especially with Béla Károlyi!—Josh

12:29am: Béla was a laugh riot when he would rant about gymnastics scoring for Bob Costas.—Nick

12:29am: Yeah, the real thing was much funnier.—Tim

12:30am: "Barkley's" description of his 1992 Barcelona Olympics experience is hilarious - Jordan suckering him by saying it's a poker trip to Spain!—Nick

12:33am: In case you wondering who that was in the iPod commercial, it was Chairlift with "Bruises." Man, I love Shazam!—Josh

12:38am: Thank God for Andy Samberg music videos. "Space Olympics" is pretty good.—Josh

12:38am: music + samberg usually = funny—Tim

12:44am: I like the new guy, Bobby Moynihan. He made that skit funnier than it was on paper.—Tim

12:47am: I really dig that Citizen Cope song "Let the Drummer Kick" in the Acura commercial. And here's Lil Wayne again.—Josh

12:50am: and here's the point where most of the rest of the audience tunes out. not because of lil wayne, but because it signals the show is over. i always tuned out at this point.—Tim

12:50am: as i said earlier, that point is actually at the end of weekend update. you've seen the best skits + a musical performance.—Nick

12:51am: weekend update is first, biggest batch. 2nd song is bulk of remainder of audience.—Tim

12:52am: Josh is a Shazam showoff.—Nick

12:52am: Totally. It's the best iPhone party trick. Except maybe the light saber.—Josh

12:56am: Phelps is tripping over every sentence. And the material isn't that funny. Oh what I'd give for Studio 60 instead.—Josh

12:57am: Phelps is reading and not doing a good job at that. It's just not pretty to watch.—Nick

12:57am:  yeah, i was just thinking this settles the question of whether he has an acting career in his future. decent ending sketch with Jared from Subway, though.—Tim

12:59am: Nice cameo by Jared Fogle. Makes me wonder if Subway and Priceline (Shatner in the monologue) actually paid for product message placement.—Nick

12:59am: and mercifully, it's over. don't think i'll ever again have a roomful of people around to watch SNL. and not sure i'll watch an entire hour and a half again.—Tim

1:00am: Agreed. Thanks for staying up, guys. 'Night all.—Josh

1:00am: Phelps said "Enjoy your Saturday." Um... Saturday's over.—Nick