Fey As Palin, Ferrell As Bush: SNL Looks Back At Last Decade

When you think of the most important and transformational characters of the last decade, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin would certainly be at the top of the list. And when you think of each, Will Ferrell and Tina Fey aren’t too far removed from America’s vision of each.

Saturday Night Live is an iconic show – and tonight NBC looks back at the 2000s. Here’s a little of what you’ll see.

We watched the two-hour Live From New York special this week, which airs tonight at 9pm. One of the major themes of the show, from 2000 through 2009, is the rise of the women as the stars of the show. From Fey to Amy Poehler to Maya Rudolph to Kristin Wiig (and well, back to Fey), the major players were the women last decade.

Ken Bowser wrote, directed and produced this special, as he has for each Live From New York decade, and he noticed the change in Fey specifically as she grew in the 2000s. “Because I’ve done different decades, I can tell that she’s grown so comfortable in her own skin in terms of doing these interviews,” Bowser told Mediaite this week. “She liked doing characters like most of the others, but she’s become so comfortable talking and doing these interviews now.”

Bobby Moynihan, a cast member since 2008, feels an attachment to Poehler since he started at her Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. “To see somebody you think is funny and watch their career blow up, it’s awesome,” he told Mediaite. “She’s all about the comedy and she’s amazing at it.”

While the females grew into some of the major stars of the show, the political presence was felt from the 2000 election through the 2008 one. Moynihan remembers Palin’s visit to the set – and he played the moose in the Palin rap. “One of the craziest things in the world was staring up at Sarah Palin in a moose costume while she gave you a thumbs up,” he said, while describing Palin as “very nice” behind-the-scenes. Palin wasn’t interviewed for the special (she “ducked us,” said Bowser), but her running mate, Sen. John McCain was a part of the show. McCain, who has been a guest himself on SNL, noted the final episode before the election when Tina Fey threw out the “going rogue” line and attempted to sell some “Palin 2012″ shirts on a QVC sketch. McCain said that Palin naming her book Going Rogue was a “pretty impressive testimonial to the impact of Saturday Night Live.”

But before Fey as Palin was Ferrell as Bush (and later, about a half-dozen other SNL cast members as the former President). Bowser echoed something Horatio Sanz alluded to during the special. “I think Will Ferrell helped elect George Bush,” Bowser said.

Regardless of political party, SNL put itself on the map in becoming part of the political discussion in the 2000s. For no one more so than Moynihan: “I’m not very political, so I get all my political information from SNL sketches. I’m absolutely horrible with it. I found out who Karl Rove was about 20 minutes after I played him on TV.”

>>> NEXT PAGE: Rise of the digital short, dealing with 9/11.

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