John McCain appears on 'Saturday Night Live'

John McCain (as himself) and Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) mocked Barack Obama's infomercial in the opening segment of "Saturday Night Live."

"Obama purchased airtime on three major networks," McCain said. "We, however, can only afford QVC."

The Republican presidential candidate was self-deprecating about his underdog standing in the polls and Obama's financial spending advantage.

"I'm a true maverick -- a Republican without money," McCain said.

Fey's Palin joked about "goin' rogue" and having political aspirations beyond Election Day.

"We got a buncha' these 'Palin in 2012' T-shirts," she said. "I'm either runnin' in four years or I'm gonna be a white Oprah so, you know, I'm good either way."

Here's the first clip:

A video from the Weekend Update segment, where the Arizona senator talks about his last-minute strategies to win the election, is after the jump, along with the "SNL" ratings.

Absent from either clip was any sharp criticisms of Obama. McCain had a line about the Democrat flaking on the proposed town hall debates, but that was about all. Most of the material had McCain playing off his own image.

Previous SNL political videos and ratings.

Obama's reaction: McCain was funny on SNL

Also: Here's THR's Paul Gough with the ratings:

The last "Saturday Night Live" before Tuesday's election -- and featuring a joint appearance by John McCain and Tina Fey as running mate Sarah Palin  -- didn't disappoint in the ratings.

"SNL" averaged a 9.0 household rating/20 share in the metered markets, according to preliminary data released Sunday by Nielsen Media Research. Final data will be out later this week but it was a continued strong performance by the late-night sketch show, which was guest hosted by Ben Affleck.

Saturday night's show was only upstaged in the ratings this year -- and since 1997 -- by the Oct. 18 "SNL" where McCain's running mate, Palin, made an actual appearance. That show, which averaged a 10.7 rating/24 share and eventually more than 13 million viewers, was the highest-rated "SNL" since 1994.

As it was, this episode was the second-highest rated episode in more than a decade, since the Christmas-themed "SNL" of Dec. 20, 1997.

Comments

[Cindy]

James,
Thanks for posting this for us West Coasters early. I didn't want to stay up watching SNL tonight but wanted to see McCain appearance. Hilarious. Thanks for posting tonight. Love your posts!
Your Pal,
Cindy

[Bob]

Palin, meet bus

[Lindy]

I hope ol John don't quit his day job....Tina was histarical as always.

[tom desrosier]

I think SNL gives a chance for humanity to peak out. And for McCain, its that part of him we're like least to see in his daily campagne stops.

No doubt, it'll be humans that will be voting.

Good story here: "putting a face on America's vote." at http://www.dare2believe.com

tom

[Alex]

john, thank bush for your loss. i hope palin is packing for alaska

[I SMELL AN OPPORTUNIST]

You cannot help the poor, by destroying the rich.
You cannot strenghten the weak, by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity, by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up, by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man, by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage, by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently, by doing for them what they could, and should, do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

[jb]

Why become a WHITE OPRAH ??
Why not just Oprah...we all know who she is

[Phil]

Ya know, this just goes to show that I was right all along: I never thought that McCain was a bad guy, or would be a terrible president; rather, he's just not the president for right now. In another time, he'd be darn near perfect; but not now. Now we need a new direction. We need (America) to open her eyes and see things more clearly and with a more open, honest, and ultimately "better" vision. America can be that bastion of hope again. We can do anything we put our collective minds and will toward. I urge everyone to do their civic duty on November 4 and go to the polls. Vote. It is, after all, what this nation is all about.

[james]

I'm just wondering if it is good that nbc is airing an snl presidential special the day before election day. I somehow feel it's gonna hurt the outcome, not in a big way, but I just don't think it's going to be a good idea.

[anon]

Phil's right.

The guy we need now is the guy who:
refused to debate
refused to abide by McCain Feingold, a progressive/liberal finance reform
refused to talk about past associations with dubious characters, Wright, Rezko, Ayers

The arrogant know it all guy who doesn't actually believe in progressive taxation and so has to talk about it in divisive ways like "spread the wealth" and "you're being selfish if you don't like higher taxes."

I'm voting Obama, but ya know, he stinks.

[andy zebrowitz]

At least he's got a good sense of humor about himself. Doesn't make him presidential material, but makes him seem more human.

[Zac in CA]

@ Opportunist: yep, Lincoln was a Republican, all right.

[Brandon]

Opportunist: That wasn't Abe Lincoln, It was William Boetcker. As far as McCain vs. Obama, they're the same candidate, both believe in the power of government over individuals, neither seems to care about the constitution or individual rights, and both unquestioningly supported the bailout that has been as wasteful and ineffective as everyone outside of Congress knew it would be, and neither has mentioned it since it officially became a failure. Vote for a third party candidate if you value your freedom, rights, and prosperity.

[Margie]

How come we don't see Obama very much on SNL? No jokes about his campaign? He could talk about his civilian security force, or his plan to change the WORLD, or his changing plans for taxation, is it the $250 K/yr or $150K/yr that will be taxed-what will we decide next week?, What about the Obama-hood "tax the rich Corporations and gift the poor", spread the wealth and Corporations raise their costs?
Off with station's that are not liberal coverage, let them eat Obama for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Maybe Oprah has plans to Ayr Obama on an "Obama Only special".

[I SMELL AN OPPORTUNIST]

Brandon,

I am not going to argue the author,

it is still applicable and right on

[Jessica Hagy]

Thank you for an engaging and informative entry on McCain's SNL appearance. I was really interested to read your opinions on the skit since I follow your blog and know you always have fresh and entertaining information. Primarily, I liked how you focused on the contrast between McCain and Obama. I thought it was definitely a highlight when McCain mentioned Obama's purchase of primetime air versus his appearance on the "QVC" and I am glad you included this in your entry. The quote really gives a context as to why McCain decided to be on SNL: he had to compete with Obama's primetime purchase somehow. I also really enjoyed how you noted that the skit could have been an Obama bashing act but instead only briefly touched on Obama. I agree with you in your assertion that "most of the material had McCain playing off his own image," but I wonder how effective you think this was? I would have enjoyed hearing more from you on what you believed the results of the appearance would be and why you believe McCain should or should not have appeared. Finally, I thought it was great that you featured the ratings from the episode. They put the success of the episode into context and I also thought it was incredibly interesting and pertinent that the episode was the "second-highest rated episode in more than a decade." It seems to me that even if he wasn't on primetime air, McCain succeeded in garnering attention just a few days before the election. Overall, your entry was lively and interesting and I look forward to following your posts in the future.

[acai berry extract]

We have for sale a luxury villa in Spain, on the“ ...