The internet has been buzzing with speculation that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin may show up in a skit on Saturday Night Live. The Alaska governor, who is rapidly becoming what John McCain hates the most- a “celebrity”- has breathed new life into the venerable sketch show, thanks to the spot-on impersonation of her by SNL alum Tina Fey. Palin has been scheduled to appear on the Oct. 25th broadcast, playing herself, and not Fey as some outlets were reporting.

SOCCER moms and Joe Sixpacks, listen up. Get your beer, mooseburgers and caribou dips ready. Sarah Palin is doing “Saturday Night Live.” Not Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin doing “Saturday Night Live.” But the Sarah Herself. She has already OK’d it. She’s booked. It’s confirmed. Done deal. Sketches are being sketched as we speak. She – eyeglasses, haircomb, designer jacket and trunkful of gosh-darns, golly-gees and gol-dangs – will be on “SNL” Saturday night, Oct. 25. Sarah’s rehearsal time has already been penciled in for Friday the 24th. And it’s because she wants to do it.

[From New York Post]

In other SNL news, this year’s election has been such a huge boost for ratings, NBC has granted the show additional programming on other nights, too. Last night’s election special, on NBC’s coveted Thursday night lineup, drew good ratings and word is, there may be more prime time specials as we get closer to the election. If anyone caught the show last night, the best part was this send-up of this week’s town hall-style debate.

At any rate, last night’s 30-minute “SNL” seemed to have 90 minutes of sure-fire comedy crammed into it, the regulars drawing energy from their own luster. The debate spoof featured Fred Armisen as Obama, delivering answers in a dispassionate, monotonous singsong staccato, and Hammond as McCain, flashing abrupt and inappropriate grins, boasting obsessively about his maverick status in the Republican Party, and referring to Obama with such demeaning terms as “this character here,” “Junior over there” and “pee-pants over here.”

Those phrases were inspired by McCain’s strange use of “that one” to refer to Obama at one point in Tuesday night’s “town-hall” debate appearance.

Former “SNL” cast member Chris Parnell returned to do his impeccable impedimentary impression of NBC anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw — who, as in the real debate, was insatiably fixated on time limits for candidate answers as if this were a sacred charge he must dispatch with religious fidelity. Armisen’s Obama or Hammond’s McCain would start to answer a question and Parnell as Brokaw would shout, “Your time is up!” — interrupting them and hurrying on to the next question.

[From the Washington Post]

When Daryl Hammond as John McCain referred to Obama as “Pee-pants,” I laughed so hard I woke up the kids. That was damn funny. Let’s hope the SNL writers come up with something equally as hilarious for Palin to do.

Here’s the second Obama/McCain debate as shown on SNL last night. (It might not play in all browsers or even show up – it doesn’t show up for me in Google Chrome – as this is NBC’s version. If you can’t see the video below, you can view it on NBC’s site here.)