Sarah Palin Confidante Encouraged Her to Imitate Tina Fey on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Three days after Tina Fey first lampooned Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, a state official suggested to the then-governor of Alaska that she return the favor, according to a just-released email.

Fey first imitated Palin on SNL on Sep. 13, 2008, where she and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton discussed sexism in politics.

That’s when Fey – as Palin – said, “I can see Russia from my house.” It became such an iconic line that polls indicate many Americans still attribute it to the real Palin.

Three days later, Patrick Galvin, Alaska’s commissioner of the department of revenue, emailed Palin: “My suggestion is you offer to go on SNL and play Tina Fey, and you interview her as she plays you.”

If Palin responded to the suggestion, that email still hasn’t been revealed. Alaska made mountains of printed emails available to the press on Friday as a result of a request made three years ago when Palin was a vice presidential candidate.

Fey earned an Emmy for her series of Palin imitations, and Palin ultimately did appear on SNL and her visit drew the highest ratings for the show in 14 years.

On Oct. 18, 2008, Fey began the show as Palin speaking to the press.

“I just wanna say how excited I am to be in front of both the liberal elite media as well as the liberal regular media,” Fey said.

When Fey tells the faux reporters, “And now, I’d like to entertain everybody with some fancy pageant-walking,” the skit cuts to the real Palin conversing with show creator Lorne Michaels.

Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin are also in the skit, the latter calling Palin “that horrible woman” as he is speaking to her, thinking that he is addressing Fey.

Check out Fey impersonating Palin and Poehler as Hillary Clinton on SNL:

Check out Palin’s monologue on SNL:

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