Tina Fey Leads Pack of Palin Impersonators

Oct. 8, 2008— -- If Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin lose the election in November, they might want to take up their case with Tina Fey and the growing number of Palin impersonators crowding the Web.

"There's more fake Sarah Palins than fake Elvises," said Bob Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University in New York.

Fey's spot-on impersonation of Palin is getting nearly as much play as the Republican veep candidate herself.

"They've got in Tina Fey an uncanny matchup of comedian to object of impersonation," Thompson said. "There's no way you can listen to Sarah Palin without sending it through all stuff that Tina Fey has been doing. You really have to look twice."

Even Palin, it seems, is aware of how much her doppelganger is influencing the body politic. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Alaska governor is considering appearing on "Saturday Night Live" to play none other than Tina Fey. The newspaper said a spoof of Fey's American Express commercial is in the works.

While Thompson would love to see the spoofer being spoofed, he's not sure it's a smart move for Palin. Unlike Richard Nixon, who probably earned a few votes when he appeared on the '60s comedy show "Laugh In" and uttered its famous line, "Sock it to me," Palin's problem is not likability.

"I think the work she needs to do is not the kind on a comedy show," he said. "It would be great if she could go on a snobby serious discussion show and blow everybody away. You ultimately want to distance her from Tina Fey, not point out how similar they are."

What Fey and some of these other impersonators have done so well is to highlight the very things the mainstream media have been reticent to point out about Palin, according to Thompson.

"Tina Fey's impressions got out there and became delivery systems for the original sources she was making fun of," Thompson said, referring to the Charles Gibson and Katie Couric interviews.

There is a risk, however, that the jokes will backfire. To some extent, they already did by the time of the debate. Thompson said expectations for Palin were so low in part because comedians had done such a good job of highlighting Palin's weaknesses. When it came time for "SNL's" skit on the debate, Thompson said it was not nearly as funny as the week before, because neither candidate did anything too outrageous.