- EMMO
Staff Lampoonist
Last week, notorious Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump brought out the infamous — or famous, depending on your political views — Sarah Palin to endorse him at the Iowa rally.
Unbeknownst to Trump, and everyone else at Iowa State, some people over at NBC had some tricks up their sleeves.
Trump announced to the crowd that a person he has “known for a long time” and was “honored” to be endorsed by would be coming up to the stage: “Governor Sarah Palin.” As the crowd cheered briefly and held up rectangles to record the moment, it wasn’t Palin who took the stage, but an impersonator — comedian, writer, actress and producer Tina Fey.
We had all but forgotten about “SNL’s” famous 2008 Presidential Election sketches in which Fey near-perfectly impersonated Palin, from her looks to her accent and mannerisms.
Rubbing their palms together like villains with an evil plan — those at NBC anxiously awaited the grand moment.
Fey took the stage and shouted out to the audience, “Thank you so much! It’s great to be here in Iowa. We’re just here, thawing out!”
The crowd cheered but there was no laughter. She went on to claim that Trump will be the next President and asked the crowd if she could “get a hallelujah” for Trump not being a politician, but from the private sector.
“When in the private sector, you actually have to balance budgets in order to prioritize — to keep the main thing — the main thing — and he knows the main thing!” exclaimed Fey.
Again the crowd cheered — no laughter. At this point it became apparent that nobody realized the woman standing up on the podium speaking to them wasn’t the real Sarah Palin.
“I couldn’t believe that nobody recognized me,” said Fey told The Lampoon in a recent interview.
“I just kept going on, trying to be totally absurd and still [the crowd] cheered. Even Trump seemed to like it.”
Fey was up there for 20 minutes throwing out ridiculous lines such as:
“Hang in there troops, because help’s on the way — because he, more than anybody — isn’t he known for being able to command — fire!” and nonsense like:
“President Obama will be able to look up and there — over his head — he will be able to see that shiny, towering Trump Tower. Yes Barack, he built that — and that says a lot!”
Fey stepped down from the stage and left without anyone knowing that they had been pranked.
She told the Lampoon that she doesn’t know whether or not the prank was a success — on one hand, she had everyone fooled, but on the other, the speech might have actually helped Trump’s campaign.
The lesson here is that, in America, there will always be someone who will support you know matter what you say — which is a beautiful thing.
In any case, we can all hope to see more of Fey’s Palin impressions air on “SNL.”