Looking Back at the 6 Best SNL Political Sketches of the Century

Remember the 2008 presidential election? SNL took their skits to the next level with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler impersonating Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, respectively.

“The Fey Effect” shows that these performances, especially Fey’s impersonation of Palin, influenced young adults’ attitudes – eventually diminishing Palin’s credibility, and consequently John McCain’s, when it came time for voters to cast their ballots.

We are expecting (and hoping) that comedy will be one of the focuses in the 2016 presidential election. We’ve already seen Clinton the Musical get audiences laughing – and can expect many other satires and skits about the presidential hopefuls.

While 2008 may have been a high point; SNL has provided plenty of laughs at the expense of politicians. Here are the 6 best SNL political sketches since the turn of the new century.

1. George H. W. Bush Gives Debate Advice to George W. Bush (2000)

In a little light-hearted debate prep shared over a bear in the Texas State Capitol, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush engage in a father and son heart to heart, portrayed by Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell respectively.

2. Will Ferrell as George W. Bush, to Osama Bin Laden (2002)

Will Ferrell cemented President George W. Bush as a lovable loon in SNL viewers’ eyes with his impersonations of Bush Jr. This commentary to Osama Bin Laden after the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks is no different, as Bush advises Bin Laden that challenging him to a game of Scrabble would have probably been a more apt fight to pick.

3. Future Al Gore (2006)

Oh, what could have been! A series of Al Gore sketches, portrayed by Al Gore himself turned into comedy gold in the mid 2000’s. Here, we see Al Gore as the 43^rd President, delineating all that would have happened if he had assumed the presidency.

4. Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton Address the Nation (2008)

In arguably some of the most scarily accurate impressions any SNL actor has ever performed, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin stole the spotlight during the 2008 elections. In this sketch, we see a bitter Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler) and Tina Fey address the nation in a bipartisan speech.

5. CBS Evening News: Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin (2008)

The Tina-Amy duo was so powerful that we had to add another to the list. Here is the spoof of the actual interview that took place between Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and Katie Couric (Amy Poehler)—a spoof that may have caused viewers to change their perceptions of the real life Palin.

6.Bloomberg and Christie on Hurricane Sandy (2012)

The real star of this sketch is New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s interpreter, played by Cecily Strong. In the face of tragedy, comedy is often a tactic used to bring people’s spirits back up, and this sketch certainly did the trick.